When you die, you get judged and go to either one of two places: heaven or hell. But sometimes…people just like earth too much and don’t feel like leaving.
That’s where the R.I.P.D. comes in: the Rest in Peace Department. The job of the R.I.P.D. is to find those “Deados” and bring them in for judgment, protecting the living world from those who belong in the afterlife. It’s safe to say that R.I.P.D. looks like a combination of both Men in Black and Ghostbusters. In this case, that’s hardly a bad thing as R.I.P.D. is an enjoyable ride with a lot of heart.
The film opens up with Nick Walker (Ryan Reynolds) burying what looks to be gold in his backyard during the late hours of the night. When woken up in the morning by his wife Julia (Stephanie Szostak), she questions why there is now an orange tree in the backyard. The two spend some “quality” time together before Nick heads off to work and Julia goes out for a jog. Nick is an officer for the Boston Police Department, where he and his partner Bobby Hayes (Kevin Bacon) are dirty cops who both have a bit of gold. Nick has a change of heart and decides to put his stash in evidence instead of keeping it.
Nick and Bobby go on a drug bust to capture Garza, the leader of a meth operation. Unfortunately for Nick, he gets a face full of bullets followed by a long fall finished off by an unpleasant snap of the neck on the way down. It’s safe to say that he’s dead. Nick then gets up from the fall only to see that the whole world around him is stuck in time. He walks outside the building and then begins to float into the sky and finds himself heading straight into a giant portal.
Nick then finds himself in a room with Proctor (Mary-Louise Parker), who tells him what he already knew: he’s dead. Proctor runs the R.I.P.D. district in Boston and wants to bring Nick in to work for them. She knows of his shady past and lets him know that if he gives 100 years to the R.I.P.D., she will put in a good word for him when his judgment day comes. She also informs him of one very important rule: when he is back on Earth with the living, he will no longer be himself and won’t be able to go back to his wife.
Proctor brings Nick to the R.I.P.D. offices, where we see all different cops from all eras of time. Nick is then introduced to his new partner Roy Pulsipher (Jeff Bridges, who brings back his best Rooster Cogburn impression), who has to show Nick the ropes and how things work. Roy tells Nick that when on earth they will each look different; Nick will look like an old Chinese man named Jerry Chen (James Hong), while Roy is the stunning Opal Pavlenko (Marisa Miller). The two don’t exactly hit it off right away as Roy allows Nick to make a fool of him, but when they have to work together they make a damn good team.
Bridges and Reynolds are at their finest here as they both just have such great chemistry with one another. While I questioned Bridges decision to appear in this movie after his Oscar-nominated turn in True Grit, he is one of the bright spots in this movie. The two are always having such a good time together and you can tell within the first few minutes of seeing them together. It’s also hilarious seeing Bridges act sexy from time to time when he has to play the part of Marisa Miller.
Director Robert Schwentke is able to bring a steady balance between the action of the film and the heart of the characters. There aren’t as many action sequences as I expected which is due to the fact that Schwentke allows his characters to develop and deal with the issues they haven’t resolved cause of their deaths. He brings such a visual flair to the film as well and is able to use the 3D medium to his advantage with wild whip pans and creative cinematography that allows the audience to feel as if they’re a part of the action.
With R.I.P.D., Schwentke brings the buddy-cop genre to a whole new, exciting place. He never gets caught up in the action sequences to where they feel excessive and he never gets caught up in the drama to where it feels melodramatic. With the help of Bridges and Reynolds, R.I.P.D. is an enjoyable film that has a treat for everyone.
“R.I.P.D.” is now playing.
-Joshua Kaye
