A confession: This is my third attempt to write a review. My first attempt devolved into a ranting against the idiotic knee-jerk fan community and involved suggestions that they should decapitate themselves with chainsaws. In hindsight, it was a little strongly worded and went on for about ten paragraphs without even mentioning the new Ghostbusters movie, so I thought it wise to rewrite.
I should just talk about the movie, but darn it, you people have made it so hard just to do that. I feel I should comment on the hatred that this movie has garnered for the last year, about all of the crap it’s taken for daring to cast all women as the Ghostbusters and of all of the personal attacks that have been vomited out against those cast members. I feel I should say something about even the established film critics out there crying and whining about their apparently eggshell-fragile childhoods and their stupid boycotts.
But, to be honest, another part of me doesn’t even want to dignify their terrible personalities and their even more terrible actions with a response. I’ve never been more disappointed with the fan community than I have been since this project was announced.
I’m torn, to be honest. So, aside from everything I’ve already mentioned, I’m going to take a turn from a little known Disney movie and let it go. I’m talking about Treasure Planet, incidentally. Not Frozen.
The Ghostbusters are back!
Kind of.
They’re actually rebooted… as women! Three scientists and a female Ernie Hudson join up to study and capture ghosts as a mysterious figure attempts to bring about a spectral Armageddon by releasing ghosts from the spiritual plane into the mortal world. Can the Ghostbusters so this plan or is an apocalypse in the cards for all of humanity?
You know what? It’s actually pretty good.
All of that manufactured drama that we’ve sat through over the last year was just that… Useless, dumb, and it’s made everyone who took part in it look stupid.
Sure, this will never be remembered on the same level as the original Ghostbusters, but Ghostbusters 2016 is a very high-energy and quite funny movie. I enjoyed it and I had a pretty good time watching it. You can tell that this is one of those movies where the cast had a great time putting it together and it shows in every frame.
The fun we do see is mostly due to the superb casting and all four heavies really do a spectacular job in their roles. In particular, Kate McKinnon is especially entertaining as the goggle-wearing (what I assume to be) love child of Venkman and Egon. She stole every scene she was in.
Sure, the movie has its problems… I was disappointed that this was a reboot and not a sequel as I think a little legacy would have helped the story and I am very disappointed that Leslie Jones’ character followed the old trope we expected her to. I honestly don’t understand why the black woman couldn’t have been a scientist instead of the expected “street smart” uneducated member.
Still, the new iteration of Ghostbusters is pretty good. Not Ghostbusters ’84 good, but perhaps Ghostbusters 2 good. Not The Real Ghostbusters good, but way better than Extreme Ghostbusters.
Hey, look… if you decided to hate this movie a year ago before it was ever shot, there’s nothing I’m going to say that will change your mind, but even if Ghostbusters 2016 was the worst thing ever and, anyone with a tenth of a functioning brain can see it’s not, it’s not like it’s gone back in time and took a crap on the master copy of Ghostbusters ’84. I guess what I’m trying to say is that, the whole “it’s destroying my childhood” argument — and I’m being generous by calling it an “argument” because it’s actually just a really annoying whine — is ludicrous. Your childhood will always be there and it is not this fragile thing.
Grow up and give things a chance, you baby.
Jason Gaston 