R.I.P.D.
Directed by: Robert Schwentke Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jeff Bridges, Mary-Louise Parker Rating: PG-13 Release Date: July 19, 2013
Trailer Score: 3/10
Thoughts by TSR: Everybody and their brother have already compared R.I.P.D. to Men in Black, but I’m still taken aback by how similar this looks. In theory the similarities could be fine – I see no issue with a secret organization of dead people hunting down Deados replacing a secret organization hunting down aliens — but this is kind of a drag. For one thing, at nearly three minutes it definitely overstays its welcome. I assumed Jeff Bridges would be the saving grace. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, leaving only Mary-Louise Parker’s dry line deliveries to provide any enjoyment.
It’s weird how much I dislike Bridges in this trailer, especially considering he looks awesome and is basically doing Rooster Cogburn again. Yet somehow it’s as off-putting as anything. It doesn’t help that any time it showed Bridges as Marisa Miller I rolled my eyes. Bridges looks like a supermodel and Ryan Reynolds looks like James Hong. Uh, hilarious, I guess? Beyond the jokes not working, I don’t care for the look of the film. All of the opening police stuff looks terrible and generic. The only saving grace is a few interesting visuals when Reynolds wakes up from dying. Other than that, though, the effects are unimpressive. Usually I try not to judge a trailer’s effects too harshly, but since initial filming wrapped in January of 2012, it’s a problem. While all of the complaints above aren’t great, the biggest failing is that Kevin Bacon is nowhere to be seen. How do you have Bacon in your movie and not include him in the trailer? Someday everyone will recognize that Bacon makes everything better.