Ghostbusters (2016) review

Well… you’ve probably heard about this film quite a lot these past few months and suffice it to say, a lot of the discussions about it weren’t very positive to say the least. Somehow, for some reason, this was the one reboot in a current film landscape full of sequels, remakes, and reboots that people JUST couldn’t handle. And to me it’s rather strange that this film is getting as much flak as it is because Ghostbusters is one of the most famous franchises in pop culture history, mostly thanks to the 1984 titular comedy classic. Following the not-so-beloved (but seriously not as bad as many put it out to be) sequel in 1989, there were numerous attempts at doing a third Ghostbusters film. However, pretty much all of those plans ended up falling by the wayside, namely due to Bill Murray’s reluctance to return. And when franchise star Harold Ramis tragically passed away in February 2014, it seemed as if that would be it for the paranormal investigators on film. And then, just a few months later, that changed when it was announced that director Paul Feig would be directing a brand new Ghostbusters film. However, instead of being a continuation of the franchise, this new film would be a ‘reboot’ starring a cast of female leads… and to put it simply, quite a lot of people on the internet got really mad about this. How mad, you ask? Well, the first trailer for the film is the most disliked trailer on YouTube. There’s seriously no other film trailers on that site that have that many down-votes. And ultimately a lot of that backlash turned out be quite premature because the film is a genuinely solid crowd-pleaser. Is it perfect? No, not at all but it certainly isn’t as bad as a certain part of the internet claims it to be.

Sometime prior to the events of the film, scientists Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) and Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) published a book on paranormal activity claiming that ghosts are indeed real. However, the book fails to be a success and Gilbert decides to distance herself from it. However, when she is about to start teaching at Columbia University, she finds that, to her horror, Abby had republished the book without her permission. As a result, the two of them end up getting shunned from academia but after a legitimate encounter with a ghost, they decide to continue their research with the help of Abby’s new assistant, engineer Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon). They set up their new ‘office’ on the top floor of a Chinese restaurant, recruit the dim-witted but extremely good-looking Kevin Beckman (Chris Hemsworth) as their receptionist, and also gain a new teammate in the form of Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), an MTA employee who recently had a run-in with a ghost as well. Together, they come to be known as the ‘Ghostbusters’ and attempt to prove themselves to the people of New York by documenting and capturing ghosts. As this is going on, they also investigate into the increasingly frequent appearances of ghosts all over the city, which unbeknownst to them is being caused by an occultist named Rowan (Neil Casey) hell-bent on bringing about the apocalypse.  

So I guess the big question that some of you might be asking is how does this film fare as a comedy. And to that I say that the film does have a solid amount of humor. Now I’m not saying that every single joke in the film worked and there is a considerably noticeable lull at the halfway point. Still, the hit-miss ratio is still pretty darn solid; I’d say about 70-30. But another question that fans have raised in regards to the film is over the fact that instead of being a continuation of the franchise, it is instead a reboot with new characters. Whether or not this was the best move is debatable but at the very least, I feel that it worked because the film does manage to stand on its own as a unique entry in the franchise… though with that said, there are a few scenes in this film that do very much parallel scenes from the original film (e.g. the first ghost encounter). Also, there are quite a few callbacks to the original, namely the appearances of certain characters, but they didn’t bother me too much. This also included the cameos made by the original film’s cast, which actually weren’t that distracting (if I had to pick a favorite, it’d be Dan Aykroyd’s cameo). From a technical perspective, this film is certainly very well-made in terms of its action and visuals. Obviously in terms of the visuals there is a lot more CG used for the ghosts this time around but it all still looks really good and the film carries a solid visual style throughout. I mean, in terms of both visuals and action sequences, I feel that this film very much delivers in terms of being a modern-era Ghostbusters film all while still maintaining the same light-hearted spirit of the original films.

