Reboot, Reset, Or Stand Alone? (A Ghostbusters 2016 Review)

***SPOILER ALERT***

     So, I know I’ve been saying that I was going to review this movie for quite a while now. It was released on July 16th of this year and initially going into it I was a little worried. I’d written a past blog kind of describing my feelings towards the movie in general, and what as a fan, I would’ve liked to have seen with the direction of this movie. I think that anyone who is a true Ghosthead knew the amount of negative publicity going around about this movie, including some of the stars from the movie having their social media hacked, websites hacked, etc. There is frankly no excuse for this. If you really are against the movie that much then you just need to not go and see it and just let it be. However, with that last sentence just said I think that if you don’t go and see this movie, or even rent it when it comes out then I think that you might be making a mistake on things. Sony Pictures kept throwing around the word “reboot, reboot, reboot”. That the previous two movies had nothing to do with any of the events of this third movie and in fact was going to be a completely different verse where the original Ghostbusters didn’t happen. Again, I grew worried about this fact as I had read that and began to wonder what was going to happen with the movie overall then. If we were going to be seeing the original movie, just remade and updated with a new cast and the events of Zuul and Gozer dropping into central park west and tearing up the city. That’s when Sony dropped the trailers for the new movie.
     It wasn’t quite what I expected to be honest. They give credence to the original team in the trailers’ almost immediately. One version of the trailer saying ‘Four Scientists thirty years ago saved New York City, now a new team answers the call’. The other version of that trailer said essentially all of that, but they changed the wording to ‘Four Friends’. Then Sony began to release little bonus content videos talking about the reengineering and revision of all the equipment. During those videos, they give credit to Dr. Egon Spengler for creating the first proton pack, followed up by the female lead that created the new versions of it in the movie. That’s when I had a hard time believing that this was going to be a reboot. I thought that maybe Paul Feig was preparing for the largest troll on the internet. I watched the trailers several times over, just as my inner kid started screaming and wanting to see the movie regardless of their not being an original cast mentioned anywhere in it. I tried to keep an even keel as well on the movie and the developments of everything going on behind the scenes. What I thought was actually really cool is that both Dan Ackroyd and Ivan Reitman were brought onto the projects as producers and executive producers. Ivan Reitman was quoted as saying he couldn’t do another Ghostbusters movie without Harold Ramis on the set. That, Harold gave kind’ve the push of what he wanted to see done with the movie, as well as the story progression. Harold Ramis’ daughter later confirmed that this was the end of the project once Harold passed away seeing as some of the original cast had no interest in returning or even following up with another movie.
     We DID see the Ghostbusters: The Video Game released in 2009 on various video game consoles, which many of the fans interpret as being a third movie, and at one point Dan Ackroyd was quoted as saying that essentially that game would be considered the third movie in the franchise. Finally, the big day arrived, and I was one of the first ones in the movie theater to buy tickets to go in and watch Ghostbusters 2016. Even though this isn’t exactly the way of my childhood, hearing the theme song almost immediately and wanting to sing along brought me back to my childhood. I went into this movie WITHOUT any possible theory on what it could even be about. In my own mind, as I entered the theater I went into it with a clear thought and I would judge the movie based on what the movie gave me. I had zero expectations for it like I said I would in my last blog. Walking out of the theater, my initial thoughts? ‘Man! Let’s go again!’ the movie was great. While the original cast that wanted to return to the big screen for this movie did! In fact, they made very subtle cameos throughout the entire movie. Was it a reboot? Meh, I personally didn’t think that it was a reboot. I can even give some samples of evidence to why I don’t think that the movie was a reboot. Rather, I think that this movie would make a great stand alone! It would be a good direction for the franchise to go in especially now they’ve got some ground work laid with the characters of this verse. But even if it was a stand-alone, there were things mentioned in the movie by characters or hinted at that could place this movie into the same verse as the other two movies. I know, I know some might think that I’m trying to grasp at straws defending it to the end that this isn’t going to be a reboot. But, for a moment just hear me out and let me explain a few things:

     Harold Ramis Bust Or Egon Spengler?- During one of the scenes in the movie, you see an actual golden bust of the actor or his character in the background. It would make it extremely plausible that it could be Egon seeing as where the setting is. However, it could also be that of Harold Ramis making his cameo into the movie like the rest of the original cast did as well. Since Harold is no longer with us I think that the later would make sense as he was one of the original creators to Ghostbusters, as well being in the movie. But the way that he looks on the bust is how his character looked in stripes. Big afro, with glasses and that signature smirk that he could put on his face. Once you see the movie, I’d be curious on what you think about it.

