Ignoble professions: Repo Men and The Bounty Hunter
I saw two movies this weekend. Neither of them merits a hearty recommendation, but I had a good time with both of them. Here are the current rankings, with the newcomers in bold:
1) Alice in Wonderland
2) The Wolfman
3) Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
4) The Bounty Hunter
5) Repo Men
6) Cop Out
7) Book of Eli
1 jillionty-five) Legion
I'll start with The Bounty Hunter because I liked it marginally more. Why? Enumerated,
1) I didn't pay anything to see it,
2) I sat next to a friend and we laughed a lot, and
3) I was in the mood for something completely predictable, and I got what I wanted.
Short version: The Bounty Hunter is a romantic comedy (with all the implied trappings) that is masquerading as an action comedy in hopes of creating a date movie that both guys and girls will like. Guys who haven't figured out that they've been duped by the time we're having dinner at the Cupid Stupid Inn will probably wonder why nobody at all gets shot in that scene.
On to Repo Men. This is a remake of Repo! The Genetic Opera in the same way that Snakes on a Plane was a remake of Airplane! Which is to say, it's not. They start with the same premise (replacement organs are expensive, if you can't make payments they'll get repossessed) but the actual plot is a lot more like Logan's Run. (Note: "plot" and "premise" are two different things, and "setting" is a third, also different thing)
The writers take an the idea that expensive artificial organs can be cheaply installed and removed and use it to tell a very human story about what happens when a killer acquires a conscience. Sadly, the premise is flawed. The Science-Fiction writer in me considered the artificial organ technology and the economic constraints and came up with several ways for everybody to go home happy. Or at least not dead. That, however, does not tell the story the writers wanted to, so that's not where they went.
Fortunately for me, I knew the film was going to have this problem before I bought my ticket, let alone my popcorn and soda (the prices of which are approaching ten cents per calorie). By thus setting my expectations low I managed to be entertained. And grossed out, yes. And even tricked! I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil the movie for both of you who now plan to rush out and see it.
Regarding the rankings above: Alice and Wolfman really stood out for me, and the rest have been kind of neck-and-neck in so-so land. Nothing but Legion has fallen below my personal threshold of disappointment. This may be because I really like eating popcorn in the dark. Your mileage may vary.