But of course one of the key elements to any Ghostbusters film is the strong camaraderie amongst its leads. And in the case of this film, that very much is the case with the group of Yates, Gilbert, Holtzmann, and Tolan. Not only that, but the film also very much succeeds in terms of making them endearing and likable characters. Both McCarthy and Wiig are solid and to reiterate a point that I made in my review of Paul Feig’s last film, Spy, this film is another case of proof that McCarthy’s truly at her best working with Feig. Their two primary co-stars get plenty of scene-stealing moments as well. Kate McKinnon is most certainly the most eccentric of the group as Holtzmann. It may be a bit too much for some but she certainly steals the show in quite a few sequences. The same goes for Leslie Jones as Patty, though she actually doesn’t go as over-the-top as McKinnon sometimes does. But it ain’t just the ladies who get great material to work with in this film. Chris Hemsworth once again shows off his great comedic chops in the role of Kevin. Simply put, the film very much plays up the fact that his character isn’t very bright (e.g. the first time the phone rings while he’s on the job, he doesn’t answer it because he assumed the actual phone was the one in the office’s fish-tank) and it’s hilarious. Of the cast, the only major weak link is, unfortunately, the villain. Nothing against Neil Casey, who’s mostly been known for his work behind the scenes as a writer on shows like SNL and Inside Amy Schumer, but the character of Rowan is admittedly rather bland, mostly just coming off as weird.

Now before I get to the conclusion for this review, I do have to address all of the backlash surrounding this film. Simply put… a lot of this backlash was really frigging stupid. I mean, seriously, out of all of the reboots, remakes, and sequels that have come out over the years, this is the one film that fanboys just couldn’t accept. I mean by comparison you don’t see people get that worked up over remakes of films like Point Break or Ben-Hur now, do you? And as much as some have actually tried to deny it, a good chunk of said backlash towards the film legitimately has been due to the fact that the film oh so dares to star women in the lead roles. And let me tell you, in 2016 this kind of sexism is just frigging embarrassing. What the hell is so wrong with having women be Ghostbusters, a franchise that has very much been dominated by male leads for the entirety of its existence up to this point. In having women be in the lead roles this time around, this film will no doubt give young girls great new role models to look up to. Now for the record, I know that the backlash towards this film wasn’t all about the whole ‘women are Ghostbusters’ thing. When the trailers did come out, even those who weren’t trolling the film weren’t too positive on them and I’ll admit that they were far from being ‘great’ trailers. However, just because a film has a lackluster trailer doesn’t automatically mean that the film is going to be bad. Thankfully, reviews for this film have been positive for the most part. So that shut up the trolls, right? NOPE! They then just proceeded to accuse anyone who dared to give the film a positive review of being ‘paid’ to do so. Oi… talk about setting fandom back many years.   

So with all of that said, what do I, someone who is NOT paid by Sony, think about the new Ghostbusters? I like it, I like it a lot. Is it perfect? No! There are some issues, namely in terms of pacing, and obviously not all of the jokes hit. If I were to compare this to the original film, which for the record I’m NOT trying to do here at all, I would still give the edge to the original film. But obviously that’s just because the original is still very much a classic and a tough act to follow. And yet that fact shouldn’t be held against this new film that much. Because aside from some scenes that do go off of scenes from the original film, this new film does succeed in being its own thing and as a result, this franchise’s new cast of leads prove to be a very badass new group of Ghostbusters that are very much worthy of standing toe to toe with the franchise’s original leads. In short, this film is, at the very least, a very fun crowd-pleaser. Will it appeal to absolutely everyone? No. I mean it’s pretty clear at this point that any of the trolls who have been bashing this film since the beginning will hate it no matter what. But you know what? Forget about them! If you were one of those people who were genuinely excited for this film, then by all means go see it. Don’t let those trolls spoil your fun. Seriously, even if I ended up not liking the film, I would’ve still encouraged you folks to see it because at the very least, at this point it does deserve to be given a chance. Because Paul Feig and the talented and funny group of actresses leading this film did not deserve any of the crap that they got from misogynistic and entitled fanboys at all.

