Ghostbusters (2016) – Review

When a reboot or a remake of an old movie is announced, usually the first thing you hear is the cry of the internet. Not only the fanboys/girls, but everyone seems to have already formed their opinion about it (it’s going to suck) and with the new Ghostbusters things weren’t any different. That the initial reaction was negative is something which didn’t surprise me, but I haven’t made the effort to read what it was exactly. I’d rather spend my time on other things. And even though I more than enjoyed the original Ghostbusters the news of a remake didn’t really do much to me. Often remakes are unnecessary, but of course there are exceptions. Is the new Ghostbusters one of them?

Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) is about to get a job at a university, but when she finds out that an old friend of hers, Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) unexpectedly is selling a book she once wrote (and didn’t want to publish) on Amazon she has to visit her. The two haven’t spoken in a while, but because the book would endanger’s Erin’s chances for getting tenure she decides to visit her. Abby never stopped investigating paranormal activity and is working on it together with Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), who designs all sorts of equipment. They are approached by someone who is convinced that an old house is haunted. Although Erin doesn’t feel like going there it is the only way she’s able to get Abby to stop selling the books. Once there the story turns out to be true and the tree of them, later with the addition of Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) and the very dumb receptionist Kevin Beckman (Chris Hemsworth) their search for more ghosts. Their goal is to scientifically prove their existence.

 The characters might be different, but the movie still revolves around catching ghosts. The four ladies quickly learn how to do that and the arsenal of gadgets slowly is increased compared to the original. The addition of them are fun, but I would have loved to see more of them. The scenes with the ghosts have been realised impressively and when viewing the movie in 3D I really like the fact that the ghosts and the rays from the proton packs regularly appear outside of the frame, crossing the black bars above and below the image.

But Ghostbusters wouldn’t be the same if there weren’t any jokes and this one has them too. Unfortunately they regularly miss their target. Although Hemsworth has previously shown he can be funny Vacation, that wasn’t the case here. The humour is often too simple. I also thought that Kate McKinnon wasn’t a good fit for the film. She plays her character consistently, but doesn’t succeed making it a memorable character you care about. It is mainly Wiig who steals the show and has some nice interactions with McCarthy. Was this remake necessary? No, but in the end it is still a very enjoyable film. The winks to the original were nice, although they could have been slightly less making this feel more like a movie that stands on its own feet.