Just like any movie, the trailer excites and impresses people into wanting to watch the movie. It chooses the best scenes to play and the right music. The trailer for R.I.P.D made me thrilled and pumped to see the movie, yet, when I actually saw R.I.P.D, it was a complete waste of two hours and the characters, plot, and animation were just, in general, a disappointment.

It came out in 2013 as a new supernatural action movie. Directed by Robert Schwentke, it is a film about how two men, both of whom are dead, are placed in this police program, R.I.P.D (the Rest in Peace Department). The main point of the story is that these two men fight off “deadoes,” people who came back to the earth when they should have stayed in heaven.

The movie starts off with the lead character Nick Walker, who is played by Ryan Reynolds, starting his normal day at work in the police force. The twist is he doesn’t make it home. Now he must survive through his new job, one that requires him to be dead, with his new partner Roy, played by Jeff Bridges. Throughout the movie they fight dead outlaws, Nick fights his own inner battle about the life he left behind, and they save the universe.
The movie did have points where it was not completely terrible; most of which are the comical parts that did get a good a laugh out of me. But, to me, the movie isn’t supposed to be full of comedy. It is supposed to be a supernatural action movie with the weight of the world on Nick and Roy’s shoulders while Nick gets over the loss of his love, Julia, played by Stephanie Szostak. Not only that, but Nick has to find out that his best friend, Bobby Hayes, isn’t who he really is, and Roy is dropping jokes while it’s a really serious time. Now, I’m not saying that during some dark moments, people don’t need a good laugh- because they do- it’s just that Roy could have been made a much more sympathetic, or at least understanding, character.

While on the topic of Roy, Jeff Bridges did an amazing job at channeling the western cowboy look. The accent, outfit, and personality were spot on, but then there is Ryan Reynolds. I felt that he was just too bland for this character. He did the sad, someone just shot my dog, look well, but when it came to the real action, he was dull. His voice was too monotone and his performance was not enough. In those situations I would have been energetic and into it; he just wasn’t selling the acting. The animation was bad too. I think everyone has to agree that animation is not how it was twenty even ten years ago. It is much more superior now. The new animated movies are enough proof of that, and animators are able to make these people look real, but the animation in R.I.P.D was ghastly. It did not do the animation industry justice at all. The characters did not look as real as they could have been, not even the clothing. I understand they are supposed to be deadoes, but if they are real people, in a movie with live people, the least anyone could have done was make it more believable. Then there is the plot of the story. It was too cliché. Nothing about it was original. The bad guys come and almost destroy the world then the good guys come in and kill them. That is pretty much the plot. Like any good action movie, the climax was the last battle, and it looks likes “evil” is going to win, but somehow they lose. It always happens. Every time. It never fails. Everyone can predict an ending nowadays. It’s time to change things up. To finally think outside of the box and this movie did not.

In the end, it may not be the best movie, but if people just have nothing to do and nothing good is on T.V. then this is the movie to watch. It still entertaining enough to view, but not terrible to the point no one would ever want to see it.