Rating: 3.5/5

(P.S. There’s been a lot of talk about the film’s post-credits scene and I’ll just be honest… it’s not really worth it to stay through the credits. In fact, without giving any of it away, I guarantee that it might even elicit a groan from long-time fans because it does pull one very big callback to the original film. Here’s hoping the potential sequel doesn’t try to re-do the specific storyline that this scene alludes to.)

Ghostbusters (2016): Why You Should Give it a Chance

(Disclaimer: Literally just a day after I started writing this, a second trailer for the new Ghostbusters film was released online. I’m only going to mention it here for now but the reaction that I have to the first trailer will basically apply to the new one as well.)

As a film critic, I strive to be as open-minded as possible when it comes to every new film that I see. Even if I feel that the film doesn’t look very good based on what I’ve seen from its trailers, TV spots, etc., I still give it the benefit of the doubt and hope for the best. Because if you ask me, it’s both fairly cynical and quite unfair to immediately write off a film before you even see it. Unless you have a time machine that allowed you to go forward in time to when a certain film is released, which I’m 100% certain no one actually has yet, there’s really no way in knowing that a film is going to be good or not solely based on trailers and the film’s marketing. And that’s exactly what has been going on with what has easily been one of the most controversial productions in recent memory; director Paul Feig’s upcoming reboot of Ghostbusters. In fact, this film has been so polarizing amongst internet folk that it recently become the most disliked film trailer in the history of YouTube; no other film trailer is even close to having that many dislikes. Damn! Clearly a lot of fanboys aren’t too happy with this female-led reboot of the iconic Ghostbusters franchise… and I’ll be perfectly frank in saying that all of this vitriol is rather embarrassing because all of these angry fanboys are prematurely judging a film without even seeing it just because it’s trying something with their beloved franchise that they don’t like. So today on Rhode Island Movie Corner, I’ll be addressing the two primary reasons as to why the new Ghostbusters film is attracting so much negative attention online. And with that in mind, hopefully this post will serve as some kind of encouragement for people to actually give the film a chance instead of just writing it off right off the bat, which is what the majority of the internet has been doing so far.

The Ghostbusters franchise obviously needs no introduction. It’s one of the most famous franchises in pop culture history. What started with the 1984 titular film written by the film’s stars, Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd, ended up becoming a worldwide phenomenon, spawning a 1989 sequel, a hit TV series in the form of The Real Ghostbusters, and a wide array of merchandise ranging from toys to video games. As far as the films were concerned, over the years there were many attempts in doing a potential third Ghostbusters film. However, this planned sequel ended up facing numerous setbacks over the years, namely the fact that franchise star Bill Murray routinely expressed disinterest in returning. Ultimately, with the passing of Harold Ramis in February 2014, it seemed as if this Ghostbusters III wasn’t going to happen, especially after it was announced that Ivan Reitman would not return to direct the film. And then, in August of that year, things changed when it was announced that Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy) was going to direct a new Ghostbusters film that would star an all-female group of leads. Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones were then subsequently cast in the main roles for a film that will serve as a ‘reboot’ of the franchise; in other words, it seems as if the film will not be taking place in the same universe as the original films. So now the big question is this; Why is this new Ghostbusters film being subjected to some of the most vitriolic scrutiny that you’ll ever see, arguably even more so than some of the most hated films of all-time? Well, there have been two main reasons for this and the first is fairly obvious.

