I saw the newest Ghostbusters film at the movie theater with my youngest sons yesterday. In short, I will say that the movie is well worth seeing, but still does not manage to capture the greatness of the first movie. The first two-thirds does an amazing job setting up the new cast and story with actors capable of taking a fairly unbelievable script and making it feel real. The third act is full of references that would make any fan of Ghostbusters happy, but in trying to be faithful to the original, it ends up losing a great deal of the unique identity it spent the first two-thirds creating.
In many ways, I feel that the Ghostbuster sequels remind me of the Star Wars series. The original Ghostbusters 2 is like the prequel movies, made by the original creator but feeling like a stale and rushed tale with more effects and a more juvenile sense of the humor. The female Ghostbusters reboot is like The Last Jedi which tries to take the series in a bold different direction, but somehow seems to be disrespectful of its progenitor. Meanwhile, this newest movie feels like The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker in that it ignores the existence of the female Ghostbusters and is full of fan references and a fresh new cast, but at the expense of being full of plot holes to allow those fan service moments to come about.
It also does not have quotable lines, something that made the original have such lasting appeal. There are multiple scenes that seem to be perfectly set up for a new, iconic line, only to fall completely flat. Sadly, Paul Rudd has at least three of these moments where it looks like he has swallowed a potentially amazing line. Speaking of Paul Rudd, I was quite upset with his character as it was used to take a potshot at the teaching profession. From the previews, I had thought that his character was going to be a great example of a teacher who brings out the potential of his students, but instead he exemplified the worst type of teacher: one who ignores his students by slapping in an educationally unconnected movie to just keep them quiet. It was a cheap, throwaway (and repeated) joke that deeply angered me.
Despite my qualms, I'd still be quite happy to watch this movie again. It's clear from the post-credit scene (not the entertaining, if out-of-place, mid-credit scene) that they would like to continue this series (granted, the same could be said for the all-female reboot--which I also liked). I certainly hope that I do.
In many ways, I feel that the Ghostbuster sequels remind me of the Star Wars series. The original Ghostbusters 2 is like the prequel movies, made by the original creator but feeling like a stale and rushed tale with more effects and a more juvenile sense of the humor. The female Ghostbusters reboot is like The Last Jedi which tries to take the series in a bold different direction, but somehow seems to be disrespectful of its progenitor. Meanwhile, this newest movie feels like The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker in that it ignores the existence of the female Ghostbusters and is full of fan references and a fresh new cast, but at the expense of being full of plot holes to allow those fan service moments to come about.
It also does not have quotable lines, something that made the original have such lasting appeal. There are multiple scenes that seem to be perfectly set up for a new, iconic line, only to fall completely flat. Sadly, Paul Rudd has at least three of these moments where it looks like he has swallowed a potentially amazing line. Speaking of Paul Rudd, I was quite upset with his character as it was used to take a potshot at the teaching profession. From the previews, I had thought that his character was going to be a great example of a teacher who brings out the potential of his students, but instead he exemplified the worst type of teacher: one who ignores his students by slapping in an educationally unconnected movie to just keep them quiet. It was a cheap, throwaway (and repeated) joke that deeply angered me.
Despite my qualms, I'd still be quite happy to watch this movie again. It's clear from the post-credit scene (not the entertaining, if out-of-place, mid-credit scene) that they would like to continue this series (granted, the same could be said for the all-female reboot--which I also liked). I certainly hope that I do.
RSS Feed
