Tony Head, there, as the repo man.Went to see Repo! The Genetic Opera last night. Saw it at the local art house theater, with kinda crappy seats and not so great sound.
However, the sound was not the biggest problem for this film. Which frikkin' bummed me - I wanted to emerge from the theater, soaked in blood and internal-organ tissue, transformed, transmogrified, wearing six inch naughty-nurse boots and enough kohl around my eyes to spackle the space station.
That ain't what I got. The acting was good, the singing was good, the concept was brilliant and it looked great. But a lot of the camera angles and blocking were awkward, a bunch of the music was either okay or just wrong (about 10 minutes of it rocked like crazy, and I was dancing in my chair), and most of the lyrics sucked. And the story was weak, ultimately, and confusing. There was a lot of exposition that they thought was necessary because there was too much going on for the audience to really understand. And I think they were right. But as is most often the case, and was the case here, exposition = lame.
Anthony Stewart Head was the repo man, and he put some good chops into it; mainly into the singing. The man's got pipes. But there wasn't much chance for acting range, here. Really, for any of the characters. Paul Sorvino, Alex Vega and even Paris Hilton were quite good in their roles, but there wasn't much for any of them to do. There was a cool 17-year-old rebellion scene that Vega got to play, but other than that (and a totally bitchin' moment in the final opera scene for Hilton which I won't reveal here - but it was frickin' perfect), there just wasn't much range. One stand out for me was Sarah Brightman as Blind Mag. Normally, I hate her with a fiery passion; she's just so powerfully boring. But she actually did some acting here, and since it wasn't all about her, she fit in. How amazing is that? Also, very cool moment with her projector eyeballs.
So, all in all, a disappointment. I'll probably end up owning the DVD with all the juicy extras, but I don't think I'll be paying more money to see it in the theater.
Enter at your own risk!
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4 comments:
I'm bummed you didn't like it that much. (Or did you? You have a lot of nice things to say about it.) Was hoping this would be some kind of freaked-out classic.
As we were talking about, the filmmakers have been trying to create a Rocky Horror-type buzz for this thing. I don't know what people first viewing Rocky Horror would have said in terms of acting and camera angles and such, but still -- something didn't grab you about this movie, and you of all people are grabbable.
well, there were definitely moments, just not enough of them strung together to make a decent film.
good point on rocky horror, though. it's really not much of a "film."
yay! i'm grabbable! ;)
Hey grabable guy,
Sorry to hear that they didn't get it right. Quirky classics can't be planned - they're just born.
That said, the fact that you plan to get it on DVD tells me enough of your pleasure centers were pleasured to make it, well, coverall, not a bad time at the cinema.
yeah, i was out with zenslinger just yesterday, and i think i had to admit that perhaps it might grow on me. as, i imagine, most cult classics do.
we shall see, my friend, we shall see.
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