The fanboys can put their proton packs away, there is no need to put this film into a trap where Ray, Peter, Egon, and Winston trapped ghosts 32 years ago. Ghostbusters is not the train wreck most people were anticipating it would be. As a matter of fact, the film is quite fun and the perfect example of what a summer blockbuster should entail. The issue of this film stems from its marketing. After the conclusion of the film, I can now say with confidence that this is one, if not the worst marketed films since 2000. The trailers were poorly cut, edited, and included scenes that were not even in the final cut of the film. Sony has had its fair share of failures in rebooting franchises including The Amazing Spider-Man and last year’s Fantastic Four reboot, so it was difficult for fans to embrace a reboot just based on past attempts from Sony. Ghostbusters ’16 is to Ghostbusters ’84 what Jurassic World was to Jurassic Park, a reboot with a similar story, structure and visuals.
The film follows the format of the original as 3 paranormal enthusiasts, Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig), Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) and Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) discover a pending ghost invasion. To save Manhattan, they become the Ghostbusters. Transit worker/trivia expert Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) joins the group and offers her expertise on mass transit and architectural history. While the film does follow the same story structure as the original, catch one ghost early on, followed by a climactic finale, Feig does a fine job incorporating a back story to the characters. We understand why Erin and Abby have such a great bond, and why Holtzmann has a large input into the creation of the Ghostbusters. Leslie Jones who has been bashed based on the trailers to the film, for her seemingly unfunny comedic tone, does a fine job in this film and is a bright spot to the film. The chemistry between the four leads is what works best in this film. The dialogue all throughout brought back memories to the first time I saw Ghostbusters and the chemistry the original four had, lead by Kate Mckinnon. She absolutely owns this film, as she brings the Venkman charm and the Egon brains and molds them into her own fun, witty, sometimes strange Holtzmann. Every time she is on screen, she steals the show.
Not everything is sunshine and rainbows as Ghostbusters does have plenty of flaws. The villain is a reminder of the issue Marvel films have suffered throughout their solid run. The villain’s motivation is weak and really feels like a place holder for the ghostbusters to eventually take down. While there were subtle nice cameos of old locations from the original, the cameos of the original cast, while most being nice to see, minus Bill Murray, affect the pacing of the film. There are moments where certain events are occurring and the film pauses just to scream “hey, look an original ghostbusters”. Slimer makes an appearance with a female version of himself and it comes off tacky, unoriginal, and most importantly unneeded.
While I don’t feel Ghostbusters 16 will have the staying power Ghostbusters 84 had, it does what it intended to do. It’s an entertaining film that respected its predecessor. If you were against this film being made because of the love of the original, you will still find reasons to dislike this film; however, if you go into it with an open mind, then maybe, just maybe Ghostbusters might just entertain you.
Reel Talk gives Ghostbusters 3 reels
