I'm giving Repo two stars rather than one because it did have a few redeeming elements in my book. It was visually very arresting, and the world depicted was oddly believable. I watched it all the way through, although I have to admit I watched most of Repo with eyes rolling and several derisive barks of laughter. The comparisons to Sweeney Todd and Rocky Horror do not fit for me. Sweeney Todd is one of the most intelligently written pieces of musical theater in the history of theater. Repo the Genetic Opera is, ultimately, deeply stupid, boiling down to a) the plot, which has more holes than cohesion and b) the lyrics, which are just about the worst lyrics I've ever heard sung. And I've heard a lot of lyrics in my time. So what now follows is a series of questions, all of which are probably spoilers. ¡ ~ ~SPOILER ALERT~ ~ ! 1) So, wait, people take the glowing blue drug in order to feel no pain from the surgeries they are addicted to? So are they addicted to the surgeries or the drug? 2) So the Repo Man apparently can find you wherever you are. Why is it, then, that all of his victims come to him? 3) Is there just one Repo Man? Just one? For all of this population who is apparently having all of these surgeries done? That would be one heck of a busy man. 4) So, wait. The surgeries people are having are life-saving surgeries in order to have failing organs replaced with new ones? If this is the case then why are people 'addicted to surgery?' Where does this whole plastic surgery fit in with this picture? Are they life-saving organ transplants or face-changing surgeries? 5) So, with the Paris Hilton character. If her father is the richest, most powerful person on the planet then why is she getting surgeries on the street? 6) Is everyone goth in the future? 7) I would just like to point out that 'anatomy' and 'surgery' do not rhyme. Ever. 8) So, wait. Paul Sorvino is this humanity-saving person who found a way to replace organs. Why, then, is he also humanity's scoundrel, taking the organs back? Did he develop this system of organ replacement simply to take the organs back? If that is the case then isn't humanity in the same place as it was during the 'plague' (or whatever vague thing it was that made organs fail in the first place) with organs failing or being ripped out? 9) So, the Repo man rips out an organ. Then what? Does it get re-used? Or does he do it simply to punish people who don't pay? 10) Okay, wait. So the father/Repo man/doctor character is told that he has to take out Blind Mag's eyes because he believes he poisoned his own wife 17 years ago? What kind of logic is that? "Dude, you have to take this lady's eyes out." "Why?" "Because you poisoned your wife 17 years ago." "Yes, I see what you mean. Where's my scalpel?" 11) So, wait. If the father is so concerned about his daughter not dying then why is he poisoning her? Um, what? 12) Why does Blind Mag yank her eyes out? 13) So, wait. Shilo obviously thinks Blind Mag is super cool. Why, then, does she not let her in the house when she visits? "Oh hi, Blind Mag. You're an international superstar and everything and I think you're really cool but no, you can't come in. For some reason, I'm inexplicably afraid of you right now. Nope. Can't even open the door. My father will be mad, although I can't explain why." 14) Riffing on #13: if Shilo's reason for not letting Blind Mag in is because her father will be mad (why would he be mad?) then why is it when her father comes home Shilo insists that they let Blind Mag in all of a sudden? And if Shilo is all afraid of her father then why does she start yelling at her father when he says Blind Mag has to go? Is Shilo the only person who sees the article in the tabloid that says Blind Mag is going to have her eyes repossessed? Are tabloids 100% accurate in the future? Did anyone read this script through before they started filming? 15) And, yeah. Shilo's father locks her in her room, right? And Shilo goes to her balcony and sings that she wants to go outside, indicating that she is locked in. In subsequent scenes she just, um, walks outside. Doesn't even climb down from her window. I am making a call to the Continuity Police. 16) I know this is way too much to ask, but why are Paul Sorvino's kids all one-dimensional unpleasant idiots? Don't give me this 'they're fighting over the family business' hoo-hah. 17) If grave robbers are executed on sight, then why doesn't the grave-robber-executing-squad execute the grave robber when they see him? Why do they mill around and around, ignoring him completely but then suddenly focusing on Shilo who is hiding behind a tombstone? 18) So you just put a needle into a dead person's nose and extract a glowing blue drug? I see. That makes sense. There's a lot more, of course. But I don't want to think about this any more. As I said, there are far more holes than there is any continuity. But above all, the lyrics are wretched. Bad, bad lyrics.
Review of Repo! The Genetic Opera
