Ghostbusters (2016)

3D section review written By : James Tate
Movie Review written By: Adolph Vega

3D

The 3D in Ghostbusters was very basic but at the same time annoying. The majority of the 3D effects resembled that of old films, and was gimmicky. Many times it seemed like Nickelodeon slime was shooting out at you. Besides scenes during the last act of the film, the 3D just wasn't special. Yes it was silly and gimmicky, but it wasn't bad either.

Final Verdict: Good 3D

Movie

When it comes to rebooting / remaking a popular movie franchise from the past, it can be very difficult to catch the magic of the original movie(s) and yet still be enjoyable on its own merit. Sadly, I have to say this movie does not succeed in bringing back the Ghostbusters franchise. The reason for this failure of a movie isn't because of the female casting, the gender of the main characters is irrelevant, and a bad movie is a bad movie, regardless of the gender of the cast. If this movie was exactly the same but with the genders swapped I would give it the same critiques and same final scores.

The movie's main plot revolves around four characters that work together in New York to stop paranormal activity revolving around ghosts. Many of the plot points from the original movie are recreated and redone in slightly different ways. One of the most annoying aspects of the plot is how many dangling story elements are left unexplained or under developed. I won't spoil any of those plot points, but many things are introduced or happen and are not given a proper conclusion. It's very annoying when a scene concludes with so many questions remain unanswered.

The movie has a pathetic villain named Rowan North, who is angry at the world and wants to destroy it via ghosts and paranormal activity. This character is one-dimensional and has zero charisma or presence on screen. I found his acting to be awful and his motivations to be lacking a coherent backstory. I also think his lines of dialogue were poorly written. This character also had access to advanced technology that was never explained, and he was possibly the worst aspect of this terrible movie.

The Ghostbusters cast does not have any chemistry on screen. To put it simply, I didn’t like any of these characters within this movie. The main cast includes four female Ghostbusters and a male receptionist. Let me quickly detail each character and what I thought of them. 

One Ghostbuster, Patty Tolan, is possibly the worst black woman stereotype that I have seen on screen since Mammy from "Gone with the Wind". This character is the typical urban black woman with attitude archetype, which feels dated, and out of place in this story.

 Another Ghostbuster is Jillian Holtzmann, whom I found just annoying and completely unlikable. She reminds me of a female version of the Beavis character from the MTV cartoon "Beavis & Butthead". Jillian was only interested in destruction and weapons and talks in a strange accent for the entirety of the movie. I grew to hate this character and found her presence on screen to be so annoying that I looked forward to her silence after she finished her lines.

 Erin Gilbert is another Ghostbuster who I found tedious to watch on screen. She is always nervous or anxious and is totally awkward through out the movie. Many of her actions simply don't make sense within the context of her character.

 Finally, the last Ghostbuster is Abby Yates, who is portrayed in a straight fashion. She is your every woman and she does many physical gags. For some strange reason they made her obsessed with Chinese food. Her performance was adequate, outside of that random personality quirk.

 One more supporting character is that of Kevin, the receptionist. He is played by Chris Hemsworth and was only hired because of his good looks. Kevin's character is supposed to be that of a fool and I found this portrayal to be tedious to watch. He is a 'typical' dumb blond character, and I wonder if this role was specifically written to be a role reversal to poke fun at sexism. If everything was reversed, and a woman was portrayed to be a dumb blond that was only hired because of her appearance, I bet people would be upset. I simply found this foolish character to be poorly written, badly acted and a chore to watch on screen. I don't mind characters that are rendered as fools, but they need to have redeemable features and Kevin was grating to watch in every screen.

The movie has multiple problems, and most of the comedy falls totally flat or is cringe worthy. Comedy is one of the hardest genres to master on film. People don't realize how difficult it can be to have comedy that works for everyone. Certain people enjoy different styles of comedy, and making something universally funny is nearly impossible. Some people enjoy slapstick physical humor, some people enjoy dry British humor and other people don't understand satire. The comedic delivery is also very dependent on specific comedians, and how it is written. Comedy is more subjective than any other genre of movie and totally up to the viewer. So reviewing comedies is incredibly difficult, because what I may find funny, others may not and vice versa. Unfortunately for me, this movie was cringe enduring and not funny. I can imagine other people might find more of the jokes humorous, but that wasn’t the case for me so your mileage may vary. I did laugh a few times, but those were very few and far between moments within the movie.

Ultimately, I found this movie painful to watch because of the bad writing, bad characters and bad story. Many comedic elements were totally juvenile in nature and were not well done. I really disliked everyone within this movie outside of Abby Yates, with whom I found to be mediocre at best. The movie has a major problem with the conclusion, which is too long and totally based on luck. It's just too convenient that one thing happens at the right time, right place and works perfectly for that scenario. Seriously, this is definition Deus Ex Machina, and is evidence of terrible storytelling. Usually I wouldn't comment on a movie's ending, but I found this so bad that I felt compelled to comment on it. I cannot comment any further without giving away major story spoilers, but suffice it to say I hated the ending of this movie and made a bad movie something truly awful.

Before the movie released, I defended it. I have enjoyed the director's previous comedies, so I was willing to give this film the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, my goodwill was betrayed, because this movie is worse than I expected it to be. I was hopeful, and I thought maybe the trailers were bad, but the 2016 Ghostbusters movie is possibly one of the worst movies released in 2016. I walked into the movie theater with an open mind and tried to enjoy it for what it was, but was simply unable to, and I walked out hating this movie – feeling upset that I wasted my time on it. I'm sorry, but this movie doesn't scare up laughs or fun, and is a pathetic reboot that shouldn't ever have been made.

Final Verdict: 2 / 10

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