Review of R.I.P.D. (2013) by Pixcelation — 09 Aug 2013

This review was originally posted on www.Pixcelation.com by Andrew Korkmas.

A couple days ago I watched “The Wolverine” and to me, it was boring. The week before I watched “The Conjuring” and while I felt the directing was great, on the whole, the movie reeked of a “been there done that” sort of feel. Today I made a deal with a friend of mine. In exchange for him accompanying me to the local movie theater for a viewing of “R.I.P.D.,” I would watch “Paranormal Activity 4” with him, a movie from a series I loathe with a passion. I bring this up because sadly, “R.I.P.D.” seems to be a combination of both “The Wolverine” and “The Conjuring” because despite some good directing during the action sequences, it was still a boring and much like the characters in the film, lifeless flick.

The story is as basic as it goes. If you’ve seen “Men in Black,” “Ghostbusters,” hell even if you’ve seen “Jonah Hex” (if you haven’t then don’t) you’ll know this film inside and out. Secret agency that protects the world behind the scenes? Check. Two cops that are completely different in both appearance and attitude that must save the world? Check. “R.I.P.D.” seems to be hell-bent on going for every single cliché action movie characteristic. I honestly can’t think of a single thing about the script that was good.

I hate when I see good actors stuck in mediocre movies. As such, you can probably imagine how frustrating it is to see two actors I love cast in a bad movie. Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds try. They really do. You can see it in their eyes. They’re desperately trying to save the movie but their lines are so bad that no amount of good acting can save it. It’s like a Shakespearean tragedy just without the good writing…which sadly means Shakespeare has nothing to do with it. And then, there’s Kevin Bacon. I’m not going to pretend like I’m a fan of his acting because I’m not, and this movie certainly doesn’t redeem him in my eyes.

So the dialogue and writing are horrible and the acting can’t save it, but here’s the thing, the directing was actually good during the action scenes. The actual action itself wasn’t super stimulating but the cinematography was actually good. You could follow the actual action unlike most horrible modern action movies where the directors are hopped up on crack or something so the camera goes all over. The first fight scene was pretty mediocre, second was good enough and the third and final action scene was actually good.

Like most action adventure movies, there’s usually an element of comedy in it. Somehow, “R.I.P.D.’s” humor ranges from confusing and disturbing, to eight year old humor. What’s worse is the best comedic idea they have is squandered. If you’ve seen the trailers, you know that since the two protagonists are dead, in the real world they don’t look like themselves. Bridges looks like a smoking hot blonde while Reynolds looks like an old Asian man. This sounds great but they don’t utilize it nearly as much as they should.

Let’s talk about the Deado’s, the undead creatures that Reynolds and Bridges fight in the movie, they look stupid. Saying their designs are unoriginal is an understatement. The only things that differentiate them from normal people are extra limbs, distorted bodies and their greater sizes. There’s one in particular that looks like basically any obscenely obese person in the world just with a “ginger Elvis look” as the characters call it. It’s shame these designs just come across as lazy because any movie involving undead creatures should do the part and make them look interesting. Even in most zombie movies the zombies look good in the sense that the makeup artists and special effects artists took the time to make each zombie look different from the next but in “R.I.P.D” the only differences are that certain ones have more mouths or hands or other body parts than the next. Even Kevin Bacon’s character seems to be just him with a little crack in his head.

No matter how you look at it, “R.I.P.D.” fails on multiple levels. Like “The Conjuring,” it is proof that good directing is not enough to save a movie that has this many cumbersome flaws. I now completely understand why it has received all the negative reviews it has. I know I preemptively said I would enjoy this movie more than “The Conjuring” in my review of “The Conjuring,” but I have to say that was an accidental preemptive lie…if that’s even a thing. If you have money to burn, then set those dollar bills on fire. Because watching your money turn to ash is far more entertaining than watching “R.I.P.D.”.

“R.I.P.D.