One degree closer to awesome ...

So, it appears that reviews of The Green Lantern, which ranged from indifferent to scathing, have not affected studio enthusiasm for the upcoming R.I.P.D. Also based on a comic book, and also starring Ryan Reynolds, R.I.P.D. has a few awesome things going for it that The Green Lantern did not. First, it's not a superhero comic, so it won't be compared to the standard of excellence that comics fans expect from their adaptations. Sure, for every Dark Knight you get a Daredevil, but it's the good ones that keep us coming back for more. Second, it's got The Dude. While it was disappointing that Zach Galifianakis dropped out of the second lead part, how great is it that Jeff Bridges came on to play an undead cowboy? (If he uses one Rooster quote from True Grit, the meta will be overpowering.) And finally, according to Collider it looks like the villain has been cast, and it's Kevin Bacon.

How fantastic is Kevin Bacon in villain roles? Honestly. His sparsely-mustached wife-stealing drug-dealing over-hyphenated bad guy made last year's Super; and he more recently gave us a great villain as Sebastian Shaw in X-Men: First Class. He was an awesome bad guy as far back as Wild Things (1998) or as uptight pledge Chip in Animal House (1978) ("Thank you sir, may I have another?")

R.I.P.D. follows the exploits of the Rest In Peace Department, a police department of the undead. Reynolds plays Nick Walker, a recent recruit intent on searching out his own killer, and Bridges plays Bo, a cowboy veteran of the department. An actual cowboy, that is, not a 'cowboy' of an officer, in the grand tradition. While the specific role hasn't been announced, if Bacon is the Big Bad then it looks like he will play Nick's killer.

The only downside to this news is that it brings up the sadness of Zach G's dropping out of the film all over again. Galifianakis and Bacon did a great episode of Bored to Death in Season 2, where Kevin Bacon played himself and Zach punched him right in the face. Who wouldn't want to watch that again?

R.I.P.D. is based on the Dark Horse comic by Peter M. Lenkov, who also wrote Demolition Man and several episodes of 24 and Hawaii Five-0. The film will be directed by Robert Schwentke (Red, The Time Traveler's Wife) and is slated for release June 28, 2013.

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