Up front I’ll just tell you that RIPD isn’t the worst movie I’ve seen in recent years, but I am hard pressed to throw another title out off the top of my head that was, shall we say, less enthralling. Basically, RIPD isn’t a bad movie, but when stacked up against this summer’s competition and the fact that it really is a “Men in Black” clone of sorts, it’s not hard to see why it never had a chance.
My first inclination that what I was about to do wasn’t such a good idea occurred when I asked my daughter if she wanted to see the movie with me. She said no. Wait…what? She usually says yes, without hesitation. Not a good sign. But maybe that’s because she’s 19, has a job and is going to college, so she’s just not feeling her usual self. The second warning shot fired over my bow was when I handed the ticket agent my ticket and he directed me “Down this way, last door on your right.” That was a bad omen because I parked on the other side, which meant when the movie was over I was going to have to walk the full length of the entire movie complex to get back to my truck. Uh oh.
But fear not—it wasn’t all bad. There just wasn’t all that much good.
The pros:
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Jeff Bridges is by far the most memorable character from start to finish, as he just chews up scenery with a casual grace few can match. He plays a deceased lawman from the 1800’s, who is obsessed with how he met his end and the way he was “buried.” He wasn’t actually buried, and that’s what nags at him every day of his life in the hereafter.
Ryan Reynolds does what he can with the material he’s given, but ultimately you’re left wondering why he took this gig in the first place. I mean, seriously, what part of the script did he read that made him think he wanted to do this. I suspect the lure of a possible franchise had something to do with it, but that’s just me spit-balling. That being said, the chemistry between Bridges and Reynolds works pretty well. Mind you, they’ll never be confused with Crystal and Hines in “Running Scared” or Gibson and Glover in “Lethal Weapon,” but they’re far more palpable than Willis and Morgan in “Cop Out.” But as for saddling RIPD’s flop heard round the world results on Reynolds, it’s not his fault, which I’ll explain in a bit.
Mary-Louise Parker is a joy to watch and easily the second best thing about RIPD. Unlike her somewhat naïve “Red” character, she’s straight laced and to the point, and still delivers her lines with zip and timing only outdone by Bridges.
The special effects are mostly well done, with exception to a CGI character or two, and the action is pretty good as well. The story moves along, which is nice, and the crisp run time of an hour and thirty-six (or so) minutes helps.
Now for the cons:
As I mentioned earlier, Reynolds’ character is a good cop made to look somewhat bad, sort of, and as a result he was tasked with the role of a wrongfully killed cop obsessed with righting things, and it just didn’t work to well for him. He had some good moments, some good lines, but overall it just wasn’t his cup of tea. I think things would have gone better if he hadn’t tried so hard (or perhaps been shoehorned) to be a straight forward no nonsense cop, anguishing over the betrayal of his partner and wanting to clear his name with his wife. Reynolds is pretty good at delivering flippant zingers, much like Will Smith, but he didn’t or wasn’t allowed to do that very much in this one, and it hurt.
I don’t necessarily have a problem with “Instead” stories, meaning stories that look at other stories and say, “Okay, instead of doing what they did in X-movie, we’ll do (insert charmingly witty modification/update here) instead.” But in order for that to work, the change up has to be noticeably different, and that’s probably the biggest problem with RIPD. It really does come off as a “Men in Black” wanna be. Yes, the production values, the headquarter offices and the premise setup are fairly good, but it really does look and feel like some second cousin-based fourth installment of the MIB series. And we’ve gotten at least one, if not two too many of those.
Another problem is the whole “Where do the dead go?” thing. As explained to Reynolds, upon his arrival at the Rest In Peace Department, he was headed for judgment before they (RIPD) intercepted him, so his choices were work with them or head on up to judgment. The problem is that it’s never explained how the other “deados” escape judgment, how they get back down to earth and are able to walk around looking like the rest of us. They aren’t portrayed as ghosts, but rather as people, just like us. None of this is explained and it hurt the story, big time.
But the biggest problem with RIPD isn’t so much the movie itself, but rather when it was released, which ultimately turned it into D.O.A. Releasing RIPD while Pacific Rim, Despicable Me 2, Monsters University and The Lone Ranger would probably still be playing and a week before The Wolverine was ballsy. Throw in two other movies opening the same week—James Wan’s The Conjuring and Red 2—and what’s considered a “late summer” release date and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
And make no mistake; RIPD is in disaster mode, financially speaking. After two weeks the $130 million budget film has only grossed, worldwide, $24.5 million. Ouch. Somebody’s probably going to be fired over that. That being said, I have no idea how many countries the movie is playing in as of this writing, so there’s still hope it’ll at least recover its production costs, but so far it’s not looking good.
All things said, I’ll buy it when it comes out on DVD/Blu-Ray and add it to my CBM collection, and I’ll probably even watch it again, soon after the purchase. But after that, it’ll more than likely be a long time before I watch again. RIPD has its moments and a few charms, but overall it misses the mark. Catch it on NetFlix, if they even pick it up.
RIPD gets 2 out of 5 stars, mainly because of Jeff Bridges and Mary-Louise Parker, both of whom are just simply adorable.
I’m Citizen…