Ghostbusters review

GHOSTBUSTERS:

PAUL FEIG AND THE FILM’S TALENTED AND HUMOROUS CAST BRING THE ICONIC FILM FRANCHISE BACK FROM THE GRAVE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES

(From left to right) Chris Hemsworth, Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Leslie Jones ready to Bust some Ghosts in Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters

            Talk about a movie that completely surpassed my expectations, when I first saw the trailer for director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy)’s female Ghostbusters reboot, like everyone else, I thought it was going to blow slime, and no, it wasn’t because it was an all-female Ghostbusters team, but the humor looked desperate and it looked like another straight-up cash cow from Sony. We all know Sony is notorious for its money-making reboots and adaptations, from The Amazing Spider-Man movies (which I personally liked) to the dreaded Smurfs movies that I had to sit through, but I digress.

            Not to mention this is a reboot of Ghostbusters, one of the most beloved and iconic comedy films of the 80s, it’s practically the Star Wars of comedies…after Spaceballs. The 1984 Ghostbusters movie directed by Ivan Reitman is one of my favorite comedy movies, it had action, it had scares, it had likably goofy characters, and of course Bill Murray getting slimed, fun stuff.

            After the mixed responses for Ghostbusters II and the novelty of the original film, I was skeptical about this new movie, but I was open to see it and share my thoughts with all of you. Plus, Ghostbusters III has been through development hell and it’s not like we’re getting that movie anytime soon (There’s a 0% chance Harold Ramis would show up in it), besides the original cast is so iconic and all of them had a unique chemistry and worked off each other perfectly, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, and of course the dopey, Rick Moranis.

            Because the original film is pretty much hammered in all of our brains, a reboot of it would be very tough, especially with a new team that we don’t recognize. Well, fortunately, Paul Feig knew what he was doing with this new Ghostbusters film.

            The original movie needed very funny male actors to portray the Ghostbusters, so what did they do with the new movie, they get very funny female actors to begin a new age of ghost hunting.

            The film follows a group of scientists, Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig-Paul, Bridesmaids, Despicable Me 2), Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy-Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy), Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon-Saturday Night Live, Sisters, Finding Dory), MTA worker, Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones-Saturday Night Live, Top Five, Trainwreck), and their secretary, Kevin Beckman (Chris Hemsworth-Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Cabin in the Woods, The Huntsman movies) as they uncover paranormal activities happening in New York City. After hearing about a ghost encounter in a museum, they strap into action and become ghost hunters known as the Ghostbusters, armed with Proton Packs and all kinds of gadgets, they make it their mission to answer calls regarding ghosts in the city.

            However, they soon realize there is an evil plot happening under the city to open a portal to the ghost dimension and letting all the ghosts roam free in the human world and destroy all of mankind. So it’s up to the Ghostbusters to capture the ghosts, deactivate the portal, and save the city before total annihilation.

            Overall, Ghostbusters is a lot of fun and I appreciate that the film is able to pay homage to the original films and including cameos by fan favorites, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts, while still being its own entertaining summer movie. The cast is beyond hilarious and like the original cast, they all have a strong comedic chemistry and seeing them work off each other and crack jokes at one another is beyond hysterical.

            The designs of the ghosts are very creative, though the charm of the original films’ ghost effects wore off a little, everything is CG nowadays, but the earlier films always made me wonder “How did they do those effects at the time?”, I can see these ghosts and say “They were made in a computer”, it’s not a bad thing but I appreciated the effects in the original films a little more.

            No, I don’t think it’s as strong as the original film, the original movie is a perfect, timeless classic with memorable characters, impressive special effects, and an outstanding sense of humor. Not to say this movie didn’t have any of that, but the original is just so iconic, that it shouldn’t even be attempted to recreate.

            The film does offer plenty of winks to the original movies, from the cameos I mentioned before to the return of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and Slimer, and of course classic quotes. So old-school fans shouldn’t be disappointed when they see the new film.

            I’m so relieved this movie turned out to be better than I expected and seeing how this is a Sony project, this is basically the complete opposite of Pixels. The trailer for Pixels made it look fun but the movie ended up sucking, where the trailer for Ghostbusters looked bad but it ended up being a lot of fun.

            If you want summer thrills and laughs, and some pretty damn impressive 3D, make the call and go to an IMAX 3D theater and experience a new breed of Ghostbusters.