Contents
Reviews
How
Discs Are Rated
#
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
News
Archives
DVD
Guide
Contest
About
DVDlaunch
Meet
The Staff
Contact
|
Repo Man: Special Edition
review by Wayne A.
Rated R
Running Time: 92 Minutes
Starring Emilio Estevez, Eddie Velez, Zander Schloss,
Jennifer Balgobin, Harry Dean Stanton, Tracey Walter, Olivia
Barash, Sy Richardson, Susan Barnes, Fox Harris, Tom
Finnegan, Del Zamora
Studio: Anchor Bay
Written and Directed by Alex Cox
Retail Price: $49.98
Features: Commentary by Writer/Director Alex Cox,
Executive Producer Michael Nesmith, Casting Director
Victoria Thomas, and stars Sy Richardson (Lite), Zander
Schloss (Kevin) and Del Zamora (Lagarto), theatrical
trailer, video trailer, talent bios, collector's booklet and
Repo Man soundtrack CD
Specs: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, 5.1 Dolby Digital
English, English Dolby Surround, THX approved
It would be too easy to start this review by using one of
the snappy quotes that abound through this movie. That,
however, would be too predictable. If you need one, though,
insert your favorite Repo Man quote above. For those of you
that have never seen this film, Emilio Estevez plays Otto,
an 18 year-old, who's slacker a decade before anyone knew
what a slacker was. He loses his job, he finds his
girlfriend cheating on him with his buddy and his parents
just gave his college money to send bibles to El Salvador.
He meets a repo man, Bud (Harry Dean Stanton), who
indoctrinates him into the Helping Hands Acceptance
Corporation (though the Bud and the corporation helps
"assholes who don't pay their bills" by repossessing their
cars). Otto decides to go after a 1964 Chevy Malibu with a
mysterious $20,000 bounty on it, placed by a government
organization with a penchant for decontamination suits and
metal hands, with much hilarity and bad special effects. The
plot is stranger than the summary. To compare it to
something today, it's more like X-Files episode with car
thieves and bad special effects.
This movie is subversively funny, and intelligent in its
wit. Most of the comedy lines come in the form of quick
one-liners and observations ("Put your food on a plate --
it'll taste better."). Like all films of worth, there's also
a subtle observations and sarcasm directed at consumerism
and social mobility (which is interesting to contrast to the
on-your-face messages of Charlie Sheen, Estevez's brother,
in Wall Street). Of course, there's the soundtrack. While
most movies of the time were schmaltzy ballads from Phil
Collins, Repo Man's soundtrack stands out. It's one of the
best compilations of classic punk -- Black Flag and the
Circle Jerks, who also make a cameo as a lounge act, just to
name a few. This isn't the weak Top-40 crap that passes as
punk today, but the real stuff. In fact, Zander Schloss
later becomes a bassist in the Circle Jerks after the movie
was completed (though he admits the Circle Jerks weren't too
impressed with him when they met him on the set of Repo
Man).
Considering the movie was made in the early 80s, the
transfer is not bad. However, I felt the transfer might have
been better. The transfer is a little dark for my tastes,
and the master looks like it wasn't kept in the greatest of
conditions (though, in fairness, Repo Man was initially not
seen as a cinematic jewel the way Apocalypse Now was).
Nonetheless, the transfer was THX certified -- I can't help
but feel, however, that Lucas and company should have paid
more scrutiny to the transfer.
The audio, like the video, came from old source material.
The original audio was mono, but it has been remixed to 5.1
Dolby. Again, like the video, it's not bad, but not the
best. The music drowns out the dialogue on a few occasions,
and the audio sounds do not have the clear and crisp one
usually associates with DVD (again, most likely this is due
to the age of the film).
The special edition of Repo Man (packaged in tins and
limited to 50,000 units) contains no additional features
than the regular release by Anchor Bay, save for the Repo
Man soundtrack CD and the collector's booklet. The booklet,
written by Cox's biographer Steven Davies, is full of
interesting tidbits and a comic Cox drew to help show what
the movie would be about before it was made. The DVD's main
feature is the commentary. Cox shares the microphone with
his executive producer, casting director and three of the
movie's stars. I prefer commentaries with directors doing a
separate track, or being added in as needed, such as what is
done for some Criterion collection films like The Killer. In
cases like this, where it's an open mike for a group of
people, the conversations sometimes go off subject and the
commentaries sometimes do not go into much depth. Some of
those problems are in this commentary, but an even bigger
problem is the fact that Cox doesn't say that much. Despite
the shortcomings, though, the commentary is still
interesting, though I wish it had gotten into more detail on
some occasions.
The trailers are common fare, though entertaining to
watch when compared to the trailers of today, in which every
trailer is about someone about to save the world.
Finally, the feature this movie could have used was
English captions. I don't know how much, if anything, could
have been done with the audio, but to compensate for that,
captions could have been done. This is a minor detail,
however.
This movie is very entertaining. Buy it for the film, but
the extras, particularly for a $50 limited edition, are thin
and weak. Anchor Bay, however, must be applauded for taking
an interest in smaller films with cult interest like Evil
Dead, Hellraiser and, of course, Repo Man, and putting them
out on DVD. Considering most cult films were done on
shoestring budgets, one can't expect the production or
transfer quality of T2. But then again, the things that make
a film like Repo Man a cult classic isn't the necessarily
the clarity of the film or audio. If you love this film,
save your money and buy the regular edition.
I'm gonna go get some sushi -- and not pay for it.
 (4/5, NOT included in
final score)
 (3/5)
(3/5)
(3/5)
(3/5,
NOT an average)
|
