Top 5 Reasons You're Sure To Enjoy The GHOSTBUSTERS Reboot, And 5 Reasons You Definitely Won't
Ghostbusters has been getting positive reactions from a lot of critics so far, but it's also been slated by others. Is it worth your time? Find out what I thought after the jump. Major SPOILERS ahead...
Paul Feig's take on one of the most beloved movies of the '80s, Ghostbusters, arrives in theaters this week. Thus far the movie has been embraced by the majority of critics, and even most of the negative reviews have taken something of a "wasn't as bad as I expected" slant.
Personally, I enjoyed it. It's fun, funny, features a great cast, and overall it does manage to capture a bit of that ol' Ghostbusters magic. That said, there's also a lot of elements I didn't like, and an argument can definitely be made that this reboot falls just short of being a remake.
Below you'll find 5 positives and 5 negatives I found with the film. Have a click through, and be sure to leave your thoughts below - but again, beware of big SPOILERS for the ending.
5. The Fun Factor
There's no doubt that Feig's Ghostbusters flick is an unabashedly good time at the cinema, and a pretty funny (if rarely hilarious) movie overall. It maintains its tempo for the majority of its runtime, and packs in more gags than you can shake a proton pack at... even if not all of 'em land.
The humor is definitely a little broader than the original's (there's even a fart joke), and one could argue that it's missing a bit of the smart-ass cynicism Bill Murray injected back in '84 - but it passed my 5 laugh barometer comfortably, and that's more than I can say for many modern Hollywood comedies.
4. Nostalgia
Yes this is a reboot, and no it's not the original team of Egon, Ray, Peter and Winston doing the busting - but this movie still manages to evoke a sense of nostalgia that works to its benefit as the plot develops. It's not even the awkward cameos (more on them later) or the fact that it borrows story beats from the original, this just - believe it or not - feels like a Ghostbusters movie. Not a great Ghostbusters movie, granted, but the spirit (no pun intended) of the classic is in there somewhere.
The wretched updated theme-song is actually only used once, and for the most part it's the original Ray Parker Jr. tune we hear - so I couldn't help but be transported back to my childhood while watching 4 new Ghostbusters zipping around in the Ecto-1 while the speakers blared "I Ain't Afraid of no Ghost".
3. Chris Hemsworth
You may have heard that Thor's Chris Hemsworth steals the movie, and while that's not necessarily true, he's definitely one of the highlights. Yes, Kevin the secretary is basically a one-joke character (he's stupid, and does and says stupid things), but many of his scenes do account for the biggest laughs, and the Aussie actor has great chemistry with the four leads.
Hemsworth also has a bigger role that you might have thought from the trailers etc, and factors into the finale in a way you probably won't expect.
2. The New Team
Sorry sexists, this new all-female team of specter-hunters worked out just fine. Though I was a fan of most of these ladies (I wasn't familiar with Leslie Jones) beforehand, I was worried that Feig had just cast them as female versions of the original characters, and while there are obviously some superficial similarities, that's not the case at all. McCarthy, Wiig, Jones and McKinnon all do great work, with the latter arguably emerging as the standout. Mckinnon's manic, twitchy Holtzmann won't be to everyone's taste (critics seem to either love or loathe her), but she cracked me up.
A lot of thought and affection went into writing these guys, and we buy why they come together as a team. Their friendship never seems forced, either.
The movie may have had some big problems, but Sony and Paul Feig are on to a winner with this cast, so hopefully the inevitable sequel serves them a bit better.
1. It's A Lot Better Than The Trailer Suggests
Look, like pretty much everyone else, I loathed the first trailer for Ghostbusters and thought the movie was doomed - but trust me, it was not a fair representation of the final film in any way. All the tired old puking ghost/failed stage-dive/"that's gonna leave a mark" stuff is still in there, but even that works better in context, and they are still easily the least-funniest moments.
Why Sony's marketing team decided to highlight those bits in the trailer is anyone's guess, but they definitely did the movie no favors, because there is much better stuff on offer here.
5. It's Not Scary
Now, let's move on to what didn't work so well, starting with the lack of any genuine scares. Though it is undoubtedly a comedy first and foremost, the original Ghostbusters did have quite a few creepy moments. From the library ghost at the beginning, to the fridge-demon, to the hands emerging from the chair, to the pretty damn unsettling "nimble little minx" herself, Gozer - there were plenty of scenes to send a few shivers down the spine.
GB 2016? Not so much. There are a couple of effective enough jump scares early on, but aside from that it's all played for laughs. Plus, most of the ghosts are just interchangeable green cartoons. Disappointing.
4. The Cameos
With the possible exception of Ernie Hudson's appearance right at the end, the original cast cameos are a washout. Most of you will have seen Dan Aykroyd's catchphrase-blurting cabbie in the leaked TV spot, but if you don't want to know details on the others, skip over this one.
Bill Murray gets the most screen-time as a supernatural skeptic out to discredit the team, and completely takes you out of the movie with his pointless scenes. Then, Sigourney Weaver is shoehorned in just before the end-credits as Holtzmann's equally mental mentor. None of it is even remotely amusing.
Sony should have done everything they could to cast these guys as their original characters, or just left them out completely.
3. The Villain
Ghostbusters '84 gave us the all-powerful, evil entity from another dimension known as Gozer the Gozerian and her two trusty demon-dogs. The reboot gives us... a chubby, frustrated, basement-dwelling nerd named Rowan. Yes, they made your average comment section troll the movie's main antagonist.
Rowan's plan to defeat the Ghostbusters and bring about the apocalypse is to die, become a ghost, and then turn into a giant version of the team's logo before stomping around a bit and getting shot in the dick. It's all a bit embarrassing, really.
2. The Ending
Rowan's Staypuft Marshmallow Man impersonation is only one of the major issues with the ending, however. When the foursome gear-up and rush to Times Square for the final showdown, everything goes south. After a mildly entertaining specter-scrap in which the ladies utilize some of their new gadgets, we have the aforementioned crotch blast which sucks Rowan into a portal. On his way in he grabs Abby (McCarthy), and Erin (Wiig) dives in after her. What follows is supposed to be a touching moment but it just comes off cringy, and the entire last act is reduced to a convoluted mess.
There is a nice moment right at the very end with the team congregating on the roof of their new digs, but even that might seem a bit cheesy if you don't think it was earned (I'm on the fence).
1. It Would've Worked Better As A Sequel
As entertaining as Ghosbusters 2016 is in many respects, there's no getting away from the fact that it would have worked much better as a sequel than it did as a reboot. Even if Murray and co. didn't want to reprise their roles, there are plenty of other ways to establish that the film is set in the same continuity as the original, and that allows for the mythology to continue on instead of being used as a building block to try to create a new one.
Okay, so it's been argued that Feig wanted to do his own thing and not be beholden to what came before - but then why pepper the flick with dozens of callbacks and references, bring every living cast member back as a different character, and basically reuse the same story?
This take on Ghostbusters is pretty good, but it doesn't do enough to justify its existence as a full reboot, and it would have been embraced by a lot more fans had it set itself up as a continuation instead.
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