Ghostbusters (2016) – Movie Review

[Warning: Got Some Swears in this one. Nothing too bad, but still giving a heads up]

There are many classic film series that live on today, from The Evil Dead to Star Wars to Batman and much, much more. One particular one that has attracted a crowd, Ghostbusters, has scientists fighting off the supernatural in gross, exciting, and hilarious ways. It’s a highly memorable and enjoyable film. So when it was announced that the series was going to get a reboot, people were excited. Until they saw that the main characters were gender-flipped, with the main ghostbusters played by women and their secretary played by Chris Hemsworth. The internet exploded in conflict when the first trailer for this movie came out. Fans and non-fans alike were going ballistic over this film, calling it out as misogynistic, racist, and demeaning (to name a few because if I was to name them all we’d be in 2020 voting on our next president by the time I finish this list of insults). I remember back then I was unhappy over this change of gender, but not going insane like many others over this issue. But over time I forgot about this issue and went on with my life.

So now a new year is here, I’m want to start off with something controversial and just figure out for myself: Is the Ghostbusters reboot really that bad? Let’s find out starting with our main characters.

The New Ghostbusters!

As I said before, I was unhappy they decided to gender flip our main cast of characters for this reboot. I mean, it’s Ghostbusters, it’s a fantastic film with a strong sense of identity that has touched the hearts of many movie viewers. Having a sudden change like having the cast be the opposite sex can be huge to viewers. So yeah, people reacted with great distaste. Having seen the movie though and looking at it like a singular film I find the cast enjoyable, with decently fleshed out characters, roles, and identity. We have Abigail "Abby" Yates (Melissa McCarthy), our “main” ghostbuster who’s strong-willed and determined; Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig), Abby’s lively, outgoing best friend ; Jillian "Holtz" Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), the crazy, quirky inventor of the group; Patricia "Patty" Tolan (Leslie Jones), the street-tough, history-smart recruit of the ghostbusters; and Kevin Beckman (Chris Hemsworth), the handsome idiot (and I do mean idiot) secretary of the group.

Getting into the film I kept myself open to how to perceive these characters. With this viewing I wanted to make sure all those internet comments and reviews kept out of this first review. As each one was introduced all five of these characters left a good first impression on me, with easily identifiable traits to them that felt appealing and made them fun to watch. Saying that though there are some scenes that do hurt them some and end up looking lame. In one scene Abby, being portrayed as the most calm-minded and rational member of the team, in an act to prove she and her friends aren’t frauds, listens to the rather irrational mockery and toying of Bill Murray’s cameo character, Martin Heiss, who’s a paranormal investigator, when he asks to see a ghost they caught. She knew the dangers of letting a ghost out, but does so anyways when her three companions urge her not to. I will go into more how I find this is more Murray’s fault than McCarthy’s later on, but still, all the cast has some problems to them that ruins some of the humor and appeal of the movie.

Two particular characters in this film are looked at more as problematic are Leslie Jones and Chris Hemsworth’s characters. Patty, upon first impressions, looks to be showing a lot of stereotyping of African American women, with her bossy attitude, way of talking, and the tough womanliness that’s expect in this certain stereotype. Despite this though I highly enjoyed her character, she was fun and full of properly-directed energy, adding some spice to team. It really sucks that Jones got so much hate for this role before the movie came out because with these already listed traits she had a few other talents that made her feel like a real character: Her father owns a cemetery, which gives her knowledge on the history of the city, dating back to the colonial era. Additionally, this gives her a knowledge on how to move about the city and gives the ghostbusters their signature mode of transportation and their jumpsuits. This, at least to me, makes her an enjoyable character on screen.

Then we have Kevin, played by the ever masculine badass, Chris Hemsworth. First time watching this movie he was just… Oh god I hated his character. I can definitely understand people’s hate of him. Seeing Thor turned into a moronic male bimbo is rather unnerving to say the least, especially since secretary from the original Ghostbusters was bold, quick-witted, and sarcastic. Yes, you heard me call him a bimbo, he has the qualities of a stereotypical bimbo: He plays a very attractive blonde with little brain power. It’s an interesting role reversal and one that is played pretty well in this film, even if it pisses people off. And yet, despite the countless idiotic things he does in the film, Chris Hemsworth brought in some great comedy, something viewers and even the cast and crew were surprised by. Granted there are some face-palming scenes that ruin some good potential humor, but watching this movie I think Chris Hemsworth should maybe do a few comedy movies to mix with some of the action films he does. I’d totally watch them after seeing his performance in this.

