R.I.P.D.(2013)

Elevator Pitch: Unbeknown to us, the living, there is a department in the afterlife which is tasked with the removal from our world of the dead who refuse to move on. Nick, a Boston detective who has hidden valuable evidence, with his partner Hayes, intended to tell the truth, but is killed by Hayes during a drug bust.  Dead, he joins the R.I.P.D partnered with Roy, a former 19th century sheriff. Their path lead them towards Hayes, who may not be what he appears to be, and has plans to change the status of the dead, which may involve Julia, Nick’s widow.

Content: No sex or nudity although Nick and Julia frolic on their bed a bit.  Nick goes on the drug bust with Hayes and a SWAT team, and is shot dead and finds himself in the R.I.P.D. So they can move about in the real world, Roy ‘s avatar is a sexy blonde and Nick’s is an old Chinese guy and they drive about in a car advertising VHS repairs. They visit the department and are lectured by Proctor, the boss, a good looking young woman. There are some car chases and gunfire as the guys use their special firearms to dispatch the deados, and a lot of swirling clouds in the heavens.

A View: I would have liked to have gone along with this outing, but I kept being reminded of other films. It seems to use many of the same scenes as Men in Black and even Ghostbusters, and on one car chase vehicles rain from the multi-storey car parks – who did that first?. The deados are so similar to the aliens in MIB that belief is beggared. And the joke of making the 19th century sheriff’s avatar a sexy blonde, works once, but then becomes irritating. It cost a massive $130 million but bombed at the box office. Despite the charm of Jeff Bridge’s character (and his avatar) I cannot recommend it as a watch, even for nothing.

Additional info:   This film was released on the same day as RED 2 which almost certainly grabbed the potential audience.