Written by / 7/18/2013 / 1 Comment / , , , , , , , , ,

RYAN REYNOLDS & JEFF BRIDGES IN R.I.P.D.

year: 2013 rating: **1/2

While it really does resemble MEN IN BLACK in both style and structure, especially within the busy and bizarre offices of The Rest in Peace Department… home base for dead cops to find and arrest the undead lurking amongst the city masses… R.I.P.D. is more of a cross between GHOST and GHOSTBUSTERS...

We begin with two crooked detectives, one played by Ryan Reynolds as Nick and Kevin Bacon as Hayes – but Nick is good deep down and pays the price for having doubts about stealing gold at a drug raid. Upon being killed right after a cool looking shootout, our anti hero descends upward into… not exactly heaven, hell, or purgatory but the Department where little of the film actually takes place.

Much of the action occurs on the city streets as Nick endures his stubborn partner, a veteran “lawman” originally from the Wild West named Roy. Jeff Bridges fits the part so well he forgot he's not Rooster Cogburn in TRUE GRIT. With a slurred alum-tongued speech pattern and stock world-weary gruffness, Bridges makes a good Oscar to his Felix-partner Reynolds, who, surprisingly enough, can also play rough n’ tumble pretty well. After all, Nick has more to fight for – his wife’s being visited by his nefarious ex-partner... here’s where GHOST comes in...  and eventually the stolen gold connects to an otherworld plot where, like GHOSTBUSTERS, the undead could paint the town all sorts of bad colors. Some of the funniest parts show Nick and Roy the way humans see them: Roy’s a sexy blonde chick and Nick’s an old Chinese man. At times you’ll want more of the avatars present since Bridges and Reynolds, while likable enough, eventually play second-fiddle to the cartoonish special effects: whenever the dead show themselves in true form they bloat into monstrous Hulk-like beasts.

Thankfully the movie's so short the flaws don’t really matter, and there’s a pretty decent balance of action and comedy, yet the humor doesn’t rely on one-liners as much as Roy's perpetual reluctance to accept Nick – and vice versa. But the best thing about R.I.P.D. is the direction, flowing like an edgy crime flick on its own right with a jazzy/funky soundtrack and a fun, gritty undertone reminiscent of GET SHORTY and OUT OF SIGHT.

Share This Post :
Tags : , , , , , , , , ,

1 comment:

  1. Interesting. I just assumed that if you saw this it would get one or no stars. I saw the trailer and walked out of the movie theater and then realized, oh yea, MAN OF STEEL hadn't started yet. I should have stuck with just leaving, I could have done without watching MAN OF STEEL. Seriously though your review makes me want to go give the movie a chance. The trailer with the heavy overacting by Bridges made me want to stab myself in the eyes and take a power drill to my skull.

    Very well then. I'll have to check it out. Persuasive and excellent review.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

All Time Popular

Featured Post

NAKEDLY INGITING THE ANIMATED CULT CLASSIC 'HEAVY METAL'

Title: HEAVY METAL Year: 1981 Rating: **** The best two stories from HEAVY METAL... producer Ivan Reitman's animated/cartoon anthology w...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM QUOTE: "A ghost... A living dead... It's also a drink." James Bell in Jacques Tourneur's I Walked With A Zombie

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)WHITE LIGHTNING 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)HIDDEN FEAR 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)IMPASSE 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6) CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

CINEMA OF BURT REYNOLDS

Most Popular Last Year