So the main characters of the reboot are definitely not bad. They could be better, but they’re definitely not terrible. These new ghostbusters kept me focused on the film with their antics, personalities, and appeal. These weren’t women acting like stereotypical women, talking about boyfriends and shit, no, these were believable and entertaining characters. If you’re hoping for characters to outdo the original, you might not going to get it, but you’re still going to get a lot fun and laughs out of this new version. Well, except with the cameos.

So Many Cameos

Seriously, there were a lot. We not only had the original Ghostbusters, but we had Sigourney Weaver (the original Ghostbusters secretary), Annie Potts (who played the love interest of Ghostbusters 1 and 2), Ozzy Osbourne, Ivan Reitman (the director of Ghostbusters 1 and 2), and more! Almost half of these cameos are these people playing themselves. Now, that’s not always bad. Sometimes adding some real life to a fictional story can make the story more impactful to the audience. Look at Marvel, all their stories have a majority of major locations on Earth like New York City, while DC has fictional cities based on real cities. The ones that play themselves don’t really do much, which isn’t much of a bother to me. However, the Ghostbuster cameos for the film felt were unneeded, like the creators thought they needed a crutch to make sure this film walked out a success. This is a new generation of ghostbusters, reminding us of the old ghostbusters in a new version, doing this doesn’t leave a good impression on the audience.

Now there are some cameos in this film that I think work well, but they’re not from the actors. Instead, they’re from the internet. Youtube is actually used pretty well in this film as it’s used by the ghostbusters to upload their newest achievements and in a few cases it helps them get noticed. For example, Abby gets fired from the university she works as in the beginning of the film because the dean, played by Charles Dance, was linked to a Youtube video of her going crazy about ghosts through Reddit. That’s neat. Granted there are some product placements that also don’t work/ are forced in like Papa John’s Pizza, but there were some good cameos of modern media in this film. I definitely applaud the creators for done this well.

The best cameo in the movie is definitely Slimer. There’s not much that he does, but what he does is just right on with his character! From stealing the Ecto-1 to picking up a few other partying ghosts (including a female Slimer (which is weird)) to scarfing down a ton of hotdogs, Slimer is awesome in this reboot. I kind of wish we got to see more of him he was so awesome! He looked right, he acted right, he was right! But sadly out of the characters from the original Ghostbusters he was the only really good one.

The worst cameo we have in this film is the actual ghostbusters. Ernie Hudson plays the least annoying, being the father of Patty and only appearing in the last scene before the credits. Dan Aykroyd also has a small appearance on screen, making a great joke, but then following up with humor that just hurts and ruins that fun comedy. But then we have Bill Murray, who sadly plays the worst cameo as an unfunny and pretty mean paranormal debunker. It’s not just that though, but his character, while saying he’s a man of science, does not seem to do any believable scientific thinking. He doesn’t give detailed explanations as to why the ghostbusters are frauds, bullies them when he is denied the chance to see one, and for a man who apparently studies/ tries to disprove ghosts he forgets how dangerous they are, which results in his death. There’s so much meanness in this film and Murry is the crown of that meanness. Well, besides the villain.

This is Our Villain?

The weakest part of the film is definitely the villain. No matter how you look at it, he’s just some asshole. Literally, just some guy who wants to be an asshole because he doesn’t want to change and thinks everybody else is mean and don’t deserve to live because of it. And that’s just guessing because we get absolutely no backstory for him, we just see him cause trouble with ghosts and try to… take over the world I guess with a “sky portal.” To sum this up, yeah, the villain is terrible.

