Skip to main content

Movie Review: Ghostbusters (2016) *Very mild Spoilers*

The 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters is probably best enjoyed if you take it as a movie that really is its own thing. Sure it has all the key elements from the original 1984 Ghostbusters in terms of logo and Ghostbusting hardware but overall it has a different feel that is less cynical with lead characters that aren't just female versions of their male counterparts.

To draw an analogy it's kind of like Tim Burton's Batman (1989) compared to Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever (1995), both were pretty good movies but Joel's had a lot more neon and was more cartoon like. It had elements of Burton's style but clearly wasn't a Tim Burton film.

That's how I feel about the new rebooted Ghostbusters. If you accept it as it's own thing you'll probably enjoy it more. If you're looking for something that captures the more cynical humor and character relationships of the 1984 film, you won't find it here.

It is definitely a funny, more cartoon like film with laugh out loud moments. It's not particularly scary but, let's face it, neither were the original two films. Just don't go into the film with the mind set of comparing every moment to its predecessors to see which does it better. The original will win every time (as it should, so why waste your time and ruin your enjoyment of the new film? Use the time to spot all the Easter eggs and callbacks and nerd out on those instead).

I enjoyed the new cast, particularly Kate McKinnon as the teams hardware specialist, Jillian Holtzmann. Her character is a lot of fun introducing and developing all the tech. Unfortunately she is used to insert random site gags in places, pushing for additional laughs for no real reason other than to add a few more jokes to the movie. Not a bad thing by any means but it's always nicer if the humor is a direct result of the story moving forward.

Kate McKinnon as Jillian Holtzmann.

Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy and Leslie Jones all hold their own as valuable contributors to the team. Kristen and Melissa's characters are the Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd members of the team respectively but their dynamic is very different. Where Bill's character was kind of a cool but cynical guy practising science as a sort of lark, Kristen's character is the real deal. She's a real scientist trying to score credibility and prestige whilst distancing herself from her earlier research into the paranormal. Once she realises her earlier research wasn't all for nought she loses any ability to be reluctant or cynical about the work Melissa's character is doing. As such it's a more positive relationship.

Chris Hemsworth role as the team's receptionist, Kevin, provides some good laughs. From the trailers it's hard to understand why they would hire a receptionist so stupid (aside from the eye candy factor) but there is further explanation that makes some sense. My only issue with Kevin is that, from out of nowhere, he decides to make himself a team member (not really a spoiler if you've seen the trailers) rather than the team's receptionist. It makes me think there's a few scenes that got cut that would have explained this better.

Leslie Jones' character, Patty, kind of muscles her way onto the team then a short time later is lamenting her decision as if it wasn't her choice in the first place. Which also makes me think a few deleted scenes must be around that explain this better.

In fact, my only real issue with the film is that it doesn't clearly show the passage of time in several places. For example, in one scene the team are being questioned by the Mayor after having caught first ghost (I think), immediately after that they are in an alley way trying out a bunch of new equipment that they didn't have available what seems like hours earlier, until you realise the alley is not the one next to the Mayor's office but the one next to the Chinese take-a-way and it's probably days or maybe even weeks later (given the amount of new equipment).

This kind of unacknowledged passage of time jump happens a few times through out the film. Most notably it goes from day to night very quickly during the climactic Ghost battle at the end of the film. It may be because of a dark cloud that forms over the city but it's not totally clear. One minute it's day the next it's night.

Aside from that, I enjoyed the film. It's not a movie I'd particularly want to see multiple viewings but if there are sequels, I'd certainly look forward to seeing those. In fact, now they're over the 'origin' story, a second movie could certainly do a lot to improve upon a fairly solid start. It would be particularly good if the next film had nothing to do with opening a city destroying portal of paranormal activity (come on... three films in a row now).

To sum up, this is not the 1984 Ghostbuster movie. It really is its own thing. If you can go into it with that in mind, you will probably have a better time. The fact that it's an all female team really makes very little difference - other than they have a penchant for dancing a bit more than your average male scientist might. Then again, the original cast did their fair share of dancing in Ray Parker Junior's video for the Ghostbusters theme song.

This movie is not bad, like some would want you to believe. It's not a chick flick just because it's an all female team. It's definitely not a male bashing film either. The special effects are not hokey or dated (as I've seen some say). It's a comedy as good as any I've seen in recent years. It's not outstandingly great but it is Ghostbusters for a new generation. I really hope they at least try for a second movie in this series.

Comments

  1. I saw this after I answered your comment on Face Book, so it's probably answered my couple of questions except about the theme music. (ie: did they use the same, well, they'd have to really?)

    I don't think I'll go and see it. Can't remember how the story went with the original but would probably prefer it. Hope the young ones will see the original too, if they haven't already. Usually the one you see first is usually the one you prefer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As I say above this movie is it's own thing so whilst the story is sort of similar to the original it has its own origins for how the team evolves. It's not a remake just a reboot of the Ghostbusters concept.

      You'll hear the original theme song played very early on in the movie and you'll also hear other people's versions and remixes later on. I looked at the soundtrack to this film and, along with the original theme song, there's at least 3 or 4 new versions of the same song.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated by an actual human (me, TET) and may not publish right away. I do read all comments and only reject those not directly related to the post or are spam/scams (I'm looking at you Illuminati recruiters... I mean scammers. Stop commenting on my Illuminati post!).

Buy Gifts and Apparel featuring art by TET.

