A while back the news of an all-female led Ghostbusters surfaced which led to many differing opinions on the matter, some believing that it is unnecessary and will do nothing for the beloved franchise while others think that it is a clever decision. Personally, I was not too keen on the idea at first. Before you extreme social justice warriors bombard me, it was not because of the female leads (I think it is an interestung concept) but mainly because I would rather see the return of the original busters. Despite that I decided that I could give it a chance when it eventually was released. I was a bit iffy when I heard Melissa McCarthy was cast as I don't particularly enjoy her, but I am a fan of Kristen Wiig so that sort of made up for it and I thought maybe this could be good. Then the trailer hit yesterday. Oh boy was I disappointed.
If you haven't seen it already you can watch it here.
Now before I go on about why I was so disappointed with this new trailer, I would like to address some of the (few) things I did like about it. One thing was that these new characters do not seem like gender-swapped carbon copies of the original team as I had initially expected, they seem like they are all new with their own unique personalities which is relieving for me. Another thing is that the trailer begins by referencing the first movie in a way that could make one assume that this is not a reboot but a spin-off, continuation type thing. For me this is good as would not destroy the continuity of the original films and could mean appearances from Venkman, Stantz and Zeddimore (and maybe even Dana Barrett if we're lucky). The final thing I enjoyed about the trailer was the inclusion of Slimer, you can't have Ghostbusters without Slimer.
Now for my problems with it. First of all, from what I gather from the trailer, the humor shares no consistency with the original Ghostbusters films. The original films were hilarious, not in an in-your-face way but in a clever, sometimes subtle way only amplified by the talents of its cast, the humour felt natural and nothing seemed forced between the actors. From what the trailer shows, this is not the case with the new GB movie, the jokes in the trailer were unfunny and seemed very forced which is a shame because it had so much potential. It could have been just as good as the first Ghostbusters but instead it just looks like your usual run-of-the-mill comedy film that gets released every year. Now of course this is only an assumption formed from the trailer but so far it has left a bad impression for me personally.
The ghosts in the Ghostbusters universe have always been exaggerated and cartoony so I'm glad to see the new film sticking with that instead of going down the gritty route that a lot of reboots would go. However, the ghosts in the trailer look like they're the spirits of old Las Vegas Casino signs. That's just a minor thing that bothered me though.
Melissa McCarthy seemed less annoying than usual in the trailer which was a pleasant surprise, however it seems Leslie Jones' character has taken up that place. Her character appears to be an outdated, exaggerated stereotype and her presence in the trailer is an irritating one. Kate McKinnon's character actually looks great while the trailer doesn't show much of Wiig's or Hemsworth's characters so I can't really say much about them. There is a scene towards the end of the trailer where the busters seem to be facing off against a horde of ghosts in some sort of fight scene full of horrible CGI, that is when my hopes fully died for this film.
Maybe I'm being a bit unfair as it was just a 2 minute trailer, it could have saved its better moments for the actual film. As for now however, it appears that Ghostbusters abandons the general tone of its predecessors to fit in with that of all the other painfully mediocre comedies of recent years. Maybe it's the absence of Dan Akyroyd and the late Harold Ramis from the positions of writers, maybe it's the change in people's sense of humor in the past few decades. I was willing to give this film a chance, I really was, a team of female Ghostbusters is an excellent concept but if the trailer is anything to go by it as just executed badly. We will see how accurately the trailer represents the final film when Ghostbusters is released this July.
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