What we do know of the villain is that he learned to make ghost summoning tech by reading the book that Abby and Erin wrote on ghosts and the science behind them. That’s a neat way to give the villain knowledge on how to do his evil, but without the backstory it doesn’t feel as strong. Not just that, but they show his tech at the very beginning of the film, which to me ruins some of the supernatural mystery of the film. We immediately recognize that there is a human intentionally causing trouble. In the original Ghostbusters we had ghosts causing trouble, which made us more creeped out when these unknown entities want to cause trouble. Reasoning with an entity we know little about is hard to do and making a villain just a jerk who can’t be reasoned with isn’t that scary. What makes just as little sense with this villain is that everyone just dislikes him. Anyone who looks at or mentions him calls him a weirdo or something similar. I mean he does act like a loner and acts very strange, from not liking people touching him to carrying a bunch of stuff with him everywhere he goes, but just through just appearance he doesn’t look that strange. And yet people treat him like he’s rubbed his butt against their car windows. Part of me would say, “No wonder he became a bad guy,” but there’s no explanation for any of this.

Now, this is when he’s alive. During the second half of the film he kills himself and turns into a ghost which later possesses Kevin. He’s a bit better when possessing Kevin, but that’s more because we get to see Chris Hemsworth be a strong badass again instead a handsome dumbass. It’s pretty neat when he’s possessing Kevin and more ghostly. But then he turns into the “final boss” of the movie: A giant version of the ghostbuster’s ghost logo with teeth. They do get a lot right with how it’s designed and how it’s supposed to look scary, but when he first appears as a cartoon ghost (like digitally drawn and everything) the scary factors goes down a lot. Then he doesn’t kill the ghostbusters when he’s a giant ghost monster and he loses by being sucked back into the portal. Not that memorable and that interesting, this villain does not really give the new ghostbusters much of an achievement.

Effects and Gear

So with a movie like Ghostbusters you need a lot of digital effects for ghosts, lasers, smoke, and slime. There is that and more in this film, with some good and some bad, but most seem to be a bit average to me. To me the ghosts definitely don’t have the feel of the ones from original, which while cheap looked really good. In this new one they definitely have a digital look to them, making them mostly consist of semi-solidified smoke that glows. That does have some decent spookiness to it, which counts for something. The final version of our villain was definitely the best looking ghost of the movie, with fabric that felt realistic in both look and movement, with even burning parts of it looking really good. But still, most of the ghosts looked average in quality.

Other special effects like the slime were hit and miss to me. When it was real slime it looked really good, but the CGI slime definitely looked like it was made from a computer. The same went with other effects like the ground breaking from paranormal presences, buildings taking damage, fire, and other sorts of destruction. What stood out as real and awesome were the effects from the Ghostbuster equipment. The proton streams look just like an updated version of the original lasers and that, combined with the other effects from the new gear, looked super cool! They felt powerful to watch and their uses were fun and inventive compared to the original movies. The biggest thing we had in the original Ghostbusters was crossing the streams. In this version we have flips, punches, whips, and more, all of them working well with the gear and effects of the movie. I especially loved the chipper weapon, the one that was like a portable wood chipper for ghosts. So yeah, the new ghostbuster gear and effects were great, the rest not so much. But in the end…

Overall Analysis

Is this really Ghostbusters? In my opinion, it totally is! One could think of this movie not really as a genderbend movie, but an alternate universe movie. The plot was different from the original while still being enjoyable, the main cast were great fun and there was some good humor. Sadly there is also some really lame humor, the villain is terrible, the writing is not the best, and the cameos definitely don’t improve the movie. While I haven’t talked on it much in this review, the writing is definitely the main problem because some situations definitely could have been handled better with more professional scripts and writers. It played too safe and so we ended up with an average film.

Saying this though, I want a sequel. It did decently at the box office and critics gave it decent scores, but I believe that this reboot deserves a sequel. Not for money, not because the main cast was great, but to show those people who said stuff such as, “Women can’t be ghostbusters,” “That is so racist,” and all those other hurtful comments to be proven wrong again. The intention of the film was to make Ghostbusters again, but with a fresh start. In end I thought it did that well. Reboots hardly compare to the originals because the original was the start of it all. But this one did things that kept it updated with the current times while keeping the feeling of Ghostbusters legit. If the original got a sequel, so can this one. And I would totally go and see a sequel to this film. With it’s fun (if at times terrible) humor and compelling action, I give the Ghostbusters reboot a 7 out of 10!

And remember everyone: BUSTING MAKES ME FEEL GOOD!!!