The document is a compare and contrast essay analyzing the action comedy films Men in Black and R.I.P.D. It summarizes that both films feature law enforcement agents as the main characters and are set in cities. The essays also notes that the climaxes of both films involve the agents working to stop threats and save the world. The essay concludes that while different, the two films share similarities in their characters, settings, and climaxes, and that the writer prefers R.I.P.D. due to its entertaining story.

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: HARWINDER SINGH GIRN
STUDENT ID NO: 0319881
FILMS SELECTED: ACTION COMEDY - MEN IN BLACK & R.I.P.D
WORD COUNT: 1012
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSIONDATE:28TH SEPTEMBER2015

2. Watching movies has become an everyday thing to people and it has also become the most
widespread source of entertainment we can get. Movies can be watched at any day or time
because tons of movies are being released every day and is also being made at the same time.
A movie is about an event or a story that is recorded by a camera that records the sequence of
film or video images which is then displayed on a screen. Movies have many categories
which is called as a genre. A genre is formed by conventions that change over time as new
genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, movies fit into multiple
genres by recombining and borrowing the conventions such as comedy horror, romance
comedy, action comedy and many more. So I have decided on the genre that I would like to
attempt which is action comedy. Action comedy became popular when actors who had been
acting in movies that was all about humour started acting in action related movies thus
creating a blend to this genre. Recently, I had watched and chosen two action comedy movies
which are “Men In Black” from the year 1997 that was directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and the
movie “R.I.P.D.” from the year 2013 that was directed by Robert Schwentke. This movies
maybe different but they share some similarities which are the roles of the main characters,
the settings of the movie and the climax of the movie. Therefore, I have decided to compare
the similarities between this two movies.
The first similarities that I would like to discuss in both of this movies is the roles of the
main characters. In the movie “Men In Black” a.k.a. “MiB”, Will Smith acts as James Darrel
Edwards, a New York City cop with an athletic physique and has an anti-authoritarian
attitude toward law enforcement. After chasing down a mysterious perpetrator one night who
turns out to be an alien, James is recruited by "K" (Tommy Lee Jones), a veteran of a covert
government agency secretly policing the comings and goings of aliens on planet Earth. This
two men became partners and were nicknamed the "men in black" for their nondescript
uniform of black suit, shoes, tie, and sunglasses. Likewise, in the movie “R.I.P.D.” or the
“Rest In Peace Department”, Nick Walker was a hotshot detective who was killed in the line
of duty during a violent drug raid. The next thing Nick knew, he was sitting in the
headquarters of the Rest in Peace Department, it’s a supernatural police force tasked with
arresting lost souls who are hiding out on Earth. Besides that, because he had a good repute
as cop, Nick Walker was recruited to join this new police force and he also gets briefed that
he’s already dead. He then got introduced to his new partner that was Roy Pulsifer, a veteran
sheriff with an ability for spotting an absconder soul in disguise.

3. Secondly, both of this movies are quite similar because of the settings and location. The
events that took place throughout this movies were located at a city. In the movie “Men In
Black”, the settings of the movie were in parts of New York city. For example the cop James
Darrel Edwards was chasing his first alien along the streets of New York city after hearing
that the alien had caused some serious trouble. The headquarters of this government agency
was also located in the same city. Moreover, in the movie “R.I.P.D.”, the movie was also
filmed in a city and it was Boston. Boston housed multiple sets for the production including
all aspects of the heavenly R.I.P.D. headquarters, Nick and his wife Julia’s Charlestown
home. Boston was the perfect city for R.I.P.D. because it’s a city where you can believe
somebody would be hiding out for over hundreds of years.
Lastly, after watching this two movies I realised that they have almost the similar ending
which was the climax scenes. In the movie “Man In Black”, after agent Jay teamed up with
agent Kay they were both assigned on a new mission to recover a bauble that has been stolen
by an intergalactic terrorist which was named as the Bug. The Bug found an old alien
spacecraft but the Men In Black had to stop it from leaving. Kay and Jay brought out their big
guns which pulled the spacecraft back towards the ground. The angry Bug then ate the guns
and then agent Kay. Kay managed to shoot the Bug from the inside thus they had prevented
the world that was threatened to be destroyed by another alien race. Then in the movie
R.I.P.D., Nick had been shot by his former partner which was Hayes because he wanted to do
something with the gold that Nick had stolen. Hayes had been secretly working with the
deados. The deados were the dead souls that were in disguise as humans. Then, Nick and Roy
continue to follow Hayes as he meets with another deado disguised as a human. The new
deado gives Hayes some more gold and he tries to get away after being spotted by those two
R.I.P.D. cops. They then discovered that Hayes was the deado and was planning to use an old
Egyptian curse to turn the death tunnel backwards and fill the earth with dead people.
Eventually they stopped the deodo’s from destroying the world and saved the day.

4. In conclusion, this two movies show the same types roles of the main characters, the
same settings and the same climaxes. The movies “Men In Black” and “R.I.P.D.” share the
similarities and they are really enjoyable to watch because of the humours and action filled
situations they create. Furthermore, from both of the movies that I have compared earlier, the
movie that I like most was “R.I.P.D” or it’s also known as the “Rest In Peace Department”.
The reason is because the movie had a level-headed idea that was justly well written and
overall it was just an entertaining movie to watch.

5. Reference
1. R.I.P.D. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2015, from
http://www.flickchart.com/movie/3A3DDF298D
2. Men in Black. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2015, from
http://www.flickchart.com/movie/5ABB12FB51
3. Men in Black. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2015, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119654/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt
4. R.I.P.D. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2015, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790736/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt
5. R.I.P.D. Movie Review & Film Summary (2013) | Roger Ebert. (n.d.). Retrieved
September 30, 2015, from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/ripd-2013
6. Men in Black plot summary. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2015, from
http://www.moviemistakes.com/film818/plot
7. How to Write a Compare/Contrast Essay. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2015, from
http://www.slideshare.net/roxannephoenix/how-to-write-a-comparecontrast-
essay?qid=27e8aeee-b395-4640-ba62-16139a410ec9&v=qf1&b=&from_search=16