Who We Gonna Call?

Conditions: Decidedly Tentative. 

Film Review: Ghostbusters: Answer the Call

Well, the thing about the original Ghostbusters is that it's pretty much a perfect movie.  The plot is brilliant, the actors are perfect, the story beats are terrific, the whole thing just comes together like magic, one of those rare movies that becomes more than just the sum of it's parts.  So it's a film that didn't need to be remade.  What it really needed was a sequel, something that could pick up the action a few decades on, the torch could be passed, and the new guys could keep things moving.  Instead, they've decided to do a reboot, and I guess I can see why.  Origin stories are much easier to do than sequels.  You define your characters, draw them together, give them a few action sequences to bond, then up the stakes, challenge them with setbacks, then it's on to the final action sequence.  That's the outline of the first, and sort of the second film, after all.  And again it's the template here.

It's a shame that these talented filmmakers and actors in the end didn't really challenge themselves to something more.  As a result the film has a strong sense of familiarity about it, like a bad photocopy, you can faintly figure out where the film is going as it runs.  There aren't really any surprises here, and the only sport is picking off the various cameos as they pop up.  Obviously the main talking point is the characters being played by four women, but in practice it doesn't really matter, I guess due to how obviously the film plays out leads to the gender change not being enough of a difference to jar the journey.  The humour is more flat and seemingly desperate, with lots of awkward pauses.  The villain is flat, essentially getting lost in the end anyway.

The effects are ok, but you'd expect that in this day in age.  I think the biggest problem is a reluctance to let the thing run with some momentum.  Every bit is carved up, checked and dissected amongst the crew of comedians rather than letting things roll.  Possibly the best example is the iconic moment when they're in Ecto-1 and barreling down city streets with the theme music playing - this basically is the moment we've all paid our money for, and yet even that is over before it really gets going.  The film really seems to suffer from a lack of confidence more than anything else.  There are moments of humour but ultimately it ends up being simpler and more pandering than it should have been.  One callback out of five.

- Peace out