Film Review: Ghostbusters (2016)

Oh Hollywood, you can’t stop rebooting, remaking or ‘sequeling’ movies. But it’s fine as long as these movies make money for you, and are enjoyable for audiences. I am one of the few who didn’t hate on this new iteration before hand just because of the all-female cast. I just didn’t want to watch it due to the very poor pre-release trailer.

But I saw it anyway…

URM…OKAY?

Ghostbusters (2016) is uninspiring and flat. It’s got nothing to do with the female cast. Melissa McCarthy, Kristan Wig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones were all just…fine. It’s all the components behind the camera that really upset what’s happening on screen. The writing, directing and editing is all so shoddy. Paul Feig (SPY, Bridesmaids) was clearly not the right choice for a film like this. It’s strange as he has credible work in comedy and action, but it felt like this was a film that had been directed by a first-time filmmaker unfamiliar with comedy. It made me appreciate Seth Rogen comedies more, the idea that he knows how to set up a joke and deliver it well enough that even if it isn’t that funny you still giggle or smile unwittingly.

STOCK CHARACTERS, 2D DESIGN

Some films are rebooted because the studio just happens to have a decent script for it laying around in the office. Other films are rebooted to make money, and a scriptwriter is told to write a screenplay for the film in short space of time so they can get it made. Ghostbusters (2016) is definitely the latter. The film’s characters have almost zero backstories, only a sentence worth of effort was used to create some kind of past for one of the characters. This means I became nonchalant during action scenes, completely uncaring of the troubles of the characters. Kate McKinnon’s character ‘Holtz’ is at least kooky and somewhat interesting, though her Tony Stark like smarts is too convenient.

A COUPLE POSITIVES

The one positive of the film is the overall production design, the costumes, and technological gear are authentic and impressive for the most part. The ghosts looked cool, the aspect ratio is strangely small, but is used an interesting way by having the visual effects bursting through the frame of the film. The colours of the mists and ghosts were also eye pleasing and well made.

THE VERDICT

The film’s very unfunny and non-enjoyable.  The writing is poor, the directing is amateur. When I watched the film, no one in the cinema laughed despite so many jokes being shoved down their throats, which just sums it up.

Rating: 4/10

Words by Levi Eddie Aluede