Review of R.I.P.D. (2013) by James W — 19 Apr 2014

One of the biggest flops of 2013, and a critical turkey as well, R.I.P.D took my interest as soon as I saw it's disappointing box office score. R.I.P.D joined The Lone Ranger, White House Down and other failures of the year, but I watched them knowing they couldn't be that bad, and they were good fun, delightfully campy and action packed.

This one is good fun as well, the performances are delightfully deadpan in delivery and highly watchable, the story is ridiculous but worth following and the special effects are tremendous, from collapsing city blocks, ugly monsters to explosive gunfights. But this movie does have it's flaws, the biggest being the straying into Men In Black territory with it's story: Rookie officer joins an unseen secret organisation to fight monsters. That's pretty much it, and the enemy plot is underdeveloped, using a portal to reverse the gravity bringing all the undead back to Earth, there is no further plan and that's it. There are a few dull scenes, notably the ones where Nick digs deep to find the meaning of the gold and attempt to connect with his beautiful wife played by the sadly underused Stephanie Szostak whose talent is buried away behind the spectacle. The chemistry between the two undead cops is there but almost non-existent, there isn't much banter or smart lines between them, it's more arguing and disagreeing. What I really enjoyed was Mary Louise Parker's performance as Proctor, a sarcastic and quick witted officer who employs Nick, Parker plays sarcasm very well, she grounds us viewers back on Earth, almost making us realise she's in on the joke of how crazy the movie is.

As for the 3D, it makes the film even more entertaining. From the opening you'll notice highly impressive depth which continues to amaze throughout, check out the pause time sequence where Nick dies, and the shootout stops, leaving explosions, S.W.A.T guards and bullets suspended mid-air, it looks amazing. In the R.I.P.D department the depth sprawls through the office, even the spacing during the scene where Nick meets Proctor is great. I loved the last act in the city, the depth here feels deep as if you can just peer through the cityscape. Objects are very shapely, especially the guns all of which pop through the screen. The pop out effects are tremendous, albeit very short lived but even when arrows and hi tech weaponry poke out it does have a reactionary effect which is nice.

Would I watch it again? Yes, just about, Robert Schwentke's direction is solid, some of his action sequences and camerawork impresses, then other times the action turns into video game territory and the camerawork feels wooden and cheap. Thankfully the tone is solid settling on a wild ride of weird monsters, big city based destruction and some neat ideas of it's own.