    Acknowledgement Of Ghosts Existing- As we all know about the original Ghostbusters movie, is that everyone thought they were insane, or really good con-artists just trying their damndest to rob the good people of New York of all their money. However, in this movie the city and federal government acknowledge that they’ve known about Ghosts existence for a very long time. Even one of the mayoral aids citing at one point that big events have happened, and that people will eventually begin to forget about the big things over time. Are they talking about the previous events in the first and second movies, and that’s where they already know about the existence of ghosts is after the battle in Ghostbusters II? They make mention to the girls that they have to make everything appear fraudulent that they do because it’s to protect the public at large. Just something again I noticed in the movie that they were talking about.

     Lay Line Discussion- This actually has quite a bit to do with the plot of the movie itself. They discuss Lay Lines and how the earth has them crossing over various parts and funneling energy all the time. Well, as the climax starts to happen they discover a pattern that makes a huge X over a certain part of the town. They reference a book of New York, and as they open there is already a recorded event in the book they are referencing. My mind almost instantly jumped to Dana Barrett’s apartment when Gozer and Zuul came the first time into the Ghostbuster verse. Could this be a book demonstrating that this event happened already? Again, when you watch the movie check this out and I would be curious again on what you think.

     ‘I don’t go Soho, I don’t go uptown, and I ain’t afraid of no ghost’- This is probably one of the best cameos in the movie which involves Dan Ackroyd himself. He shows up as a taxi driver in one of the scene as one of the girls is asking him to take him to where the main battle is and that he should be careful about the ghosts flying around. The cabby quickly quips about what kind of ghost it is, and the classification of it. Is this Ray Stantz at a horrible part in his life? Again, maybe stretching a bit on this one but I wondered about it.

     The acknowledgement of Egon Spangler- Again as stated above, at one point during one of the bonus clips that Sony released on Youtube leading up to the new movie being released talking about the reengineering of the proton pack Dr. Egon Spengler was given acknowledgement for being the original creator of it. Now, if we are going by some reboots standards then technically this wouldn’t be true. While it would be acknowledged in the verse that was originally created, it wouldn’t in the new. If it’s a reboot then why is Egon still being given credit for it let alone mentioned?

     So now that I’ve got my soap box out of the way on why I don’t think this movie was a reboot what was my general thoughts on it? Overall, I would say that the movie was excellent. The story was completely different than the original one panned by Harold and Dan. Ghosts were different, and we even saw the appearance of slimmer towards the end of the movie. I don’t think that the amount of hate that this movie generated is really warranted. Anyone who is a fan of DC or even Marvel Comics should know that super heroes are rebooted and recreated all of the time. Not only that, but there have been some changes made in the cinematic universes of both Comicverses that not all fans are happy with, that left them with a sour taste in their mouths. Harold Ramis’ daughter actually endorsed this new movie, and stated that her dad would’ve loved to have seen this franchise continue to grow and expand outwards. I shared that article shortly before the new movie came out, and then I shared it once after the movie was released. I think that the villain was a little weak, and watered down but they still gave a very climatic ending to the movie, as well as providing some pretty awesome special effects when it came to the ghosts. 

     I also breathed a little easier knowing that both Ivan Reitman and Dan Ackroyd were involved with the project. Just, if you go and see this movie please just keep an open mind, and even if it doesn’t live up to expectations or what you expected, you can always count it as a stand-alone right? Thanks to everyone for being so patient with me while I worked on putting this blog out. I know I’ve been saying it for a while now, but life has a funny way of getting in the way at times. I look forward to hearing your comments as well about the movie, or anything talked about above.