“Who you gonna call?”
I know who I’m gonna call and it’s the new Ghostbusters. That’s right, Flicker Fans, here we are and this is the official review of the new (not necessarily improved) Ghostbusters. This is in direct response to my “predictive” review of the new franchise, and you know what Flicker Fans? It wasn’t that bad. I know, I know…I think we were all expecting an atrocious debacle that literally assaulted our senses in every sense of the word…..well, let me tell you….it wasn’t that bad and it was only partially offensive.
Now when I say “offensive”, I mean it in the sense of completely offending our past with new effects, characters and a story that is so convoluted it borders on the line of questioning ones film going experience and taste in movies. Well guess what Flicker Fans, Ghostbusters did NOT make me question my movie going experience. It actually made me smile.
This movie was built to be a summer blockbuster, but it came up short for a few reasons. Most of which I predicted in my previous review, “Ghostbusters Pre-Thoughts”, but the advice that I would give you for this movie is just this, “take it as it is.” Don’t expect much, don’t require much and don’t think that you’re going to fall in love with it like you did with the previous Ghostbusters movies (at least that’s how I watched it).
Starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristin Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth, this movie did a fine job in making you laugh, makes you interested in the characters (to an extent) and interested to see where it was going to go and what to look for. While it was filled with the predictive cameos (even Harold Ramis, although you have to LOOK for him), it helps fill you with nostalgia, and smiles as the movie naturally progresses to the expected apocalyptic madness that we were all looking for. The big show down between Ghost and Ghostbuster. And you weren’t disappointed on the predictability that came with that final confrontation.
Honestly Flicker Fans, the best way that I can describe this movie (and how I have been describing it) is it’s on a 60/40 scale. I found 60% of the movie to fun and entertaining, then 40% of it was absolute oversaturation assault of Ghosts that were ridiculous and over the top while looking quite fake and cartoonish. I know that’s weird to say when you have a movie about characters that “fight ghosts”, but from what I remember about the 1st Ghostbusters movie is that it was…kind of scary. Granted, I was just a kid when I watched that movie, but the Ghosts seemed more real, and they attempted to MAKE them look real—to an extent of course. But this was just a convoluted, over the top, CGI nightmare at times—and it looked like the director wanted it that way.
Let’s take a moment to talk about nostalgia. This movie was riddled with it and I loved every moment of it. From just about all of the stars from the first 2 making an appearance (minus Rick Moranis, not sure why, but he was missed). Everyones cameo was fun, light hearted and enjoyable. They kind of made the movie. It was almost at the point when you couldn’t help but think, “When is THIS person going to show up?” We weren’t disappointed because everyone showed up sooner or later.
So, to sum up Flicker Fans, would I recommend this movie? You know what, yea…I probably would. I wouldn’t recommend going out and racing to see it for $12-$18 depending on where you live. But yea, I would probably say, “Go ahead and watch this movie. You might like this silly over the top remake of Ghostbusters.” There WERE parts in this movie that were funny, intriguing, and captivating when it came down to it. Was it a classic runaway hit? Naw, probably not. But we can rest easy that we’re not going to have a, “call to arms.”