Repo Man

1984
Universal Studios
Director: Alex Cox
Length: 92 min.
Country: USA
Format: DVD
Date Viewed: 12 March, 2006

Who knew that punks and aliens would mix so well? This is one of the great cult films; a down and dirty picture that's endlessly hilarious and includes a treasure trove of quotable lines. Cox keeps Repo Man extremely politicized, but never allows this to overwhelm the film as a whole as the political messages plays out mostly in the background of shots and in the quiet throwaway lines. The big flaws of the piece are the giant plot holes and changing character alliances that make no sense and are left completely unexplained. This confusion doesn't leave us feeling like it was intended, but more like there was a ton of explanatory material deleted to keep the pace at its breakneck speed. This does little to lessen the enjoyment, however, of watching two hardcore criminal punks threatening to eat sushi and not pay.