Veteran sheriff Roy Pulsifer (Bridges) has spent his career with the legendary police force known as R.I.P.D. tracking monstrous spirits who are cleverly disguised as ordinary people. His mission? To arrest and bring to justice a special brand of criminals trying to escape final judgment by hiding among the unsuspecting on Earth. Once the wise-cracking Roy is assigned former rising-star detective Nick Walker (Reynolds) as his junior officer, the new partners have to turn grudging respect into top-notch teamwork. When they uncover a plot that could end life as we know it, two of R.I.P.D.’s finest must miraculously restore the cosmic balance...or watch the tunnel to the afterlife begin sending angry souls the very wrong way.~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi
Director: Robert Schwentke
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Bacon, Mary-Louise Parker, Stephanie Szostak
Release Date: Jul 19, 2013 RealD 3D
Rated PG-13 for violence, sci-fi/fantasy action, some sensuality, and language including sex references
Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy
Review:
R.I.P.D is a hammier sillier knock off of Men In Black, some of the character designs and sets look like they’ve been stolen from their backlot, with bits of Ghostbusters sprinkled in for good measure. If you can get past that fact then you might be able to enjoy some of the goofy fun on display here. Robert Schwentke created a breeze silly little film with some rather impressive action set pieces especially the 3D finale. It rarely lingers much on anything and moves from scene to scene like a college kid on a bar hop. When it does linger to long on quiet moments it really bogs down, thankfully there aren’t many. Most of the cast seems to be having a ball especially Jeff Bridges who chews up scenery throughout. Bridges just looks like he’s having a ball and while he and Ryan Reynolds don’t have perfect chemistry together it works well enough. Reynolds himself does his usual act and it fit the character for the most part. Mary-Louise Parker is great in a small but fun turn as the duo’s boss. Kevin Bacon is the only one that kind of phones in his performance, he seems rather disinterested for the most part. Honestly, that might be a result of reading the overly predictable script. There isn’t any tension throughout the film and the plot is rather uninspired even downright lazy occasionally. R.I.P.D is harmless fluff that’ll probably be viewed more often than not on cable tv.
C+
Great review, pretty much exactly what I said. Not sure why the critics are so hard on it. It is, exactly as you said, harmless.
ReplyDeleteYeah I enjoyed it a lot more than I didn't so it did its job.
DeletePretty much what I expected from the trailers. Harmless but forgettable fun.
ReplyDeleteComes to Austrian end of August. Not sure if I shall check it out...
Eh, it was funny enough to keep me entertained for a bit. An obvious knock off but cast is having a lot of fun.
DeleteI am a lazy filmmakers target audience - the lazy cinema goer!
ReplyDeleteThe trailer looks bland and predictable but I know I will see it.
The C+ rating is pretty much what I expected from the film. I am not entirely sure when we get it. There hasn't been much advertising for it as yet.
I actually think that your comment that it could become a frequent cable watch is a pretty big compliment! It looks like easy background viewing!
K :-)
It's perfect for background viewing, you can do all kinds of things while it's playing in the background and not miss a thing!
DeleteIf I enjoy it Chris Evans, my go to 90min background noise actor, may get annoyed!
DeleteLOL.
DeleteJeff Bridges looks a lot like his other role Rooster Cogburn minus an eye patch. Even though I knew it would probably be a MIB rip-off, I was hoping that it would not have at least average, but this will be a Redbox rental for sure. You might already know this, but RIPD is based on a Darkhorse comic book.
ReplyDelete-James
A rental is perfect for this film James. Bridges is kind of drawing on that and you can just tell he's having a blast doing it. Yep, knew it was a comic but not familiar with it, similarities to MIB in the movie are just too hard to ignore.
Delete