R.I.P.D. (2013) [Blu-ray]
Action | Comedy | Crime | Fantasy

Tagline: To protect and serve the living.

Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds headline this supernatural action-adventure as two cops dispatched by the Rest In Peace Department (R.I.P.D.) to protect and serve the living from increasingly destructive spirits hiding among the unsuspecting on Earth. When they uncover a plot that could end life as we know it, the new partners have to turn grudging respect into top-notch teamwork to restore the cosmic balance... or watch the tunnel to the afterlife begin sending angry souls the very wrong way.

Storyline: A recently slain cop joins a team of undead police officers working for the Rest in Peace Department and tries to find the man who murdered him.

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown on October 25, 2013 -- Rather than kick R.I.P.D. while it's down... writhing on the ground, desperate to grab hold of anything that might help it hoist itself up... ahem. Let's try that again. Rather than go on and on about R.I.P.D.'s box office woes, doomed-from-the-start script, unholy reliance on genre convention, Looney Tunes CG and moon-bounce action sequences... hrm. Let's give it one more try. Rather than focus on just how bad 90% of director Robert Schwentke's monstrously deformed supernatural Men in Black clone really is, it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, I should try a different angle for once. "Touch on the positives," I thought. Unfortunately, that amounts to a single word: casting. Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Bacon, Mary-Louise Parker and (especially) Jeff Bridges clearly had the time of their afterlives bounding from one green-screen set piece to the next, laughing like madmen all the way to the film's shoot-em-up endgame; a bizarre concoction comprised of bits and pieces from MIIB, Ghostbusters II and Wild Wild West. Once I realized there's no defending R.I.P.D., though, I gave up trying. Schwentke's cast may be a godsend, but the rest of the movie is the stuff of development hell. That's right, it's as terrible as you've heard. At the very most, someone, somewhere will declare it a must-see guilty pleasure, and more power to 'em. The rest of you would do well to avoid this one at all costs. It'll swallow your soul; no Evil Dead reference intended.

When Boston Police Department detectives Nick Walker (Reynolds) is gunned down by his corrupt partner Bobby Hayes (Bacon), he finds himself rocketing through the clouds, passing through the not-so-pearly gates, and sliding to a halt in the offices of the Rest in Peace Department. Managed by Eternal Affairs, the RIPD is heaven's police force, tasked with tracking down Earthbound souls who refuse to cross over, and Nick is their newest recruit. Partnered with Old West lawman Roycephus Pulsipher (Bridges), Nick goes on his first ride-along, only to stumble across evidence that points to a sinister plot being orchestrated by the undead of the world. Now, with the help of commanding officer Mildred Proctor (Mary-Louise Parker) and in the unchangeable guise of an old Chinese man (James Hong) and a young supermodel (Marissa Miller), Nick and Roy have to get to the bottom of the Deados' devious plan, keep Nick's still-grieving widow Julia (Stephanie Szostak) out of harm's way, and save the entire planet from a horrific fate.

I'm still amazed at how closely R.I.P.D. tiptoes, follows and plods in the footsteps of Men in Black. A talented young detective is reluctantly recruited into a secret organization that protects the public from the hidden and unseen. Trained by a grizzled veteran, the detective soon finds himself racing to save the planet from a villainous Big Bad whose plans herald the end of all things. Along the way, the detective is forced to look at the world in a new light, gawking at all manner of otherworldly creatures. Pairing his street smarts with advanced weaponry and powers, he sets out to bring baddies to justice and restore peace on Earth, and good will toward men. Which would be a-okay -- Men in Black by way of heaven and hell? Count me in -- if, that is, it brought something new to the table. R.I.P.D. feels as if it were developed using MiB Mad Libs, sprinkling in additional genre clichés at random. Considering comicbook writer Peter M. Lenkov penned the original 4-issue miniseries in 1999, two years after MiB made a splash in theaters, it isn't hard to track the creative inspiration from the turn of the century to 2013. Schwentke and screenwriters Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi are acutely aware of the similarities, mind you, pushing each other to their wits' end to differentiate the undeniable doppelgängers. There's little room for deviation, though. The more the filmmakers work to distance R.I.P.D. from MiB -- to diminishing avail I might add -- the more obvious the connections between the two become. (Minus the overall quality and entertainment value of the final products.)

It doesn't help that the Deados are a hideously mo-capped, garishly animated gang of Adult Swim rejects as cartoonish as they are unimaginatively designed. Or that for every semi-clever twist on heaven and the afterlife, there are a dozen camptastic encounters, all culminating in a vault heist and climactic shootout that lack any sense of weight; physical or emotional. Pinballing between slapstick comedy, PG-13 grossout gags, poorly implemented action, dead-on-arrival drama, silly chase scenes and an ever-changing set of rules that defy any sense of internal logic, R.I.P.D. is a mess of plot holes and missed opportunities. Worse, its jokes rarely earn laughs, its melodrama barely registers, and each and every twist and turn can be seen coming a mile off. The cast do their best, that much is obvious. Unfortunately, Reynolds is diving headfirst into a shallow pool, Bacon is given little to do other than chew scenery, Parker is handed a triangle and asked to play the same Nancy Botwin-note over and over and over again, and Bridges -- refreshing and welcome as his hilarious improvisational skills are -- can only do so much. He's having an enormous amount of admittedly infectious fun, but he's no miracle-worker. Perhaps if the film's visual effects weren't lodged six or seven years in the past, if its script were tighter, its afterlife adventure more inventive or its punches less telegraphed, Bridges and his co-stars might have pulled off the impossible. Instead, R.I.P.D. coughs, gasps, kicks and finally, after an unbearably long fight to hold on, gives up the ghost and allows the credits to put it out of its misery.

Even as an at-times shameless Men in Black clone, R.I.P.D. could be much, much better. A sharper vision, more decisive direction, a smarter screenplay and less generic baddies would have gone a long way to patching the film's wounds, which is where the cast -- Schwentke's saving grace -- comes into play. R.I.P.D. never amounts to a good film, but Reynolds and Bridges give it a go anyway and breathe as much life into the horrifying hijinks as possible. I hated almost every minute of Schwentke's supernatural romp and yet enjoyed watching Reynolds and Bridges have a ball. Go figure. Universal's Blu-ray release is another matter, thankfully. While its special features leave a lot to be desired, its AV presentation is sound, with a strong video presentation and terrific DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. Even so, I'd recommend proceeding with caution.

[CSW] -2.7- Part Men in Black, part Ghost, with a little Ghostbusters thrown in, this flick is just for fun. It looked like it was a blast to make, but we've seen this basic plot way too many times for it to actually be interesting. You can absolutely go make popcorn or a sandwich during this flick and not really miss anything, except maybe some badly done CG Deados. This is clearly a movie that you watch for fun. It doesn't take itself seriously which is its savior. The CGI is ridiculously over used, but if you can look past it you will have some fun with it. It's definitely not the best movie you will see this week, but it's still not a complete waste of time. But this is a perfect example of why CGI should be used as a secondary to practical affects. You can't rely on it completely or the movie will appear very flakey. But it's still funny and light hearted. This is a good rainy Friday afternoon flick.
[V4.5-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box motion codes were available at the time of this rental although they are available now.


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