R.I.P.D. (2013)

Director: Robert Schwentke. Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Bacon, Jeff Bridges, Mary-Louise Parker, Stephanie Szostak. USA 2013, 96 mins. This film was well and truly R.I.P.P.E.D. to pieces when it was released (eventually) in the US. Completed back at the end of January 2012, its release date was pushed back to June 2013 - with no advanced critic screenings...Was the ripping unfair? Yes and no. To put my review in context, I viewed R.I.P.D.(3D) on the August Bank Holiday Saturday at 9pm on the massive Empire One screen as part of FrightFest 2013. The audience put on their 3D glasses and with popcorn buckets in hand, prepared to meet the film at least half-way. Based on the inevitably darker 'Rest In Peace Department’ comic book by Peter M. Lenkov (Dark Horse Entertainment), R.I.P.D. shamelessly rips off M.I.B. Such is the extent of this 'wholesale borrowing' you wonder whether the creators have had their own memories of MEN IN BLACK  wiped by neutralizing pens - or perhaps they think the audience has...? Instead of hunting down aliens, the R.I.P.D. (consisting of deceased law enforcement officers) track down "Deados", spirits that have failed to cross over and are trapped on Earth as ghost monsters. Grumpy old grizzled Agent K - erm, I mean grumpy old Sheriff Roy Pulsipher, (Jeff Bridges), a former US Marshal from the old Wild West, is partnered with newly recruited and newly deceased Boston Detective Nick Walker (Ryan Reynolds). Bridges delivers his dialogue as if chewing a gob-full of tobacco whilst sucking on a Willy Wonka everlasting gobstopper. It must have been tempting to add subtitles in post-production - but it's worth pulling your ears back as he delivers some real gems. I can't recall many other mainstream 12A's which include a character relaying how he watched a coyote pleasuring himself with his dead skull, to which his partner replies: "I hope he got both eyes Roy".  Another nice touch is that the two deceased cops are assigned avatars back on Earth. Ryan Reynolds appears as an elderly Chinese man (played by James Hong) and Bridges is perceived as a stunning blonde (Marisa Miller) - who keeps getting wolf-whistled by workmen. Mary-Louise Parker (in the Rip Torn role) pulls off a deadpan interview with newly arrived Detective Walker, nicely juxtaposing the spectacular preceding sequence when he is sucked up into the clouds and plonked in the stark white interview room.  But, apart from this set-piece, the CG ghost monsters are somewhat ropey, surprisingly ropey given the film's alleged budget - and the majority of the effects work on screen looks very run-on-the-mill and clichéd. The post-conversion 3D is intermittently effective - the aforementioned 'heavenly-calling' sequence being particularly striking - and there's a few in-your-face: duck! moments thrown in for good measure. Ultimately however, R.I.P.D. doesn't amount to a great deal, with the seriously unimpressive finale almost single-handedly deflating any goodwill the film has previously built up. The underlying feeling is that there are promising elements jumbling around within the vortex of this film - but rather than them fusing together into a cohesive whole, they shoot off at tangents - sometimes hitting the target - and sometimes flying well wide of the mark. But on that Saturday night at FrightFest it provided an undemanding and largely entertaining 96mins - not enough to justify the zero's in the budget - but certainly worth a carton of popcorn. *** (out of 5*) Paul Worts