Abandon all hope
of not having the movie spoiled, ye who enter here.
Hollywood
is bringing on the zombie apocalypse by reviving every dead franchise it can
get its hands on. We’re talking biblical proportions here, people. Everything
from Nightmare on Elm Street to Total Recall to The Rocky Horror Picture Show (why?!). What makes it worse is that
many of these remakes range from bad to okay. Sure, the revivals of Jurassic Park and Mad Max surpassed expectations (the formal financially, the later
critically), but those are exceptions. Some will point out Star Wars, but that franchise never really went away. And now with
Disney remaking all of their previous movies, it’s hard not to see this as the
end times.
So
of course Ghostbusters got remade.
It’s one of the most beloved nostalgic properties from the 80s that was popular
enough to spawn a sequel, TV shows, and video games. Hell, there were plans for
a third movie, which I assume was passed on due to the death of Harold Ramis.
It’s also understandable that people were not happy with the idea of remaking Ghostbusters. With the vast majority of
reboots and sequels being disappointing, it’s no wonder that there was uproar
over this reboot.
What
did take me aback was how this movie
somehow became the battleground for gender politics. The decision to put women
in the main roles was viewed by a small, but vocal, group of people as some
kind of declaration of war against men. Really. As a result, feminists began
championing the film as a beacon of progress for women (sure, casting women in
roles popularized by men is a good step forward, but the movie itself could
still be terrible). This put many people, myself included, in an awkward
position: remaking Ghostbusters is a
terrible idea and the trailers was terrible, but hating it because the cast is
all women is ridiculous. This resulted in a flame war with both sides yelling
past one another. Needless to say, the experience was not fun.
As
for my personal relationship with Ghostbusters?
I really don’t have one. I watched the first movie only a few days before
seeing the reboot. I was familiar with the premise, actors, dialogue, and
amazing theme song, but I had never seen it in its entirety. Overall, I liked
it a lot. It was funny, quotable, and well acted. And I love Janine! There are
things about the movie that I didn’t care for (the relationship between Venkman
and Dana didn’t work for me at all, Winston gets so little screen time, not
nearly enough of Janine, etc), but I enjoyed the movie and would gladly see it
again. And, in case you’re wondering, my favorite Ghostbuster is Egon Spengler
(“I collect spores, molds, and fungus”). I think I would have liked it more if
I saw it when I was younger. So, going into this movie, I had no emotional
attachment to this franchise and, despite my tendencies towards feminism, I
didn’t see this as a hill worth dying on.
So
after all those months of fighting over this movie, the threats and tears that
resulted, the sheer chaos that ensued and engulfed the entire internet, how was
the actual movie? Hold onto your butts, people! IT’S…
…okay.
It’s just a serviceable summer comedy. Not as good as the first movie and there
are lots of problems that weight it down, but it was an enjoyable experience
nonetheless.
So
all that buildup was for nothing. Can’t say I’m surprised.
So
let’s talk about the good stuff!
Ladybusters!
It’s
funny that the big stink over this movie (aside from the very idea of remaking Ghostbusters) was about the leads being
female when they were actually the best part. Each of the actresses are funny
and memorable with the stand outs being Leslie Jones as an MTA worker with vast
knowledge the history of New York and Kate McKinnon as the eccentric engineer
who builds all the Ghostbusters’ contraptions. Meanwhile, while Kristin Wiig
and Melissa McCarthy get lots of funny lines, their bits are considerably toned
down. What’s great is that the new characters is that they don’t feel like
stand-ins for the original roles. Sure, they occupy similar roles to the
original (Erin and Venkman, Abby and Ray, Holtzmann and Egon, Patty and Winston),
but each one is unique in their own way. Plus, the fact that they’re women is
almost never remarked upon. They aren’t praised or demeaned because of their
gender. There’s a throwaway line here and there, but nothing major.
Laugh Out Loud
This
movie had me in stitches several times. There were some bits that were clearly
improvised and went on for a bit too long, but there were a lot of laughs to be
had. Each actress has a different comedic style that matched their personality
and they worked well off of each other. McKinnon was the most consistently
funny, but Jones had the best bits. The biggest laugh for me was after Abby
gets possessed and Patty bitchslaps the spirit out of her. I also loved Patty’s
encounter with the mannequins. Lamentably, Ghostbusters
(2016) is not as quotable as the original. I can’t recall very many lines
that work on their own except for a few (“The power of Patty compels you!”,
“Who’s the flying beefcake?”, etc). I’m sure I can find more if I watch it
again.
