Tuesday, July 30, 2013
This summer has certainly had a lot of blockbusters, and it’s not over yet. I can hardly keep up with them all. Of all the movies I’ve seen so far this year, RIPD is not the worst one, although not the best either. RIPD is a supernatural comedic action flick with a bit of romance thrown in, and is overall an enjoyable film to watch. So what’s it all about anyway?
In simplest terms, it’s Men in Black meets Ghostbusters. Within the heavenly framework of the universe, there’s an organization called the RIPD (“Rest In Peace Department”) consisting of deceased law officers who are tasked with returning to earth to hunt down and collect bad souls who shouldn’t be there. These souls look like regular people until they’re “popped” by RIPD officers and take on their true form: hideous monsters who then get shot in the head by those same officers, if all goes according to plan, that it.
Enter our hero: Nick Walker, played by Ryan Reynolds. He’s a Boston police officer who dies on duty and is recruited into the RIPD. He’s assigned a partner to show him the ropes: an old grumpy cowboy named Roy Pulcipher, played by Jeff Bridges. So this new odd couple goes out into the city to hunt down these weirdos and send them back to where they came from. Wait, are we talking about Men in Black? The two films certainly have a similar feel: two stubborn personalities, a rookie and a veteran, driving around the city and arguing. Oh, and the end of the world factors in somewhere too.
The story was fairly decent, a simple premise but quite satisfying, if not predictable. The film’s real strength is its comedy, which bordered on absurd at times but ultimately made it quite an enjoyable experience. Mary Louise Parker was nothing but funny for almost the entirety of her screen time, mostly because of her facial expressions. Jeff Bridges’ character was pretty hilarious as well. He was essentially a comedic version of the character he played in True Grit. The look and the accent were exactly the same, and his speech was so mumbly at times, I wondered how the hell he did that with his mouth; it must have been painful!
Ryan Reynolds was the same as always: a convincing actor and a good hero to root for, funny at times and very relatable. Kevin Bacon plays the villain in this one, which was also a very good choice. As a friend of mine once put it, when it doesn’t make sense for the villain to be English, just get Kevin Bacon.
Cinematography was so-so, action sequences—of which there were plenty—were well done. Like so many summer blockbusters, it relied heavily on visual effects, which were nothing special. The quality of CGI has tapered off in my opinion; they can essentially do whatever they want with computers these days, and I see little difference in quality between films. So, the effects were okay, but nothing I haven’t seen a hundred times before.
Being from the Boston area, I appreciate that they filmed this movie in Beantown, although I suppose they could have filmed it in any other city if they wanted to. I should also mention that the movie was based on a comic book series called Rest in Peace Department published by Dark Horse Comics. I don’t really read comic books, so I have no idea how close the movie was to the original story.
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Overall, Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges make a good team, and if you’re looking for a good time, RIPD is a good way to spend an hour and a half. No Oscars expected, but still enjoyable.
Story: 6/10
Acting: 7/10
Mise-en-scène: 5/10
Cinematography: 5/10
Soundtrack: 6/10
Score: 5.8/10
