R.I.P.D.
Dir: Robert Schwentke
2013
***
I'm not sure how but the comic Rest in Peace Department totally passed me by. It sounds great and indeed the idea behind the story is pretty cool. I haven't read the comics though, so I have no idea if they are any good or if the film is a worthy adaptation. Firstly, I didn't think it was as bad as I'd heard. It is a bit like a cross between Men in Black and Ghostbusters but that really didn't bother me. Unlike those two first though, they totally forgot to add back story or build up. It is a great premise, they should have taken their time with the idea and also focused on some of the characters. Robert Schwentke was a good choice thanks to his work on RED and the direction here is sound, it's just the badly designed Ghosts that let the film down. This is a film running before it can walk and thus tripping over in the process. This had franchise potential but I can't see it happening now. It's hard to imagine messing up such a great story really but I would argue that it is a few teaks short of being great. A huge wasted opportunity but really not all that bad. I loved the counter-characters played by James Hong and Marisa Miller, Jeff Bridges was great but not given enough to work with and the wonderful Mary-Louise Parker suffers similarly. Ryan Reynolds appeal is a mystery to me and Kevin Bacon is fast becoming 'that annoying guy who sells mobile phones' but I'm going to give it a generous 3 out of 5 because of the unjustified hate for this film.