BEFORE: Jeffrey Donovan carries over from "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2", from one of his first movies to one of his most recent, 22 years apart. This reminds me that the writer's strike ended, and if the SAG strike follows suit, then it won't be long before he'll be seen again on "Law & Order", it's then just a question about how fast episodic TV can return, the late-night talk shows are expected back much sooner. I had a nice little break there and cleared a TON of episodes of "Chopped" off my DVR while I was half-unemployed for 2 months, but in the last week or two a bunch of reality shows I watch came back on the air, like "Survivor", "Hell's Kitchen" and for some reason, ABC also forgot AGAIN to cancel "Shark Tank". Plus we've got "Halloween Cookie Challenge", "Halloween Baking Championship" and "Outrageous Pumpkins" to watch, because it is October and my wife and I tune in to those together around the same time I switch over to horror movies that I watch on my own.
And yeah, I really feel like I'll be pressed for time this October, BUT I seem to have forgotten one very helpful thing - horror movies tend to be shorter, on average, than their dramatic counterparts. Yesterday's film was just 90 minutes long, and tonight and tomorrow's films are just over 100 minutes each, so that could be the saving grace this month. There may only be a couple films this October that are 2 hours or over, most seem to come in somewhere around 1 hour 45 minutes, and most are under that. So OK, yeah, bring it on, as long as I don't get find something truly scary that keeps me awake, I can still get my sleep on. And if I fall behind maybe I can just watch a movie or two while I'm on vacation, and post the reviews later.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "R.I.P.D." (Movie #1,890)
THE PLOT: Recruited by the R.I.P.D., a resurrected sheriff returns to Earth to save humanity from a gateway to hell.
AFTER: If you want to talk about long-awaited sequels, or the longest time in-between sequels, nothing on my records may ever top "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny", which came out 15 years after the previous adventure in that franchise, and for me there were 4,533 films I watched in between installments. But this one comes out as a sequel to a film from 2013, and I've seen 2,667 films since then, so maybe that's a distant second? Honestly, I'm not sure but I'm hard pressed to think of any longer distances... No, wait, what about "Avatar: The Weight of Water", which came out 14 years after its predecessor, and so for me there were 3.713 films watched in-between. So the distance between "R.I.P.D." and its sequel isn't a record, it's got to be in third place at best.
It's been so long that I forgot most of the rules about how the R.I.P.D. works - a cop dies in the line of duty and instead of going to heaven, he gets drafted into the "Rest in Peace" Department, so really, there's no rest at all, he (or she) just keeps doing the same work as before, only this time it's for the Man (or Woman) upstairs. They pair up a rookie with a veteran, similar to the format of "Men in Black" and, umm, every cop show ever, and then there are rules - he can't connect with his loved ones, and he doesn't even LOOK the same as before, he's constantly in disguise while he and his partner track down the escaped souls from hell and return them where they belong, using the wild Heaven-based technology to track down the "deados". Looks like the first film did NOT turn a profit, which explains why it took almost 10 years to get the sequel made, and why it's on Netflix so soon.
Oh, yeah, and it's based on a comic book series from Dark Horse - I tend to forget that if sometimes if superheroes aren't involved. But doesn't a resurrected man working for the angels count as some kind of superhero? Not all heroes wear capes, right? Sometimes they wear cowboy hats and boots. Sheriff Roy Pulsipher is teamed up with a woman as his superior (probably to teach him something about sexism) and to the rest of the world he appears to be an African-American woman (probably to teach him something about racism) so this is also some kind of personal growth experience for him. Yes, personal growth doesn't stop when you die, apparently, there's still chance for further redemption, in whatever form that needs to take. Roy was also cold toward his future son-in-law before he died, and though he never got to see his daughter's wedding, he may still get a chance to make amends.
The deados are led by an older miner who accidentally dug too deep and struck hell instead of gold - some demon took the advantage and possessed his body, now he wants to keep that gateway open and bring out more tortured souls, turning Earth into Hell-On-Earth, but since this story is set in 1876, we all have a clue that this is not going to happen, because if the end of the world happens in the prequel than the original film would never have a chance to take place. Right?
Roy's mentor goes by the name of Jeanne, has a European accent and claims to have been fighting deados for over 440 years - if you do a little math you might be able to figure out her identity before it's revealed. But then, this is kind of an open secret, even Roy manages to figure it out, but then maybe he's a history buff. Last hint, her weakness is that she's afraid of fire. Come on, don't make me say it, you should have figured it out already. Or just watch the damn film, it doesn't even really count as a spoiler if it's so damn obvious.
Can the cowboy and the female warrior fighting for the angels put the demons back in Hell where they belong before the blood moon, and prevent the end of the world, at least for now? Yeah, probably, it's just that kind of picture, and I'm too damn tired from working to rate a film properly tonight. It's going to be a Hell of a month, and really, it's just getting started....so I'm prepared to be a little forgiving, no real NITPICK POINTS. Anyway, the plot is way too far out from reality to even call anything a goof, this film cleverly creates its own reality so nothing that takes place is out of place from that reality. All good.
Oh, yeah, since this is based on a comic book, I really should take a minute and go through all the films I watched this year to see which other films were also based on comic books, because I'm going to need that list at the end of the year. It saves me some time THEN if I do THAT now.
Also starring Rachel Adedeji, Penelope Mitchell (last seen in "Between Worlds"), Evlyne Oyedokun, Jake Choi (last seen in "Money Monster"), Richard Brake (last seen in "The Rhythm Section"), Craige Els, Stephanie Levi-John, Tilly Keeper, Richard Fleeshman, Nick Wittman (last seen in "Terminator: Dark Fate"), Kevin Harvey, Nóra Trokán, Matt Silverman, Kerry Knuppe, Johnny K. Palmer (last seen in "Colette"), Zoltan Benkovics, Liz Borden.
RATING: 6 out of 10 stampeding buffaloes
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