repo

Tonight, I thought I would have myself a double-header, so out the door I went. No, not to Grayson Stadium; my boys of summer don't start playing until April 8th. (And yes, I have been watching the calendar.) No, this is the two-movies-in-one-night type of double-header. I had done my research and found the two movies I wanted at the Regal Cinema, the two movies which would work well together to minimize sitting-around-waiting-for-the-next time.
I arrive and pull out my Entertainment card, my Regal Crown Club card, and what I thought was my discount coupon. Yeah, that last item, there... turns out it was the discount for a museum in Charleston. Doh! So, I moved out of line so the folks behind me didn't have to wait while I ransacked my wallet and my purse, with said ransacking of no avail. Dagnabbit! The young woman behind the counter went ahead and gave me the "senior" discount, though, which was very kind of her and no doubt was inspired by my having an obvious "senior moment." Sigh.
So, instead of a double-header, I opted for just one movie, the movie which would have been the first in my line-up: "Repo Men." I had known it was science fiction and featured Jude law and Forrest Whitaker as guys with the odious task of repossessing transplanted metallic organs from customers who fell behind on their payments. Interesting concept, yes? Most definitely, especially as I have known several would-be transplant patients of late.
Well, lemme tell you, the movie was MUCH more intense than I had expected. Yeah, I've watched enough "CSI" and such that the close-up shots of the live operation sites was bearable, so that wasn't the problem. In fact, I was good with the movie until the last twenty minutes or so... and then I was devastated. Truly.
There are levels of evil, just as there are levels of good. Sometimes, the levels overlap when the degrees of good and evil are subjective and dependent on extenuating circumstances, as the expression goes. You know: the guy steals a loaf of bread for his starving children, that sort of thing. Other times, the distance between the levels is vast and serves to accentuate the depravity of that level of evil.
This movie had various levels of good and evil, much as one would expect in such a film, or in many other science fiction films. But then the film added that unexpected level of pure evil masquerading as friendship, but utterly manipulative and twisted. And then, just to make sure, took it one more level down. Not since "Unbreakable" have I seen such devastating evil.
I don't think I'll ever see this film again, either. Its images, like those of the Bruce Willis & Samuel L. Jackson film, are burned on my brain, unfortunately.