R.I.P.D. Information

R.I.P.D. or stylized Rest In Peace Department by its acronym, is a 2013 3D American supernatural comedy film directed by Robert Schwentke, based on the comic book Rest in Peace Department by Peter M. Lenkov and published by Dark Horse Entertainment. The film stars Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges as Nick Walker and Roy Pulsipher, respectively.

Filming was completed on January 28, 2012, and the film was originally set to be released on June 28, 2013 in United States by Universal Pictures but was pushed back to July 19, 2013. The film received negative reviews from critics and audiences alike and was a box office failure.

Plot

Boston Police Department Detectives Nick Walker (Ryan Reynolds) and Bobby Hayes (Kevin Bacon) stole a chest full of gold found during a drug bust, and Nick buries his share of the gold in his backyard, intending to use it to create a better life for himself and his wife, Julia (Stephanie Szostak). However, he regrets his decision and informs Hayes he intends to return the gold. Later, during a raid on a warehouse, Nick and Hayes get into a shootout with criminals, and Hayes kills Nick to prevent him from returning the gold, framing one of the criminals for the murder.

While ascending through a tunnel in the sky to the afterlife, Nick is pulled into the office of Mildred Proctor (Mary-Louise Parker), director of the Boston division of the Rest In Peace Department (R.I.P.D.), an agency that recruits deceased police officers to patrol the afterlife and capture "Deados", spirits that failed to cross over and return to Earth as monstrous ghosts. Nick agrees to join the R.I.P.D. after Proctor explains that it would stave off a potentially negative final judgment for at least a century, and meets his new partner, Roy Pulsipher (Jeff Bridges), an ex-U.S. Marshal who lived in the 1800s.

Nick and Roy return to Earth to attend Nick's funeral, where Nick learns R.I.P.D. officers are assigned avatars, which is how humans perceive them. Nick's is an elderly Chinese man, Jerry Chen (J. Hong) and Roy's is an attractive Russian woman, Opal Pavlenko (Marisa Miller). After failing to communicate with Julia, Nick accompanies Roy to the apartment of a suspect, Stanley Nawlicki (Robert Knepper), who tries to escape and is killed by the duo. Pieces of gold identical to the ones Nick stole are found in Nawlicki's possessions and logged into evidence.

Nick and Roy then meet with Elliot (Mike O'Malley), a dealer set to make an exchange with someone, revealed to be Hayes. Nick and Roy follow him to Nick's house, where Hayes retrieves Nick's share of the gold, leading Julia to believe Nick was corrupt. From there, the duo tails Hayes to an abandoned warehouse where he gives the gold to a Deado, Pulaski (Devin Ratray), who escapes due to Nick and Roy's intervention. Proctor, infuriated, takes them off the case, but they decide to continue the investigation on their own after learning the pieces of golds are components of the Staff of Jericho, a mystic device that could reverse the tunnel that transports the dead into the afterlife, returning them to Earth.

Nick and Roy visit Hayes, who quickly finds out who they are and reveals himself to be a Deado. He is arrested and brought to RIPD's headquarters, where he and other Deados manage to escape after stealing the components of the Staff of Jericho and return to Earth. While the Deados assemble the Staff of Jericho, Hayes kidnaps Julia to use her as a human sacrifice to open the portal. Nick and Roy arrive and after killing the Deados, including Pulaski, Nick goes to save Julia while Roy destroys the Staff of Jericho and saves the city. Although Nick manages to kill Hayes, Julia succumbs to her wounds and is on the verge of dying in his arms before Proctor arrives and informs Nick that he has earned redemption and Julia has been awarded a second chance.

Julia is revived in the hospital and begins recovery, and Proctor reinstates Nick and Roy into the agency, in addition to providing Nick with a new avatar, which is soon revealed to be a 10-year-old girl scout (Piper Mackenzie Harris), much to Nick's disappointment. Nick and Roy then get into their car and drive away.

Cast

• Jeff Bridges as Roy Pulsipher, a United States Marshal from the Wild West and veteran R.I.P.D. officer
• Ryan Reynolds as Nick Walker, a Boston Police detective sergeant who is murdered and becomes Roy Pulsipher's partner
• Kevin Bacon as Bobby Hayes, a Boston Police detective lieutenant and the main antagonist
• Mary-Louise Parker as Mildred Proctor, commanding officer of RIPD's Boston division
• Robert Knepper as Stanley Nawlicki
• Stephanie Szostak as Julia Walker, Nick's wife/widow
• James Hong as Grandpa Jerry Chen, Nick's avatar #1
• Mike O'Malley as Elliot, Fenway Park's scoreboard operator
• Marisa Miller as Opal Pavlenko, Roy's avatar
• Devin Ratray as Pulaski
• Larry Joe Campbell as Officer Murphy
• Piper Mackenzie Harris as Girl Scout, Nick's new avatar

Zach Galifianakis was originally cast as Roy Pulsipher, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Jodie Foster was originally considered for the role of Proctor, but in the end, Mary-Louise Parker was cast.

Marketing

On July 16, Adult Swim's YouTube channel uploaded an animated prequel short, which was produced by Titmouse, Inc. and with voice work from Reynolds and Bridges.

A video game based on the film titled R.I.P.D. The Game was released on July 16, 2013 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game is a co-op third-person shooter set around a survival mode. It was developed by Old School Games and the gameplay is based on their previous game, God Mode. R.I.P.D. The Game received negative reviews.

Reception

Critical response

R.I.P.D. was not screened in advance for critics and has received negative reviews. The film currently holds a 12% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 60 reviews with the consensus: "It has its moments -- most of them courtesy of Jeff Bridges' rootin' tootin' performance as an undead Wild West sheriff -- but R.I.P.D. is ultimately too dimwitted and formulaic to satisfy." Film critic Roger Moore gave the film one-and-a-half out of four stars, calling it "the worst comic book adaptation since Jonah Hex." Kyle Smith of the New York Post rated the film a half-star out of four, saying, "For a movie that so strenuously rips off Ghostbusters and Men in Black, R.I.P.D. manages to come up with fresh new ways of being absolutely terrible. The plot manages to be fully predictable and freakishly bonkers at the same time, seemingly born of the same kind of brainstorming-on-L.S.D. session that must have given us Howard the Duck."

Box office

As of August 10, 2013, R.I.P.D. has grossed $31,511,195 in the USA, plus $18,400,000 outside the USA, for a combined gross of $49,911,195 and has been labeled a box office bomb, with the opening weekend bringing in less than 10% of the film's production costs.