R.I.P.D. Policía del más allá

From the trailer, I had high hopes this film would deliver a smashing spectacle with great humor and a unique premise. Alas, this turned out to be one of those cases where the trailer is better than the movie itself.

To be fair, the film has its moments. The comedy never made me laugh outright, but there are amusing lines and situations throughout. Some of the most amusing moments emerge from the interplay between the characters, and the clever gag in which everybody sees them as different people. As far as the action goes, there is quite a bit of mass destruction and plenty of shoot-outs and fights. However, it is very manic, over-the-top, and strangely cartoony. The overall tone felt really uneven; the movie was fairly serious at times, deadpan in others, and overblown the rest of the time. I was never bored, but I was never fully engaged or invested in things.

It is a shame, because the film has some unique ideas here and there. The overall premise of an undead police department is pretty neat, they use a lot of cool weapons, and they have some really quirky rules and ideas. It's a weird world where Indian food causes the villainous "dead-o's" to "pop" into gaudy monsters (if you remember the beginning of Van Helsing, with Mr. Hyde...pretty much all the monsters look like that, perhaps cross-bred with the zombies from I Am Legend). Everybody perceives the two main characters as a hot blonde chick and an old Chinese dude. Sounds fun, right? For whatever reason, it all comes off as a superfluous effort to build comedy from being weird; it worked so well for the Men In Black films, but it all falls rather flat in RIPD.

The story overall is pretty fast and compact. It does a fine enough job of introducing the characters, slapping them together, and crafting some dynamic chemistry between them. However, the plot is pretty standard fare, and it never takes the time to truly invest the audience in the world it portrays. It shows just enough to make the plot work, but it never explains much, never builds on the things it briefly touches on, and never really makes us care.

The film uses a lot of stylish camera moves, fast-zooms, and slow-motion effects, which you could either see as being really cool or really dumb. Editing is okay in general. Acting is a mixed bag: Ryan Reynolds is strangely flat and emotionless throughout, save for the few love scenes, while Jeff Bridges steals the show repeatedly, in a role that almost seems to parody his role from True Grit. Kevin Bacon is pretty much himself, and I loved watching Mary-Louise Parker. Writing is not that great. This production uses okay sets, props, and costumes. Special effects look cool, but are on the cheap side. Music is hip and fun.

In the end, I couldn't help but to think of other films and how much better they are than RIPD. For stories that involve parallels between worlds of the living and worlds of the dead, I couldn't help but to think that the Bleach anime was a better story, and the Dead Like Me TV series was funnier. For that same concept with the perfect blend of action and comedy, the two Hellboy movies are effectively perfect. For comic-book-inspired stories about enforcers tackling the supernatural without the general public knowing, the three Men In Black movies succeed in everything RIPD tried to do, but failed. And even with the climax, with the dead threatening to rise up and end the world, I couldn't help but to remember how much better Ghostbusters was in this field. RIPD even has a brief staircase gag that reminded me of GB. All of those come recommended, but RIPD, not so much.

Given its poor box office reception, I think it's safe to say that RIPD will Rest in Piece, buried alongside such equally marginal pictures as Jonah Hex and Priest.

3/5 (Entertainment: Average | Story: Marginal | Film: Average)

"You gonna sit there and mope or do you want to help me stop the, you know, an apocalypse?" After things go very very wrong while out on a bust Boston PD officer Nick (Reynolds) is killed but before he heads to his judgement he is swept into an office and offered a new job. He is now a member of the R.I.P.D. and along with his new partner Roy (Bridges) they set out to capture the Dead-O's that roam free. When Nick finds a connection between the Dead-O's and his death things turn personal. I have to start off by saying that I wasn't really expecting this to be good at all. I'm not sure why but when I say the preview I immediately expected another Men In Black and didn't think it was needed. While I won't say this wasn't Men In Black like, it was much better then I expected and did laugh and was entertained most of the way through. This is very much geared toward a young teen crowd but I still found it funny. I do have to say though that without Reynolds and Bridges this may have been unwatchable. I did like it and am glad I saw it but this isn't something I'd watch again, but keep in mind I expected this to be as bad as all the reviews it got. A combination of Men In Black with a dash of Howard The Duck thrown in. Watchable but really only once. Overall, not even close to as bad as the reviews made it seem, watch it and make up your own mind. I give it a B.

'R.I.P.D.': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

One of the summer's biggest expensive casualties is this Dark Horse comic adaptation starring Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges as two police officers in the after life fighting undead ghouls. It was directed by Robert Schwentke (who also directed the action films 'RED' and 'FLIGHPLAN') and written by Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi and David Dobkin. Peter M. Lenkov created the comic book it's based on and also executive produced the film. The film also co-stars Kevin Bacon, Mary-Louise Parker, Stephanie Szostak, Marisa Miller and James Hong. Oddly both Reynolds and Parker had two big films opening the same weekend (Reynolds also can be heard in the animated family film 'TURBO' and Parker reprised her role in the sequel to Schwentke's 'RED'). All three films bombed and Reynolds now has a pretty big reputation for constantly delivering box office misfires. That doesn't mean they're bad films though and I actually enjoyed 'R.I.P.D.' to a certain degree (definitely not an especially good movie though).

The film opens with a Boston cop named Nick Walker (Reynolds), having a dispute with his partner, Bobby Hayes (Bacon), over whether or not to turn in gold they found at a recent drug bust. Walker is shot and killed by Hayes during a shootout and is recruited by the R.I.P.D. (Rest In Peace Department) in the afterlife. The R.I.P.D. specializes in catching 'deados', which are souls who have refused to leave the land of the living. Walker is teamed with an old U.S. Marshal from the Old West, named Roy Pulsipher (Bridges), while he attempts to track down his old partner and clear his reputation with the love of his life, Julia Walker (Szostak).

The biggest complaint I've heard about the trailer for the film is how much it resembles the film 'MEN IN BLACK' and I have to say, after seeing the film as well, that it very much resembles a 'MEN IN BLACK' movie. It's of course not nearly as good as that campy sci-fi classic but it is better than it's first sequel (arguably 'MEN IN BLACK 3' as well). The fact is the movie is not nearly as bad as a lot of people like to say it is. It's a lot of fun, funny at times and the visuals are spectacular. It had a budget of approximately $130 million and as a purely visual treat it paid off; as far as the special effects go, plus the women are all super hot (Szostak and Miller are breathtaking in the flick). Watching Reynolds and Bridges together (as an odd couple duo) is a treat as well and it's funny to see Reynolds being mostly the straight man while Bridges mostly hams it up (Bacon is also once again a great despicable villain). Not a great film by any means but not a bad one either.

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/NdWU81GeyN4

The first act of the movie with the discovery of cop's new life is fun and brings great moments between Reynolds and Bridges. The rest of the movie is more than average with poor special effects and a predictable story.

I don't understand all the hate for RIPD. I get that it's invariably gonna be compared with MiB because they share the same theme, but just because MiB is the superior movie doesn't mean RIPD isn't enjoyable. It has a great cast, good special effects, and an interesting premise. Take it for what it is.... If you go into it looking for a masterpiece, prepare for disappointment. If you just want to be entertained by a pretty good sci-fi movie with some solid laughs, try RIPD out. Just my 2 cents.