Predicted Rating: 3 Stars
Directed by: Robert Schwentke (Red). Starring: Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski), Ryan Reynolds (Every girl's dreams) and Kevin Bacon (Footloose).
Slightly dodgy, or maybe not, cop Nick Walker (Reynolds) is sent out on a drug bust with his long time partner Bobby Hayes (Bacon). During the bust, Walker is intentionally gunned down and killed by Hayes. In the afterlife, Walker is recruited to the Rest in Peace Department, a supernatural department consisting of dead police officers required to stop "Deados" or monstrous spirits roaming the Earth. Walker is teamed with Roy Pulsipher (Bridges), an old sheriff from the 1800's. After they discover that the Deados, led by Hayes, are attempting to reconstruct the Staff of Jericho to bring all the Deados to Earth to reek havoc, it is up to Pulsipher and Walker to save the day.
In the end, this film wasn't a bad piece of entertainment, it just suffered from an extremely weak script. The overall idea of having a deceased police force fighting supernatural forces is fairly inventive. Even the story of the reconstruction of the Staff of Jericho has its merits. However, it is the all important "padding" that is clearly absent. R.I.P.D. attempts to go down the path of action comedy but just doesn't execute it well. It tends to flog a dead horse by repeating the same jokes over and over. Yes we get it, Ryan Reynolds actually looks like an old Asian man and Jeff Bridges is an attractive woman, don't try and make the same joke 12 times during the film. Don't get me wrong, I admit I did chuckle a few times but the laughs are few and far in between.
I think the downfalls in the script are directly related to R.I.P.D. being a blatant knockoff of Ghostbusters, but more so, Men in Black. I truly believe that the writers sat down, wrote something and realised, oh crap, that was in Men in Black, oh well lets make the joke that Jeff Bridges was killed by coyotes again. The problems were further compounded by the fact that the two main characters are exactly the same as the two from Men in Black. Pulsipher is Agent K, the ageing, disgruntled, cynical veteran and Walker is Agent J, the enthusiastic but naive rookie. This script would have worked much better being titled Men in Black 4 as opposed to R.I.P.D.
Even with the poor script, the actors tried their hardest to save the film. Jeff Bridges was awesome even though you really couldn't understand what he said most of the time. Every time he came on screen you just wanted to yell "Jeff Bridges!". There were reports that Zach Galifianakas was intended for the role of Pulsipher but had to pull out due to a scheduling conflict. This would have been a very different film if he was in it, however I can quite tell whether it would have been better or worse. Mary Louise Parker was pretty funny and is looking damn fine for someone who is 49 and Kevin Bacon was well, Kevin Bacon. However, Ryan Reynolds was sort of just there, waiting for the scene to finish to pick up his pay check. The casting of his on screen wife was interesting too, mainly because he could probably do a lot better. I assume they got this actress because she was the only person who could have a shirtless Ryan Reynolds lying on top of her, looking into her eyes and still remember her lines.
Overall: A good idea but suffered from scripting problems. You are probably better off watching Men in Black again. 2 stars
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