On the surface of it, this movie seems harmless. It's just a silly little comedy with a crazy premise and it's about as unoriginal as it gets. That's not the part that upsets me. I'm not all that angry that it's a complete rip-off of Men In Black. Honestly, I'm not. If you want my quick review, there it is. It's Men In Black but with ghosts instead of aliens. Don't believe me, let's compare:
Men In Black is about a young hot shot cop who is recruited into the MiB because they recognize his skills. R.I.P.D. is about a young hot shot cop who is recruited into the Rest In Peace Devision because they recognize his skills. The twist is that he was (kind of) a dirty cop looking for a little bit of salvation.
Men In Black had a grizzled old veteran named K who was without a partner who tends to play outside the rules but gets the job done. R.I.P.D. has a grizzled old veteran named Roy who was without a partner who tends to play outside the rules but gets the job done. We are first introduced to Agent K with him interrogating an alien he then eventually shoots into blue goo. We meet Roy as he shoots a fleeing monster and turns him into blue smoke.
Men In Black has our protagonist save the world from certain doom on his first day. R.I.P.D. has our protagonist save the world from certain doom on his first day. Men In Black has them searching for something called "the galaxy". R.I.P.D. has the heroes trying to find "the staff of Jericho."
It's the job of the MiB to police and conceal alien activity on planet Earth. It's the job of the R.I.P.D. to police and conceal demonic creatures from Hell. But, while MiB has a memory eraser device made out of science, R.I.P.D. doesn't have even that little fig leaf.
I could go on but why bother. I made my point.
And again, this isn't what upset me about this movie. At least not entirely. This movie is the very definition of couldn't care less. It's a totally phoned-in, cash grab of a movie. Just throw in some A-list celebrities like Kevin Bacon, Jeff Bridges, and Ryan Reynolds and see how many people will go see it.
I have to talk about the internal logic. When you create a fantastical world, you have to put some time and care into it. Believe it or not, MiB did that. They carefully explained the need for secrecy, they introduced a plausible method for why people would be unaware of alien activity, and they had characters that acted in logical ways considering the abnormality of the environment. In other words: the world is strange to us, but not to them. And over the course of the movie the world becomes less strange because time and care is given to ensuring that the world doesn't remain strange.
R.I.P.D. on the other hand couldn't care less. We are introduced to a world where there is a life after death. There's a Heaven and a Hell. In this world, if someone dies and hangs around on Earth too long they become more monster like. But if you are a cop and you die, the R.I.P.D. will recruit you and it'll be your job to arrest the monsters and send them to Hell. That part is easy to understand. The part about secrecy is not.
They try but it could've been done so much easier. They throw out a bunch of junk about how the living have to keep living and move on, but I have to ask why? There is a life after death! You know that one true love you had, and then tragically died? Not to worry because there is a life after death! There's no point in finding someone else. There's no point in grieving. Just keep on and carry on. When you die, you'll see that person again. How weird would that be if you married someone, that person died, you remarry someone else, and then meet your first spouse in Heaven? And then your second spouse died. I know in the Bible it says we would be like the Angels and not given as husband and wife, but we aren't talking about the Bible. We are talking about this movie. In this movie we are still us. Our individuality remains intact. The only difference between being alive and being dead is that it's harder to kill dead people. I don't know if I'd like it if I knew what was waiting for me after I die was an episode of Jerry Springer! Next time on St. Jerry Springer: I Have Two Husbands!
The memory wiping device from MiB. When I first saw MiB, I thought it was just hand-waving a problem away. But then I saw what happens when you don't even have that. R.I.P.D. has absolutely nothing from keeping people from finding out about demons and ghosts. In fact, at one point in the movie it's on the 6 o'clock news. And there is no better way to undermine the message of "I'm dead. Get over me and live your life" quite like emperical evidence that there's an afterlife!
I could go on and on. Major plot elements are just thrown at us. "Hey remember when this happened?" NO!!! I don't because I didn't see it! VISUAL MEDIA!!! SHOW!!!!!
I'm done. Why should I put more effort into saying how much it sucks than the people who made it in the first place?
It sucks. Don't see it.
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