R.I.P.D.: The latest box office bomb this summer

Today, I look at the supernatural action-comedy which tries to combine Ghostbusters and Men in Black, but isn't nearly as awesome as that sounds.

R.I.P.D.:
Nick Walker, a decent Boston PD officer, is gunned down during a raid. He awakens in a supernatural police station where he is given the chance to face judgment at the Pearly Gates or join the RIPD (Rest In Peace Department) for 100 years. He chooses the latter and is paired with department veteran Roy, a US Marshal from the Wild West. They go after several renegade ghosts (or "deados"), before uncovering a link between the "deados" and an ancient prophecy that tells of the apocalypse. I didn't have high hopes for the film, and it wasn't particularly good, but overall, it's harmless. It's not something I would go out of my way to see (as you can tell by how late this review is), but overall it's not that bad. Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges make a good team, and have pretty good chemistry. There are some pretty good moments between the two, but they don't have chemistry like Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black, or the group of comedians in Ghostbusters. Reynolds is a bit bland. Most of the comedy in the film comes from Bridges' entertaining performance as an eccentric and over-the-top cowboy. He's the glue that holds it all together. Kevin Bacon, Mary Louise-Parker (Weeds, RED), and Stephanie Szostak (Iron Man 3) appear in supporting roles. Bacon plays an underwhelming bad guy, Louise-Parker plays the stern head of RIPD Boston, and Szostak is just there. James Hong (a Chinese actor and voice actor known for his roles in Mulan, Teen Titans, Chowder, Seinfeld, All in the Family, Big Trouble in Little China, Kung Fu, The Big Bang Theory, Kung Fu Panda, and Jackie Chan Adventures) and Marisa Miller (an SI model) play Nick and Roy's "avatars", the bodies they use while on patrol in the living world. Mike Judge (creator of Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill, director of Office Space and Idiocracy, and voice of Kenny in South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut) voices a few of the "deados" in the films. Funny little fact: Zach Galifianakis was originally cast as Roy, which I can't see working well, so I'm glad Bridges was cast. Jodie Foster was also originally cast as the head of RIPD Boston, but Louise-Parker got the role. The movie is somewhat underwhelming, the story seems very small and a little too fast-moving. What I mean by "small story", is that usually in summer blockbusters you expect a large-scale, satisfying story, like in Pacific Rim, The Dark Knight, The Avengers, and Iron Man. But here, it's somewhat dissatisfying. The CG is good, but a bit below-par for a summer blockbuster. Usually, summer blockbusters are 2-hours long, or longer. This film is pretty short, just about and hour and a half, the minimum run-time for a theatrical film. So it feels like it just rushes by, again, unsatisfying. The movie also doesn't have that much action, it's mostly humor oriented. The humor is also sub-par. I would stay for the first half of the credits, as Jeff Bridges sings an original, humorous country song, which was okay. Overall, R.I.P.D. is a mediocre blockbuster, it's honestly no surprise this film was a bit of a box office disappointment. The humor is just okay (besides a couple pretty good moments), the action is a bit below average, and the CG is mediocre. The two leads do good, but the rest of the cast is just sort of there, with little to do. The film is a too formulaic and predictable for it's own good, and unfortunately is just sort of forgettable. 2/5 stars.

Editorial note, August 7, 2013: I have changed the rating from 2.5 stars, to just 2 stars.

Links:
A YouTube review by Jeremy Jahns I enjoyed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpa3TpjRFXQ



 (Images: Wikipedia)