Popular posts from this blog

TV Series Review: The Office - Australia (Prime Video) (2024) *No Spoilers*

W hile I'm a late comer fan of The Office, only watching after the original and USA versions were both available on streaming services, I did watch them in the order of release i.e. I watched the U.K. version first. Now, with the release of the Australian version of The Office on Prime Video, I think it's best to approach watching this new version understanding that it is not those shows. More importantly, remembering the US version was not well received or as popular as it has become since streaming became a thing. I personally remember people often saying the original version was better, back in the day. Of course, the Australian version has analogues for all the same characters you're familiar with from the previous versions, with their characteristics, so you can easily see who is the Aussie version of each character. While there are actually 13 different adaptations of the series worldwide, I was surprised to learn this is the first time the boss has been female. No...

TV Series Review: Velma (2023-2024) *No Spoilers*

A s a kid, Scooby Doo cartoons were something I used to watch fairly regularly. I wasn't a diehard fan but it was one of the better, of the many, cartoons I used to watch. I had heard about the new animated series, Velma , around the time of its release but it wasn't coming out on any streaming service I was subscribed to so it went off my radar pretty quickly. Quite by chance I signed up to a streaming service so I could watch DC Entertainment's, The Penguin, and noticed Velma was on that platform. I figured I may as well get my money's worth out of the subscription. I did know that Velma, herself, had been race swapped for the show, which made no real difference to me, though I do prefer classic Velma if pushed to choose. However the first episode of season one was a real shock to my expectations! No where had I heard this series was skewing very much into adult humor and themes. I was expecting something more along the lines of the original Scooby Doo show. Instead I...

Movie Review: Memory (2023)

S omething a little different for me in terms of movies I usually review,  Memory  is a film I was invited along to see by my partner, and both of us didn't know much about the movie going in, other than it was a film where one of the leads has dementia. The basic premise follows adult, special needs social worker, Sylvia (Jessica Chastain), who leads a simple and structured life. When Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) follows her home from their high school reunion the surprise encounter profoundly impacts both of their lives. The film starts out very awkward and disjointed to some degree, which I feel is intentional, to reflect that Sylvia, who is also a struggling single mother, is fairly resilient, she is, in many ways, just barely holding everything together because she doesn't have any other option. When Saul sees Sylvia at their high school reunion it seems like some unpleasant memories from her past are fast tracked into the forefront of her life, and things move forward fro...

Trump's 2024 Election Win Will Change Everything - At Least I Sure Hope It Does!

Trump by Leonardo.ai & TET A s an outsider looking in on the US 2024 election, right up until election day, it is beyond my belief that the election continued to be a 'close race'. It is even further beyond my belief that Trump won, without question.  Even if the Democrats wanted to claim the election was rigged somehow (which I'm sure Trump was gearing up to do had the outcome been different) it would be hard to make the case, beyond a recount. There's no slim margin here. Trump clearly won. While I would've preferred a Blue win, I at least got one outcome I was hoping for. A clear winner on election day. If I could give the Democrats some free, unsolicited advice for the next election. Stop targeting the opposition as if they're somehow selfish, evil villains. That's not how political parties work. At the end of the day the all represent the public. The people. The everyday citizen who you're trying to convince that you have what it takes to meet t...

I'm Confused About Why People Prefer to Say Discombobulated?

D iscombobulated. Is a word that I think someone rediscovered about three or four years ago (maybe more because the pandemic years have thrown out my sense of time) and now I hear it a lot. It's not a new word by any means, but when I started hearing multiple celebrities using it in everyday sentences, I actively had to look up what it meant. Define it with as many synonyms as you like but essentially it's just another word meaning 'confused'. Seinfeld Quotes: Quotes.net The words are pretty much interchangeable. He was discombobulated by too many choices. He was confused by too many choices.  My confusion is the length of the word. It's unnecessarily long with too many syllables. There are many other words that mean confused, and therefore also mean discombobulated. Most of them are shorter and easier to say. So why not just say 'confused'? Perhaps discombobulated sounds more intelligent, maybe?  Hawaii Five-0 Quotes: Quotes.net I've noticed it gets us...

Movie Review: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) *No Spoilers*

I f you're like me and didn't go to see  Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom  in theatres you made the right choice. For context, I loved the first Aquaman movie . It's one of my favorites from the Snyder/DCEU era. It is a relatively well made adventure story, with some fantastic world building, amazing visuals, and included some commentary on  environmental issues as well. Despite having, mostly the same creative team, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom comes across as a film that couldn't decide what it wanted to be, in terms of a sequel. On the one hand it wants to showcase the cool, fun, wisecracking, but bad ass, rock'n'roll  version of Aquaman (Jason Momoa) with another rollicking adventure. On the other it feels like someone said it had to be epic with potentially world changing stakes so Aquaman would have to do 'King Shit' and be all serious, navigate deep sea politics, and generally try to be a responsible heroic good guy that he is when he's not being ...

Movie Opinion: GhostBusters: Frozen Empire (2024) *Some Spoilers*

T here's one thing that can be said for 2016's, all female Ghostbusters reboot , and that is, it's not anywhere near as bad as  Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire . Although you don't realize it almost all the key moments of the actual plot are spoiled in the movie poster shown here.  It's a wildly over thought, and overly convoluted story, with much exposition, that boils down to a big end level boss, a beam of light shooting into the sky, all the captured ghosts escaping, and all the Ghostbusters teaming up to clumsily restore order again by the end of the film. Side note: That mayor everyone thinks is a dick is the kind of mayor you want. He really knows how to get things done in record time. I've never seen a building get condemned and the legal tenants get evicted so fast, ever!  There's not much here that this franchise hasn't done before, in every film, only this time everything freezes too because... I don't know, I drifted off during that expositio...