R.I.P.D. (2013)
Directed by Robert Schwentke
A recently slain cop joins a team of undead police officers working for the Rest in Peace Department and tries to find the man who murdered him.
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4 films that influenced R.I.P.D.
What critics say influenced R.I.P.D.
Novel in a comic book, certainly, but here's it's just empty window dressing for a concept, style, and presentation that feels like the unholy combination of Dead Heat (1988), Ghost (1990), Ghostbusters (1984), and (dear lord) Cowboys and Aliens.
The convoluted but never interesting story, written by David Dobkins, Phil Hay and Matt Manfred, combines element of “Ghostbusters,” “Men in Black” and “Ghost.”
But it seems unwise to turn Ghost into another movie that trashes a city (Boston) and in which the odd-couple cops try to stop the backstabbing Tony Goldwyn character from Ghost — played by Kevin Bacon here, using his Mystic River accent — from assembling a device that opens a portal that will send what appears to be a gushing cyclone of billions of undead monsters to Earth.
A little “Ghost,” a lot of “Men in Black,” “R.I.P.D.” has Mary-Louise Parker as the Proctor of the Afterlife, the station chief who pairs up partners and gives these guys their marching orders.
An unholy mash-up of “Men in Black,” “Ghost” and the short-lived CW series “Reaper,” Robert Schwentke’s “R.I.P.D.” is yet another comic-book adaptation that should have stayed on the page.
The team head back to Earth, where Nick watches with unease as (shades of Ghost) his girlfriend (Stephanie Szostak) is comforted by his ex-partner and Roy exposes various "deados" by eating Indian food (huh?) in front of them.
And as faintly amusing and reminiscent of Tommy Lee Jones’ “Men in Black” as turn this might be, there’s no way these two smart guys didn’t see this was piffle on the page.
Instead of getting Will Smith playing a rookie alien investigator and Tommy Lee Jones playing the crusty, cranky veteran with whom he is partnered in the "Men in Black" films, it's Ryan Reynolds paired with a crusty, cranky Jeff Bridges .
Wait, when did Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds take over the Men in Black franchise from Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith?
It’s not difficult to see why: for all the crash-bang-wallop effects (some of which look a lot less convincing than even Men In Black’s 1997-era visuals) and attempts at buddy comedy, Red director Robert Schwentke’s latest lacks a real spark, content to blithely tick boxes en route to the usual big finale like a zombie shuffling ever onwards.
Novel in a comic book, certainly, but here's it's just empty window dressing for a concept, style, and presentation that feels like the unholy combination of Dead Heat (1988), Ghost (1990), Ghostbusters (1984), and (dear lord) Cowboys and Aliens.
Perhaps if Mel Brooks could have been induced to make a big-screen comeback with a zombie genre send-up as a sort of companion piece to Spaceballs, we would have had something worth watching.