Wednesday, July 31, 2013

R.I.P.D. (2013)

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last fifteen years, you've surely noticed that movies based on comic books have proven to be huge for Hollywood. Well, movies based on superhero comics, anyway. Movies based on comics from other genres don't always turn out so well. Either they're good yet crash and burn at the box office or they end up being frustratingly mediocre. That's why I was intrigued to see how the new movie R.I.P.D. would turn out. Based on Peter M. Lenkov's four-issue comic book published by Dark Horse Comics in 2000, R.I.P.D.'s advertisements made it look like one of those movies that could either be really fun or really hokey. It still got my attention anyway, which is why I had to check it out.

Nick Walker (Ryan Reynolds) and Bobby Hayes (Kevin Bacon) are two of the finest detective among the Boston Police Department's ranks. But everyone's got skeletons in their closets. For Nick, his skeleton is the pile of gold he and Bobby secretly stole from a crime scene. His conscience eating away at him, Nick mentions to Bobby that he's considering turning in his share. A call about a drug bust interrupts Nick before he can tell his superiors about the gold, and in the ensuing shootout, Bobby guns down his partner before he can rat them out.

But as his spirit ascends into the afterlife and approaches the light at the end of the tunnel, Nick is yanked into the office of Mildred Proctor (Mary-Louise Parker), the director of the Rest In Peace Department. A paranormal agency that recruits cops after they die, the R.I.P.D.'s officers are tasked with catching "Deados," monstrous ghosts that have returned to Earth. Proctor offers Nick two choices: join the R.I.P.D. for one hundred years, or face his eternal judgment.

Naturally, Nick accepts and is partnered with Roy Pulsipher (Jeff Bridges), a U.S. Marshall who died in the days of the Wild West. Returning to Boston for their first case together, Nick discovers the suspect they're after is in possession of gold similar to what he and Bobby stole. Nick and Roy investigate further and learn that numerous Deados have been using these gold pieces to assemble an ancient artifact that, once activated, would reverse the tunnel that transports the dead into the afterlife and allow Deados to run wild on Earth. And we can't have that, can we?

I noted earlier that non-superhero comic book movies usually tank at the box office. R.I.P.D. was no exception, and I can't really say I'm surprised. The movie is basically what would have happened if Men in Black ripped off Ghostbusters. I know that description has been thrown around quite a bit by film critics and reviewers, but it's the truth. R.I.P.D. is not a particularly bad movie, but it's not charming or creative enough to rise above mediocrity. Most of the things I liked about R.I.P.D. were things I'd already seen and enjoyed more in other movies. It's just an ultimately forgettable movie that does nearly nothing to stand out.

The movie was directed by Robert Schwentke, who actually does a decent enough job with the movie. His efforts were strong enough to hold the movie together relatively well, but the movie's trailers alone are proof enough that Schwentke wasn't trying to reinvent the wheel. He keeps the movie rolling and it's rarely dull, but if you've seen any movie with a similar premise, you've seen what Schwentke ultimately did with this movie. His direction is serviceable while you're watching the movie and not putting a lot of thought into it, but once the credits roll and you have a little time to reflect upon the movie, you realize just how generic it felt.

But Schwentke's direction is certainly better than the script deserves. Writers Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi have pretty much stolen the plot from Men in Black wholesale. Look at it this way: a hotshot cop is drafted into service for a secretive agency that polices otherworldly entities who walk among us in disguise. He's teamed with a cranky veteran and they uncover a diabolical plot that puts the whole world in danger. Can you tell which movie I just described? Seriously, watch the first Men in Black movie, swap out aliens for ghosts, and you have R.I.P.D.! The movie plays out in almost exactly the same way, and I got the feeling that this is how The Asylum would do their mockbusters if they had access to multimillion-dollar budgets and A-list talent.

Even the cast has some ups and downs. Ryan Reynolds is a good actor when he has material that compliments his strengths, but it just feels like he's on autopilot here. The fact that the character is poorly written doesn't help matters much, but Reynolds comes across like he just wanted to collect a paycheck. Kevin Bacon, meanwhile, does the best he can in his role, playing the character like Bacon is having a ton of fun just being there. Like Reynolds, Bacon's character isn't exactly well-written, but he does make a decent enough go of it.

Mary-Louise Parker and Devin Ratray also contribute some fun performances in their minor roles, but R.I.P.D. belongs to Jeff Bridges. He makes the movie worth seeing, playing his character as a comedic version of how he approached Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. Bridges is the best part of the movie,w ith every second he's on the screen leading to something funny. R.I.P.D. might not be much, but it at least has Bridges going for it.

That, and the 3D effects aren't that bad either. The movie went through a conversion into 3D during post-production, and while some scenes still look flat (like with most converted movies), the 3D actually looks pretty decent. There's a scene where Nick and Roy chase an overweight ghost through the streets of Boston, and the 3D adds a nice bit of depth. It's not the best conversion, but it isn't the worst either.

And truth be told, that's how I could sum up R.I.P.D. in general. It's not great, but I've seen worse too. The movie has a few fleeting flashes of brilliance, and I actually enjoyed it for the most part. It's biggest problem is its lack of originality, but to its credit, it's still a better Men in Black movie than either of the Men in Black sequels. So it has that going for it, right?

Final Rating: **½

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