Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2013

There seems to be a disturbing new trend in Hollywood. Instead of beating one more creatively inert, accounting-office-mandated retread sequel out of a dead franchise, the studios are, for want of a better word, “repurposing” once successful concepts, decking them out in new frocks and passing them off as original. What else is The Lone Ranger but Pirates of the Caribbean transplanted into 19^th-century Utah? And can Disney’s Planes be seen as anything more than an attempt (a lame one, but more on that in December) to recreate the mega-successful Cars? To me, this is extreme contempt for one’s audience. Did they think we wouldn’t notice? Anyway, falling squarely into this category is R.I.P.D., a lifeless M.I.B rip-off that fails miserably on every level. Grizzled 19^th-century veteran (Jeff Bridges—Dude. Why?) of this, like, dead-people’s police force coaches newly murdered recruit (Ryan Reynolds) on how to recapture hell-bound souls who have cheated the Reaper and are wandering around disguised as living humans and planning the apocalypse. Snore. Graceless, not funny, bland, and the SFX are cheesy. I wasted 90 minutes of my life on this dud. Where are those little M.I.B memory neutralizers when you need them? (96 min)