Tease Me, Baby! – R.I.P.D.
This one kind of came out of nowhere, didn’t it? Who knew this was in development? Anyone? I was looking at the new comics releases on Wednesday and saw R.I.P.D. for the first time and the next day the trailer for the movie shows up! Well, I haven’t read the series but let’s take a look at what this movie has to offer!
I don’t read any Dark Horse comics, not a single one but I know of a fair few but R.I.P.D. is one I either missed or dismissed as another offshoot of the Hellboy books (Along the lines of B.P.R.D. was my reckoning) but apparently not? I can’t find much info on the series (There’s a wiki page for the movie but not the comic, very strange) so you lot are probably coming into this as blind as I am so let’s have a gander at the trailer.
What’s your brand?
Ryan Reynolds plays Nick Walker, dead cop and rookie R.I.P.D. officer. After being killed in the line of duty, Nick ascends to heaven but finds not the pearly gates but the stern gaze of Proctor, he’s new superior officer. He’s being inducted into the R.I.P.D., a paranormal police force who chase down errant souls who escape judgement, all answering to one boss. Yeah, Him. The badge is branded onto his skin, which is pretty badass!
The Odd Couple
As mentor and partner to the new rookie, Jeff Bridges plays Roy Pulsipher who appears to be a lawman from the Old West, further explaining that the R.I.P.D. is made up of the greatest lawman to ever live and die. Interesting to note, this image would h ave looked very different if the original casting had been considered, namely Zach Galifianakis as Roy and Jodie Foster as Proctor. I think this movie ended up with the better cast.
More Than Meets the Eye
Being dead, naturally the officers of the RIPD would have trouble walking among the living as themselves so they adopt some camouflage and so we meet our alternate protagonists, namely Roy and Nick’s avatars. Roy appears as famed chinese actor James Hong and Roy gets newcomer Marissa Miller. I don’t know whether this was intended or not but I find it funny how the roles are kind of reversed with these two. Roy is the grizzled veteran of RIPD but his avatar is starring in her first motion picture, while the rookie Nick gets the guy who’s starred in over 300 movies.
This sucks!
Some form of cataclysm occurs (probably linked to an increase of errant souls) and these vortexes start popping up all over the city and appear to be the same kind that transported Nick to his new job posting. Roy says “this has never happened before” so this is obviously some third act threat that our heroes need to overcome.
For a moment there, I thought we were in trouble.
These two are so Butch and Sundance, I hope that line’s in there at some point. Jeff and Ryan seem to have a good on-screen chemistry so it should make for an entertaining summer flick.
Naturally, this movie shares a lot of similarities to both Hellboy and Men in Black but that’s not such a bad thing. Both those movies were a lot of fun and did pretty well at the box office so as long as this movie delivers enough fresh ideas, I think this could turn into a great franchise. R.I.P.D. is scheduled for release July 19th, 2013.