Repo Man : Repo Man ending explained

Repo Man ending explained

slashfilm. com/1231926/repo-man-ending-explained-the-more-you-drive-the-less-intelligent-you-are/

The ending of "Repo Man" sees Otto finally getting his hands on the radioactive car, despite the best efforts of other repo men, the government, and revolutionaries to stop him. In the climax, the entire Malibu begins to glow green. Sitting at the wheel is Miller, a local kook played by Tracey Walter. Miller previously decried driving as a frivolous activity, a relic of the 1950s. "The more you drive, the less intelligent you are," he says. As it so happens, he was an alien. He's able to drive Otto into the sky and away from Earth once and for all.

When the Malibu glows green, it vaporizes anyone who comes close. Televangelists are turned to ash. Many die. When Miller gets in the car, he beckons to Otto, and Otto gets in too. 

This is a moment of freedom. Not only did Otto receive his prize, but he got much more. Like a f***-you-inflected version of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," Otto uses extraterrestrial means to find his home. As a punker, he wanted to leave human society behind. As a capitalist, he wanted to steal a car and be set for life. Miller provided him with both. 

"Repo Man" argues that 1950s glamor is a bygone myth, and that the grease of a car's undercarriage is all that remains. Our quests to earn money, get a job, and pay off our bills are all attempts to achieve what we really want: escape from humanity. Delving into the systems as they exist is no solution. Working a dead-end job at Package Mart will not fulfill you. Money will not fulfill you. Love and sex will not fulfill you. Religion will not fulfill you; Christianity had been reduced to its lowest state in the 1980s in the form of evangelical TV preachers who hatefully ranted against gay people. 

Alex Cox gives us a fantastical solution. The symbol of physical and economic mobility in the United States, the car, will contain deep within it the means to leave forever. Maybe that's what 1950s car culture should have been all about. Not the status, not the ability to consume hamburgers on the go, not even the necessity. Perhaps they should have always been about escape, about getting out. 

Otto got out. Good job. This world sucked anyway.

Re: Repo Man ending explained

Lol, who cares about the ending of a 1984 film.
Oh, and this is probably Emilio Estevez's worst film.
I can't believe he starred in this hunk of crap.

Leave Patrick's cousin outta this.

Re: Repo Man ending explained

It's one of the greatest movies ever made, fool.

My password is password

Re: Repo Man ending explained



My password is password

Re: Repo Man ending explained

who cares about the ending of a 1984 film.

Repo Man is the Easy Rider of the punk era, an 80's counter-culture classic.


this is probably Emilio Estevez's worst film

I thought it was his best film and Otto his best role. After Repo Man, I was a bit disappointed to see him in mainstream fare like The Breakfast Club and Young Guns but I guess that was inevitable. He was good in St. Elmo's Fire though, another role of his that I liked and a difficult one at that (he plays a stalker who we're supposed to feel sympathy for). I remember my teenage sister being forever creeped out by Estevez because his character in that film.

Re: Repo Man ending explained

Even if I agreed that it's a good film, the grade-Z picture would ruin it. For a better indie Estevez film, watch "That was then…this is now".

Leave Patrick's cousin outta this.

Re: Repo Man ending explained

Hiya Warren.

My password is password

Re: Repo Man ending explained

Brilliant, innovative movie!

Re: Repo Man ending explained

Miller was an alien?
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