'Repo Men' a gory, convoluted and contrived mess

REPO MEN — ★★ — Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Liev Schreiber; rated R (violence, gore, profanity, drugs, sex, vulgarity, brief nudity, slurs); in general release

The science-fiction thriller "Repo Men" is a bloody mess.

Among other things, this film slices off pieces from such earlier sci-fi movies as "Logan's Run" (1976), "Blade Runner" (1982), "Brazil" (1985) and the "Matrix" trilogy. And then it attempts to place them into a rather familiar, man-on-the-run tale.

The real irony is the film is about people who have had foreign material — artificial organs, to be exact — surgically installed in their bodies.

And this conceit works for about an hour. But then, the ultimately disappointing film comes undone, culminating with over-the-top gore and some convoluted, contrived plotting.

Jude Law stars as Remy, a U.S. Army veteran who is working for a ruthless corporation known as The Union.

Along with his longtime pal, Jake (Forest Whitaker), Remy is supposed to "repossess" artificial organs when the recipients fall behind on their overwhelmingly high payments.

Neither of these men has any regard for whether these "repos" have fatal consequences for the organ recipients or not.

However, Remy quickly changes his mind about that when he's injured on the job, and he becomes the beneficiary of the latest in artificial-heart technology.

As a result, he seems to have lost his enthusiasm for the job. He better find a way to make some money, though — if Remy falls behind on his payments, his old friend Jake may be sent after him.

There's already enough story there as it is, but the filmmakers introduce a dumb romance subplot — the recently separated Remy begins a relationship with a drug-addled singer (Alice Braga) while he's on the run.

And in the final 20 minutes, they pay "homage" to "Pulp Fiction" (1994) and the 1983 comedy "Trading Places," of all things.

You certainly can't fault the game cast for any of the problems. Law seems to be enjoying the physicality of his role, as does Whitaker. Liev Schreiber, who plays the real villain of the piece, appears to be the only one who understands just how cheesy this nonsense really is.

"Repo Men" is rated R for strong, often disturbing violent content and imagery (gunplay and shootings, slashings and stabbing, brawling, bludgeonings, explosive and fiery mayhem, and violence against women), graphic gory and bloody imagery, strong sexual profanity, drug content and references (hypodermic needles and narcotics), simulated sex and other sexual contact, suggestive language and references (slang), brief female nudity, and derogatory language and slurs. Running time: 115 minutes.

e-mail: jeff@desnews.com