So, who ya gonna call? To be honest, probably not these guys.
It actually started off pretty strong, regardless of the part from the trailer that was cheesy, and forced. The introduction to the character story as a group was pretty good as they searched the house established in the trailer with the first ghost. The joke before that however was basically the first joke of the film; and what was it? A cheap fart joke.
After that, the story plodded along trying it’s best to establish the characters, and story, but never quite succeeding; at least for me. It takes far too long to get into the “meat” of the story. They spend too much time messing about with the equipment, and it’s basically here’s this piece, and this piece, and here’s how it works type of deal.
In review, go back and watch the original Ghostbusters to see how long they discussed the tech, and compare the two. In the original, the first introduction of the proton packs is at the hotel as they are walking in to deal with what ends up being Slimer.
In the new one, they spend a good half hour (if not more, I didn’t time it) showing, and explaining, and even practicing with it against targets.
I don’t know whether it was Paul Feig as the director, or the writers (listed as Katie Dippold and Paul Feig in IMDB) that aren’t aware of proton charges. They are designed to capture the ghosts. While they cause damage, they don’t shoot the ghosts like a standard gun. The proton stream is designed to hold the spirit until entrapment. In this version, they use the proton packs (and other assorted devices, more later on that) as if they were conventional weapons.
One of the stand outs in this piece, was Chris Hemsworth. Man, the guy is funny. He played the jokes he was given well. He actually looked like he was having fun in this role and appeared to be enjoying himself.
The character could have done with a little more depth to him, but overall it was at least interesting enough to follow. Particularly the case when Hemsworth had to play another person who was possessing his body.
The second, and probably best for me, standout character was Holtzmann (played superbly by Kate McKinon) . This was the character that held the movie together for me. There was actual depth, and interest to the way she played the character. I could have done with more Holtzmann than what we got, but with the change around that they didn’t use her as much as they did for exposition on all the tech gear that she built for them.
Can I have a Kate McKinnon set of shorts about Holtzmann? I’ll take that. Just her by herself would work. McKinnon absolutely gave life to that character.
Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig on the other hand, just one dimensional bores. Wiig (Erin Gilbert) was probably the least boring. You could see she was actually trying. Attempting to do, something, with the material. The problem was the material they gave her. It was about one step away from being slapstick, falling on slime, fart jokes, etc. Wiig would have been better with better material.
Melissa McCarthy on the other was, well, she was Melissa McCarthy. There was no character there. She plays the same type of role she has played in most of her recent solo films. McCarthy did the one thing that I was afraid before going in that she would do–and that’s to just play herself, or the version of herself she’s played in almost all of her films.
Don’t get me wrong, I always like Melissa McCarthy, but not in all her roles. She has a few standouts where she could develop the character. In TV, that was Gilmore Girls, and even Mike and Molly. Identity Thief was probably the better on the movie side. This? Nothing. I had to look up that her characters name was Abby Yates, because I forgot coming out of the cinema because all I saw was Melissa. Probably the worst one though, was Leslie Jones, Patty, there was an incredible lack of anything to her character. She stood out as the standard, completely generic, lower class, black character that you see in a lot of movies. There was nothing different in her character, despite the filmmakers touting her performance during press releases.
The base story of this movie was only half there too. You could see they were trying to take inspiration from the previous, but still have their own story. As seen in the trailer, the story is effectively someone is building a machine that will bring the ghosts to our world. The whole thing is to, bigger and better, than the original. It doesn’t work.
The last act of the movie is basically a CGI throw in. You can see it in the trailer too, but it’s so much worse in the movie. It’s clear that they are just running through green screen and waving props around. It just didn’t work, and didn’t play with a grand finale end piece.
I won’t say anything about the original Ghostbusters, but as is already known, they all have cameos (Dan Ackroyds one being spoiled in a tv spot). If for some reason you’re reading this before seeing the movie, there is an end credits scene. So stay till it ends.
But that’s my thoughts on the movie. Have you seen it? What did you think? Did you like it? Did you not? Let me know.
Overall, I give it a 4/10. Mostly held up by Kate McKinnon’s and Chris Hemsworth’s character.
But in the end, I ain’t afraid of no ghosts.
Dreaming Screenwriter 