Ghostbusters 2016 review

I won’t lie and say I’ve been a Ghostbusters fan since the original movie came out in 1984, being the same age and all - give or take a month or two. But amongst my vast – and ever-growing – Ghostbusters merchandise collection, there are only remnants of the toys I possessed as a child. As is usually the case, things disappear over the years. That, or your mother takes them to a car boot sale once you’re considered ‘too old’ to play with toys. So perhaps over the last few years I’ve been subconsciously trying to make up for this by collecting almost every piece of Ghostbusters merchandise under the sun. I certainly haven’t been to any car boots in the hope that some of my old toys are still circulating though… No, that wasn’t me.

And a Ghostbusters fan can’t visit New York City without seeing all the films’ local - ahem - haunts, either. I accidentally stepped foot inside the apartment building from the original (whilst looking for it, might I add). Then there was the New York Public Library (I actually sat down on the step to rest when my fiancé turned around and noticed). But unfortunately, I never quite made it to the firehouse in Tribeca, mainly because I was having too hot a flush to get on the subway in the middle of summer. With all the sweat and humidity down there, it would have been like a river of slime.

More memorably though, I went to the London Film and Comic-Con in July last year, where I had the pleasure of having my picture taken with the awesome Sigourney Weaver. And then a more modest event the following month in Torquay, which was something of a Ghostbuster-Con in itself, where I met Ernie Hudson and Robin Shelby, who played Winston Zeddemore and Ghostbusters 2’s Slimer, respectively.

Mass Hysteria grips Waterloo...

But now, let’s move on to what has everyone talking this week: the reboot. The long-awaited movie landed in cinemas on Monday, and though it’s been subject to a supernatural whirlwind of controversy and hatred over the past year or so, there’s no denying the buzz surrounding its release. Just look at the picture below that I took of the StayPuft tearing up the main concourse in Waterloo Station yesterday afternoon. But not only that, it seems that the tables have been spookily turned because critics are loving it.

Since its announcement, mass hysteria has gripped the fan base, with the majority viewing the film as an act of crossing the streams itself: total protonic reversal on a much-loved franchise. Others however, were simply outraged by the choice to cast women into the roles of the awesome foursome. As a result, the film quickly became one of the most phenomenally-hated (yet unseen) films in history, with its trailer alone ranking number one in the most disliked videos on YouTube. But after much anticipation, speculation and online trolling, the film is finally out in your neighbourhood.

Dr Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) is sucked back into the world of the paranormal when an old book about the existence of ghosts which she co-wrote with her now-estranged friend, Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy), resurfaces, jeopardising her long-awaited tenure at Columbia University. But when her career becomes as dead as most of the film’s extras, she joins her old friend, along with Nuclear Engineer, Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), to form the Ghostbusters. And when it becomes apparent that the city’s paranormal activity is being bolstered by forces unknown, Leslie Jones’ MTA Worker and municipal historian, Patty Tolan, also joins the mix.

The film oozes with cameos, but they're hardly subtle...

The chemistry between the four works incredibly well and each of them manages to hold their own. It would be fair to say that Wiig and McCarthy are ‘playing themselves’, but McKinnon is brilliantly eccentric while Jones is larger than life. But ultimately, it's Wiig’s socially inept Erin and Chris Hemsworth’s excruciatingly-stupid secretary, Kevin, who steal the show. Overall, the film looks great too, with each ghost exuding a fresh, neon, almost-radioactive quality. The film also has more laugh-out-loud gags than you could possibly imagine, proving that trailers don’t always paint the best picture.

But the end result is a film far funnier than it is anything else, with scares and tension at their bare minimum, perhaps non-existent altogether. The third act is a CGI-and-slime-soaked spectacle, proton-packed with action and oozing with cameos, but it fails to deliver any sort of punch, rendering what is intended as a dramatic, climactic battle anything but. During the chaos, the streets are teeming with souls of the dead yet are strangely absent of screaming New Yorkers, depraving the entire final sequence of any real sense of threat, something the original pulled off flawlessly (and inexplicably) with a hundred-foot anthropomorphic marshmallow.

There’s also zero drama or conflict between any of the characters and a lack of seriousness in the script, making this more of a comic-pulp version of the original, that makes only last minute attempts to pick up arcs between certain characters that had been otherwise forgotten for the best part of the film. The jokes get sillier towards the end too, as the film replaces its sharp, brilliantly-timed gags with some unwelcome cheesy ones. And while the main antagonist is a nice homage to that of the original, he lacks the presence and motivation, and is so vaguely-written that he is nothing more than horribly reminiscent of Casper, through the same wicked playfulness of the friendly white ghost’s trio of uncles.

While it’s essentially a carbon copy, Ghostbusters 2016 does make efforts to apply its own style – in both comedy and action – to the material, but the real problem is that it lacks the same subtlety and effortlessness of the original. In the aftermath of stinkers like Independence Day: Resurgence, this doesn’t warrant the torrent of hatred it’s been targeted with for so long, and consequently does the franchise more good than harm. There’s also a nice celebratory feel to it all, including a short but sweet tribute to the late Harold Ramis. It's certainly no patch on the original, but if bustin' makes you feel good, it's worth the viewing.