The original Ghostbusters. I’d grown up hearing the name, but had never watched it. It was one of those films that everyone said I needed to watch. I finally did. After watching it, I don’t understand the hype or the overprotective toxic fans that gave hate to the 2016 all female reboot that ultimately deserved none of it.
The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. At the start of the film, they’re professors at Columbia University. They’re ultimately fired from there. This leads them to become Ghostbusters. They catch ghosts and keep them locked away.
They live in an abandoned fire station in New York City. It serves as their office, home and ghost jail. That is actually pretty cool. We get to see them in action when a hotel calls and asks them to remove the ghost that's been haunting the twelfth floor. They make a mess. Their equipment is also rudimentary at this point. Ramis also warns them never to cross their beams.
They finally catch the ghost in the ballroom after being unsuccessful in catching it on the 12th floor. They capture it and put it into a containment box where it is then transferred into what is essentially the ghost jail in their home/office.
The job is messier than they initially thought. At the hotel they are slimed by the ghost and after defeating their villain they are covered in marshmallow.
I personally did not find the film funny. It's probably not my humor, but I didn't laugh once.
It culminates into a door being opened at an apartment in Central Park West. This door is located in an apartment occupied by Sigourney Weaver. She is possessed by the spirit summoned into her apartment and she and the key open a door that allow spirits to take over the city. The evil spirit is first seen in her refrigerator but of course is no where to be seen when the Ghostbusters initially come to investigate.
Murray's character is more focused on wooing Weaver's character. When he arrives after she is possessed, he is turned away as he is not the key she is waiting for.
The film is written by Aykroyd and Ramis. The effects were state of the art at the time and they hold up pretty well now.
The climax to me was disappointing. It took awhile to build up to it and then it was solved quickly. To defeat the ghost, they simply cross beams to generate enough power to close the door again. So much build up for an incredibly simple solution. They were hit twice in the battle at most it seemed and then they crossed their beams the end.
Whether or not the comedy was my taste it was a mediocre film in my opinion. Nostalgia makes people overprotective of the oddest things, but even then to be so overprotective of this to the point where the stars of the 2016 reboot were harassed is ridiculous. I have reboot/remake fatigue as well, but I'll respect a film way more that tries to do something different than a shot for shot remake to appease the fans. It may fall flat on its face, but at least it took a risk and tried to be different. Yes, the sass is coming out but honestly I'm holding a lot back because I don't want to deal with it. If you love this film great, I'm not here to say you're wrong in liking it. I'm simply tired of toxic fandoms.
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