R.I.P.D.

Inspired by a Dark Horse comic book, R.I.P.D. follows a pair of mismatched (and deceased) cops (Ryan Reynolds’ Nick and Jeff Bridges’ Roy) as they track down and arrest law-breakers who’ve escaped from Hell and disguised themselves as living humans. There’s nothing especially fresh or innovative about R.I.P.D. and yet the movie is, in its early stages, much more watchable than one might’ve anticipated, as the movie boasts a brisk pace and a tremendously entertaining (and impressively idiosyncratic) performance from Bridges – with the script’s blatant resemblance to the Men in Black series, as a result, initially not as problematic as it could (and should) have been. There reaches a point, however, at which filmmaker Robert Schwentke, working from Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi’s screenplay, takes the emphasis off the characters and increasingly places it on larger-than-life action set pieces, which perhaps wouldn’t have been quite so bad if the film hadn’t been suffused with some of the worst computer-generated special effects to come around in quite some time (ie everything, virtually without exception, looks as though it’s emerged from a second-rate video game). The movie’s progressively over-the-top sensibilities slowly-but-surely render its positive attributes moot, with, even, Bridges’ work losing its luster and becoming as disposable as everything else within the proceedings. By the time the incoherent, interminable climax rolls around, R.I.P.D. has established itself as a note-perfect example of everything that’s wrong with contemporary blockbusters – which ensures that the film is likely to turn off even the most forgiving of cinemagoers.

*1/2 out of ****