The Ghostbusters are a staple of Halloween in more than one way. If you're looking for a group costume idea, you can't go wrong with going as the Ghostbusters. If you're looking for music to listen to during your Halloween party, they've got you covered. If you need a movie to watch - well, you get the idea.
I can't deny how popular this franchise is, but unfortunately I didn't find much to make me a superfan. Even so, I've got to give them points for being as iconic as they are - and I'm looking forward to the next film in the franchise later this year.
Ghostbusters (***)
In which scientists invent Poke-balls for ghosts
A Halloween classic that built an ongoing franchise, Ghostbusters just doesn’t mean to me what it does to many people.
The cultural impact of Ghostbusters ever since its release in 1984 has been so big that even though I’d never seen the film, I knew all about the four titular characters as well as the iconic Slimer. The theme song as well is one that’s forever playing in my mind every October. By the time the credits rolled, though, I have to say I think I went in with too much expectation. The movie had funny moments for sure, but there were a few things that kept me from falling in love with it.
Firstly, I couldn’t help but feel bad for Sigourney Weaver. She’s stuck playing the damsel in distress. Not only is she a character who only serves to be the object of attention for Bill Murray’s character, but she has to do those scenes where she’s possessed to suddenly be desperate for him. I just think Weaver deserved better than that. And am I the only one who felt like there wasn’t any chemistry between the two of them?
Secondly, Bill Murray really took some getting used to for me. Maybe it would be different if I watched it a second time, but it really felt like Murray couldn’t wait to get out of there. Sure, it was part of his character to not take anything seriously, but he laid it on so thick that I felt like Murray was inches from walking off the screen and out of the movie entirely. I might enjoy it more if and when I watch the movie again, but it was hard to wrap my head around.
I can’t deny that I loved the design of the Ghostbusters characters. Making these guys look like a pest control service is just such a neat idea, and their super ghost gun things that they carry around on their backs look cool. It’s definitely a fun concept, and the scenes where they go around decimating rooms in their quest to catch ghosts capture that sense of silliness perfectly. But we didn’t need the scene where a ghost attempts to perform a sexual service on one of the Ghostbusters, and some of the jokes delivered by Egon were so dry that I wondered if they were even jokes at all. Maybe I need to watch this with a true fan in order to be able to appreciate it better. I’ll not say that this was a bad film, but it’s certainly not as though this will become a must-watch every October for me.
Ghostbusters II (***)
In which we finally learn why everyone in New York is so grumpy
Retaining much of the spirit (and some of the spirits) of the original, Ghostbusters II was exactly as enjoyable for me as the first one was – though the critics don’t seem to see it that way.
I don’t mean to knock this iconic franchise, but one of my biggest complaints for this film is the same complaint I had of the first film: the treatment of Sigourney Weaver. In the last film she was nothing more than a damsel in distress, the girl that Bill Murray was trying to get with. But in classic Hollywood fashion, the romance (though I don’t feel it deserves that title) that was established by the end of the first picture has evaporated before the opening credits of the sequel. Why couldn’t you have made the baby in this movie Bill Murray’s son? Why is there an ex-husband we never see? More importantly – why does Sigourney Weaver have to be a mom now? I’m not saying that the role of a mother is a disappointing one to receive in cinema, but it felt like giving her a kid was the only way to keep her relevant. And that’s a problem.
That aside, I enjoyed the plot of this film a bit more than I did the original – largely because there was an actual message beneath it. The Ghostbusters had to overcome the negativity of New York City by reminding its citizens of the beauty and hope they had all forgotten about. The Statue of Liberty bit was a lot of fun, and I also liked watching the Ghostbusters have to rebuild themselves after the events of the previous film. Janosz Poha, the museum owner guy, was a welcome addition to the cast. He was one of my favourite parts. I wonder if Bill Murray’s style had grown on me for this film, because I found his performance a lot more palatable than I did for the previous one.
I wouldn’t call this a must-see, but it kept the franchise growing and allowed us to spend more time with the iconic crew of specter detectors.
Ghostbusters: Answer The Call (**1/2)
In which it's Ghostbusters but with women - no that's actually how they pitched it
No, it wasn’t great. It wasn’t even that good. But I can’t help but love Kate McKinnon and Chris Hemsworth.
This film got a huge amount of flack for rebooting the franchise with an all-female lead cast. Personally, I don’t care that they decided to make the movie about four women. This is a comedy franchise, not a lore-heavy melodrama. Changing the gender of your leads shouldn’t really be a big deal because the gender isn’t a crucial element anyway. What matters is that your leads are funny – and I think that’s where this movie fell short. I think Kate McKinnon is hysterical and I’ve loved Kristen Wiig in many of her roles, but I don’t think Melissa McCarthy did much for this film, and neither did Leslie Jones. Further, Kristen’s character was kind of written as unfunny, or at least that’s the way I saw it. I know that Wiig can be funny, but I don’t think she was given enough to work with. I’m not saying I didn’t laugh, but there were too many moments where I was all too cognizant that I wasn’t laughing.
Chris Hemsworth stole the spotlight a lot for me, but I don’t think it’s because he’s a guy. I think it’s because he’s funny, and he was able to do funny things. The leading ladies got too burdened with furthering the plot to make great jokes, but Hemsworth made me laugh time and time again because he didn’t need to do anything else.
It was kind of cool – I guess – to see a lot of the original stars pop up for a second or two, but even if those moments hadn’t existed I don’t think the movie would have been any better or worse. It was just fan service for fan service’s sake. If you’re a fan of any of the leading ladies of this movie, then I’d say go for it and watch this film. But there’s just nothing spectacular about it, which is why I’ll probably never watch it again.
Oh yeah – and the ghost fight scenes towards the end of the movie didn’t feel nearly as epic as I think they were meant to. A lot of shots were very clearly green screened, and it was never really explained if our heroines were killing the ghosts or only disarming them or something.