Ryan Reynolds had a rough time with comic book movies before Deadpool. His first attempt saw him play Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity, which started his long march toward the red spandex. He played the widely despised version of Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Hal Jordan in Green Lantern, both of which went down in flames. His last comic adaptation before the role he was born to play was RIPD. It didn't work out, but RIPD 2: Rise of the Damned exists nonetheless.
Straight-to-streaming sequels to theatrical features aren't as common as straight-to-video examples used to be. Franchises used to send two or three entries to the big screen before giving up and dropping several follow-ups onto store shelves. Netflix and its ilk seem aware of the danger a phrase like "dumped on streaming" might pose to the long-term fate of the industry. When movies like Prey are denied theatrical release windows, fans justifiably hate it. There was no similar reaction to RIPD 2.
RIPD 2 is a sequel to RIPD
RIPD was a 2013 action/comedy film directed by Time Traveler's Wife and Red filmmaker Robert Schwentke. The film adapted Peter M. Lenkov's 1999 comic book series of the same name. Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin stepped up to the project when the studio bought the rights in 2006, but it sat on the shelf for years, and Dobkin exited somewhere along the way. Universal didn't officially greenlight the film until 2010. Ryan Reynolds was attached to star. Zack Galifianakis turned down the other lead role in the project, leaving Jeff Bridges to take the part. The film fell into theaters in the summer of 2013, where it competed with Despicable Me 2, Pacific Rim, and The Heat. It was a box-office bomb, earning around half of its production budget. Critics were no kinder to it. Against all odds, someone greenlit a sequel, sending RIPD 2 to the small screen in 2022.
Ryan Reynolds starred as Nick Walker, a dirty cop who dies on duty. He wakes up in a glowing office building. Walker meets Proctor, a supervisor with the RIPD. The titular Rest in Peace Division is a spectral police force that keeps the dead under control. They function like the Men in Black but for ghosts instead of aliens. Walker must work with the division for a chance to solve his murder. He's paired up with a veteran cowboy and sent into the field. It's a simple action/comedy that died at the box office due to several unforgivable failures. Despite losing the studio millions, it got another chance at life.
What is RIPD 2 about?
RIPD 2 follows Roy Pulsipher, Jeff Bridges' cowboy character from the 2013 film. Jeffery Donovan takes over the role, bringing none of the energy that made him the only tolerable part of RIPD. It's set in 1876, abandoning the modern setting from the previous film in favor of some Old West action. RIPD 2 is a prequel that depicts Roy's death at the hands of a gang of outlaws. After his murder, he is drawn into the division. Roy is paired with Penelope Mitchell's Jeanne, a French swordswoman who has slayed the dead for decades. They're tasked with protecting the Earth from the evil Otis Clairborn, portrayed by Richard Brake. Clairborn intends to raise an army of damned souls from the depths of Hell. RIPD 2 doesn't look like the first film, but its plot is almost identical.
What is RIPD's Rotten Tomatoes score?
Rotten Tomatoes slapped RIPD with a 12% positive rating. Critics and audiences despised the film. RIPD 2 has a slightly higher score with several mitigating factors. RIPD 2 earned a 20% positive score from critics. The sequel's average score was lower, a 3.1 compared to a 3.7. Only five critics weighed in on RIPD 2. Looking beyond Rotten Tomatoes, some felt the Western setting made RIPD 2 more engaging. It was a creative choice that distanced the sequel from its more generic predecessor. All they had to do to feel like a real movie was borrow from another genre. Neither film will be celebrated. There is no fanbase for this franchise. It's safe to assume there won't be an RIPD 3, but it was reasonable to believe there would be no RIPD 2.
RIPD 2 is frustratingly absent from the public record. No one talked about it during production. There will never be a making-of documentary about a straight-to-DVD sequel to a box-office bomb. Someone needs to come out and say why they made this movie. Not because it's the worst film ever made, but because it might be the most unnecessary. The comics are still out there and generally far better than either film. The best way to experience the story is its original iteration. RIPD 2 doesn't need to exist, but it does. It shouldn't have risen from the dead, but that's what the Rest in Peace Division does best.
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