R.I.P.D

                                                               

      In the world of fan boys and girls, this is a very happy time. With the success of all the comic book movies, studios are looking to different titles, trying to find that next Iron Man or The Dark Knight. Well just like everything in life, there are comics that will make a good movie, and there are the ones that well, not so much. Now with that statement what you are wondering is which of those two choices does “R.I.P.D” follow under?

   Well I am going to do my best to answer that question. Nick’s (Ryan Reynolds) day did not go very well. No his boss didn’t yell at him, and traffic was definitely not the cause of it, no Nick died. Nick you see was a cop, and if you are a good cop you are for some reason needed in the afterlife. Nick is placed with Roy (Jeff Bridges) who has been around for awhile judging from his outfit. Their job is simple; protect the earth from the dead, who did not want to leave. The dead or how they are called deados, look like you and I , that is until you get some cumin power next to them, then they just become ugly. Nick and Roy do not look like themselves either, instead Nick is an old Asian gentleman and Roy is a hot blonde. Together they must stop the dead and their inevitably evil plans.

    Now I know what you are thinking I didn’t answer the question, is this one of the good ones or bad? Well if this film came out in 1996, it might have been pretty cool, but it didn’t and that is a big part of the problem. You see in 1997 a movie called “Men in Black” came out, and “R.I.P.D” feels a little too much like that film. You replace aliens with dead people, there is even the grumpy veteran paired with the hot shot new comer. The other problem with this film is both actors seem to be channeling past characters.  You have Bridges (who may or may not be picking roles based on his facial hair) doing his best Rooster Cogburn from “True Grit” and you have Ryan Reynolds playing, well, the same guy he always plays. I mean at least Bridges is trying to be the guy that helped him win an Oscar, Reynolds has been playing the same guy since “Van Wilder”.  Directed by Robert Schwentke (R.E.D) and with a screenplay by Phil Hey and Matt Manfredi, this is one of those forgettable films.  Now with a title like “R.I.P.D” there is the obvious thing to say about how not good this movie is, but I will refrain from saying it. Instead I say, skip this movie, watch the original “Men in Black” and at least be entertained, because this is one film that is dead on arrival.

Brian Taylor