Gadgets and
Ghostbusting
Ghostbusters
(2016)
takes the concept of people capturing ghosts and expands upon it. The main way
it does this involves creating new inventions. They still have the proton
packs, but Holtzmann creates even more devices for them to use. I couldn’t tell
you the names of the new inventions if you asked me to, but the devices are
definitely memorable. One device can shred ghosts into pieces, another lets
them punch the ghosts, and there are laser whips.
On
top of that, we get to see a lot more ghostbusting this time around. Let’s face
it. The original movie wasn’t very action packed. Aside from capturing Slimer
and the climax with Gozer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, most of the actual
ghostbusting is explained in a montage of newspaper headlines. In this movie,
not only do they capture more ghosts on screen, but the scenes are bigger than
ever. I also really like the ghost designs. No, they don’t look anything like
the ghosts in the first movie, but they had interesting designs. I especially
like the ones that look like giant parade float balloons.
Alas, despite all the good in the movie, there was also a lot of bad that’s hard to ignore.
Kevin is Too
Stupid to Function
Of
the main cast, the weak link is Chris Hemsworth. He plays Kevin, the Ghostbusters’
secretary. Even without comparing him to Janine (who is the best!), he’s not a
compelling or interesting character. Here’s how Kevin is defined: he’s hot and
stupid. Like, really stupid. Like, so
stupid it’s a wonder how he managed to make it out the front door let alone
apply for this job. Hemsworth has good comedic timing and he fully commits to
the dumb hottie archetype, but his character was unbearably stupid. Also, these
women are breaking so many rules regarding sexual harassment, especially Erin,
and it’s not cute or funny. Maybe this is a deliberate attempt to switch the
gender politics by having the male character be the object of affection, but
that’s not the same as subversion. Also, pointing it out doesn’t count as
subversion either (then again, the first movie had a similar problem).
Pointless Cameos
Ideally,
it should be nice to see the original cast again, but it was distracting every
time. The only two that don’t show up are Rick Moranis (retired) and Harold
Ramis (dead), although there is a bust of Harold Ramis in the university Erin
works at. Annie Potts’s cameo was the best because she was playing a similar
character. The only one who gets a character is Bill Murray, who plays a James
Randi-esque skeptic who doesn’t believe in the Ghostbusters’ antics. I expected
him to occupy the same role as Walter Peck, serving as an auxiliary antagonist
for the Ghostbusters, but he just gets killed off having affected nothing. You could
argue that Walter Peck was more or less superfluous to the plot of the first
movie, but (1) he’s the reason all the ghosts get released and (2), failing
that, he’s a lot more memorable. For goodness sake, Slimer had a bigger impact
on the plot. Yep, Slimer shows up and steels the Ecto-1 and it’s pretty funny.
And there’s a female Slimer. Um, okay.
And
Ozzy had a cameo, too. Was he in Ghostbusters
and I just didn’t notice? Maybe the sequel? I’m confused.
Lame Villain
By
far, the worst thing about this movie was the villain Rowan. Whereas the main
antagonist of the first movie was a freaking god, this one was…a basement dwelling internet troll. No,
seriously. He’s this jaded, nihilistic loser who wants to unleash ghosts
because he was bullied. It’s as lame as it sounds. I get how this might have
worked on paper. Erin gets bullied as a kid for seeing a ghost and tries to
make a better life for herself while Rowan’s experience being bullied fuels his
desire for revenge. He could have been a great foil for Erin, but we just get a
bitter, angry jerk. He gets a bit more interesting after he possesses Kevin,
but he’s still super boring.
At
the end of the day, Ghostbusters (2016)
is just fine. The sum of its parts are greater than its whole. I wouldn’t mind
seeing parts of it again. If they end up making a sequel, I’ll probably see it.
There were things that worked and things that didn’t. It will not ruin your
childhood. Your copy of Ghostbusters isn’t
going anywhere and your memory of it will not be in any way tainted. Can we
please move on?
Now
how about that trailer for Trolls?
Now THAT’S worth raging over.
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