6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A Los Angeles heiress wannabe high profile celebrity is disinherited from her family and her wealth. She gets a job as a repo chick and she goes about boosting property from subprime borrowers. In an attempt to regain her family and fortune she goes on the ultimate repo mission to find a stolen train carrying six unstable nuclear missiles.
Starring: Jaclyn Jonet, Miguel Sandoval, Biff Yeager, Rosanna Arquette, Del ZamoraComedy | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.0
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
English, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
On the list of strangest films I've seen this year, Repo Chick ranks near the top. Looney Tunes buffoonery, grating valley-girl performances, audacious low-budget green-screening, kitschy Dollar Store miniatures and bargain bin production design run wild, all candy-coated in Pepto Bismol pink. Every scene squeals, laughs and foams at the mouth like a wiry, unhinged madman; every shot is sure to leave filmfans wondering what writer/director Alex Cox, self-proclaimed champion of shoestring filmmaking, poured in his morning coffee. And while Cox's zany B-movie carnival will no doubt delight those who enjoy a healthy helping of Brie in their campy cinematic curiosities, it will exasperate most anyone else. Just don't mistake Repo Chick for a sequel to Cox's 1984 cult classic, Repo Man; the two films may share the same father, but they couldn't be more different.
Jonet's got a gun. Bum bum, bum bum. Her whole world's come undone...
Repo Chick isn't a stunning beauty; nor is CAV's bruised 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation. Primaries range from pale to punchy to punch-drunk, black levels hardly constitute the use of the word "black," contrast is woefully inconsistent and altogether weak, and detail waxes and wanes on several occasions. And while most of the transfer's issues and eyesores trace back to Cox's special effects, Steven Fierberg's photography or other shortcomings attributable to the film's source, the image struck me as unfinished; another unfortunate victim of Repo Chick's tighter-than-tight budget and production schedule. The image isn't a complete failure -- closeups are teeming with nicely resolved fine textures, edge definition is generally pleasing, Cox and Fierberg's intentions have been preserved, and the whole of the presentation leaves its DVD counterpart in a bloody heap -- but it doesn't justify its price tag either. It doesn't help that artifacting, banding, aliasing and other oddities appear throughout, even if they remain, by and large, a minor, almost negligible nuisance. All in all, Repo Chick could look much better. Then again, I suppose it could look much worse.
CAV's Dolby TrueHD 5.0 surround track doesn't alleviate any of the sting. Without any LFE support, Repo Chick is a fairly weightless experience; one that never exhibits the power and tenacity Cox's dystopian spectacle seems to demand. Likewise, the rear speakers contribute little, often making the soundfield as two-dimensional as the film's green-screen backgrounds. Directionality is lacking, pans are decent at best, and immersion isn't on the agenda. Thankfully, dialogue is bright, crisp and carefully balanced in the mix, effects are clean and clear, and Chick's synthy music is given plenty of opportunities to shine. In the end, it's a serviceable but flat track that never completely satisfies.
Repo Chick serves up a pair of features: a revealing behind-the-scenes featurette with make-the-best-of-it director Alex Cox (HD, 29 minutes) that covers the film's development, low budget struggles, story, tone, visual effects and green screen shoot, and Chick's trailer (HD, 2 minutes).
Repo Chick will win its share of fans. It's weird and wacky enough to all but guarantee someone, somewhere will fall in love with its bubbly burst of lunacy. But strip away Cox's low-budget know-how and the film's toy-box visual effects, and there isn't much to get excited about. CAV's Blu-ray release has its own problems. Its video transfer is inconsistent, its TrueHD 5.0 mix is underwhelming, and its special features, while candid and reasonably extensive, can be milked in thirty minutes. Most of you should avoid Repo Chick. Others -- and you know who you are -- should add it to your Netflix queue and take a drink of its fizzy Coxian brew.
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