REASON 1: IT’S A REBOOT

Like any major reboot, this new Ghostbusters has been criticized by fans for one major reason; why reboot a film franchise when the original is so beloved (the first one, at least; the sequel, not so much)? Obviously this is a problem that a lot of people have whenever a franchise that they love gets some form of continuation but this has clearly been the one reboot, more so than any other, that a lot of people simply couldn’t tolerate whatsoever. But as for me, I’m not really part of that crowd. I guess you could say it’s due to the fact that I didn’t watch Ghostbusters until I was older. But you see, there is this stigma that the internet creates when it comes to sequels, reboots, and remakes in which fanboys claim that one ‘bad’ film ‘completely ruins a franchise’. In reality, though, that’s not really true because the previous beloved films in a series are still going to be there afterwards; it ain’t like they were destroyed in a fire or anything. If you didn’t like one entry in a franchise, just ignore that one and stick to the other films. Same goes for that argument of ‘[insert film here] destroyed my childhood’. No, your childhood wasn’t destroyed because of one film based off of a franchise you followed when you were a kid. So to put all of this into perspective, imagine this scenario. I’ve made it clear in the past that Back to the Future is my favorite film of all-time. A few months ago there was some talk about a potential continuation of the franchise which was quickly shot down by creators Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, who said that it’ll happen ‘over their dead bodies’. But if a Back to the Future remake/sequel/whatever does end up getting made some day, that doesn’t mean that I’m going to be all pissy about it and condemn the new film before I even see it. I will, at the very least, give it a chance because it at least deserves that. And so does this new Ghostbusters film.

But unfortunately there’s another big reason why this film has been getting a lot of backlash…

REASON 2: IT STARS WOMEN

Yep… as much as some have tried to deny it, which basically means that they’re only further proving it true, one of the major criticisms that fanboys have had with the new film is the fact that the film stars a group of women in the lead roles. Don’t believe me? Need I remind you of when Mad Max: Fury Road came out and there were a minority of fans who were angry at the film for having a feminist slant given the greater focus on characters like Furiosa and the Wives? Well the same thing is happening to the new Ghostbusters film… and this one isn’t even out yet. It really is pathetic that this is one of the main reasons why the film has been getting a lot of vitriol directed towards it. Despite all of the advancements over the years in regards to lead female roles in film, here’s one instance where the internet just can’t let that happen for one of its beloved franchises (Imagine how angry the internet would be if this happened to other male-centric franchises). That was even more evident when another Ghostbusters film was announced in March 2015 that was going to have a cast of male leads and be directed by the Russo brothers. While it looks as if this potential film isn’t going to happen due to the Russo brothers departing the production, I saw quite a few comments online from fanboys when it was still in development that said something along the lines of “I’m more interested in that than the female Ghostbusters film”. No joke. That’s seriously what some people were saying.

Now obviously there’s a bit more to this backlash than the two reasons I listed above. It also has something to do with how people have reacted to the first trailer. Now as far as the actual trailer for the film is concerned, I’m not saying that it was a particularly ‘great’ trailer but it’s far from being the worst thing either. It definitely isn’t worthy of all those damn dislikes, that’s for sure. Yeah there are a few scenes that are clearly being lifted from previous films but the visuals do look pretty darn good and I found that there were genuinely a few laugh-out-loud moments in the trailer, particularly at the end when Leslie Jones’ character continually smacks Melissa McCarthy’s character in order to get the ghost that has been possessing her out, even after said ghost has already been forced out (“THE POWER OF PATTY COMPELS YOU!”). I mean at the end of the day I’m fully aware that this could end up being a disaster. I’m not denying that. However, a good chunk of the backlash towards the film is quite pathetic; not the part about it being a reboot, because that was inevitable no matter how well the first trailer was received, but the part about the film starring women in the lead roles. Seriously internet, it’s 2016… grow the hell up, will ya? What’s so wrong about a bunch of women being Ghostbusters, a franchise that has been fairly male-centric for pretty much the entire duration of its existence? I for one am excited to see how this new film is going to turn out. It certainly has a good cast and crew attached to it and at the very least it has the support of Ivan Reitman and the original film’s cast, many of whom are making cameos in the film. And yes, they even managed to win over Bill Murray as well, which I think is at least a good sign. You can rest assured that I will be seeing this film when it comes out. In fact, I might even end up seeing it twice if only to support it in light of all of the unfair hate that it has been getting.