My first thought after watching the trailer for Universal's R.I.P.D is that it looks kind of like Men In Black collided with Dead Like Me. My second thought is that I've really missed Mary-Louise Parker since Weeds wrapped up. Directed by Robert Schwentke, R.I.P.D. stars Ryan Reynolds as a slain cop who is recruited to a team of undead police officers working for the "Rest In Peace Department," which tracks down escaped souls. He teams up with Jeff Bridges's cowboy-hat-wearing character in the process.
Just yesterday, our own Eric Eisenberg checked in from Las Vegas with some interesting things to say about the sizzle reel that was presented at CinamaCon this week, and today we see the new trailer, which shows Reynold's character dying in the line of duty and being whisked up to the "R.I.P.D." where he's assigned to help the "Rest In Peace Department" catch the souls hiding out among the living, trying to escape judgment and posing a threat to mankind.
The two-man team trying to protect the world from forces most of humanity is presumably oblivious to, added to the action and humor teased in the trailer, prompts a Men in Black flashback. And those who have seen Bryan Fuller's Dead Like Me will likely get the mention there, as the series centered on a group of dead people who wandered among the living, serving as grim reapers. And they just so happened to look different to the living than they did when they were alive, which appears to be the case for the characters in R.I.P.D..
R.I.P.D. arrives in theaters July 19.
