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In the 1997 film, MIB, a young, sarcastic NYPD detective unexpectedly stumbles into the world of extraterrestrials. He is taken into this fantastical, bureaucratic organization by a veteran member, who is given assignments by a frustrated captain, and who then heads out with an indistinct yet technologically advanced car, and weapons meant specifically for the aliens whom they encounter. They quickly encounter a plot that must be stopped immediately or else it will mean the destruction of earth.
In the 2013 film, RIPD, a young, sarcastic Boston detective unexpectedly stumbles into the world of the dead. He is taken into this fantastical, bureaucratic organization by a veteran member, who is given assignments by a frustrated captain, and who then heads out with an indistinct yet technologically advanced car, and weapons meant specifically for the dead whom they encounter. They quickly encounter a plot that must be stopped immediately or else it will mean the destruction of earth.
These two movies were so similar, it was eerie. Jeff Bridges is actually a good fill-in for Tommy Lee Jones, while Ryan Reynolds is a sub-par substitute for Will Smith. It's hard to describe this film on its own merits, because it was really like watching a re-make of MIB. It wasn't just the plot either, the look of these films was so similar, you kind of expected Will Smith to walk on screen any moment. The cgi ghouls/aliens are all the same. There's even a Tony Shaloub type snitch in RIPD that serves the same purpose as the one in MIB. I give it one star for having the balls to so blatantly plagiarize what was an extremely well known, lucrative franchise. I mean, it's not like when Avatar ripped off Ferngully and nobody noticed because nobody saw Ferngully. This was all out in the open. Very strange.
5 comments:
a boston/horror MIB ripoff actually sounds kind of intriguing.
Also, Bridges' most popular character of late had been as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. Here, he plays Roy Cephus, an old west sheriff who has been serving for over 100 years. Plagiarism all over.
I remember seeing the trailer for this in the theater and when it ended there was dead silence in the audience (no pun intended). I knew they had an expensive bomb on their hands - thanks for confirming this! Until now I had forgotten all about this film. Good old Trevor!
Wow - I totally forgot about this movie. Such high profile stars too - weird.
Not a fan of Men in Black but this makes me want to watch them back to back to see how they stack.
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