Who Ya Gonna Reboot? Ghostbusters!

Something strange is indeed going on.

For months, people have had mixed emotions about the upcoming renewal, and reboot to the Ghostbusters Franchise. Priding itself seemingly on being a bit more diverse than a previous incarnation, a lot of fans were really taken by surprise that it doesn’t seem to be a continuation.

If anything it’s been quite divisive.

Some championing any and all things Ghostbusters. Others shunning anything not original. Each side with people claiming the “true fans” would see things their side. Many concerned over lack of trailer sooner, little info leaking out from anywhere, and Lego being the first glimpse as to anything resembling a plot. Many saying Paul Feig is ruining their childhood, which, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Paul Feig isn’t ruining your childhood, it’s still intact, good, bad, or indifferent. He doesn’t have a time machine, but, I understand the argument and people wanting to at least have a sense of familiarity.

On March 2nd, the day before the worldwide premiere of the trailer, many “Ghostheads” were invited out to Sony Pictures, and one thing was telling and somewhat concerning, aside from Ivan Reitman, the lack of anyone attached to the original was missing. The lack of diversity of those invited was extremely telling, especially since so many arguments for a reboot were seated in that diversity and an all woman cast, what we saw was an overwhelming amount of white guys, with a few ladies(I mean, 4-5) out of around fifty people. It seemed like almost a last ditch effort to get a show of support, look at the previous announcement trailer, as of publishing, there were 20k downvotes on youtube to just 15k likes, that has to be worrisome for Sony, as rumors have swirled that the studio has been less than thrilled with what they had handed to them.

One March 3rd, a trailer for the new film was released and does little to remove doubt of those with concerns. The trailer itself is a bit concerning, it states four scientists saved New York, let’s fix that right now. Four Ghostbusters, one of whom was not a scientist, saved the WORLD. While it may seem like a minor thing, it shows the lack of attention to detail, even the most obvious of details.

It mentions thirty years ago, so, for a brief moment, it seems that this may be a continuation, yet, nothing seems familiar. They are starting over, building new gear, a new Ecto, and giving us the same formulaic movie we’ve come to know from Paul Feig. We are then whisked away to a CGI fueled world that reminds me immediately of Pixels.

A lot of flair, no substance, and sadly…not an ounce of soul. At least we’re getting Ecto Cooler again.  Still waiting to see how the originals’ cameos are worked in, but regardless of any of the aforementioned, I think many of us were hoping for some strong female characters to emerge, and maybe they will, but, it feels more like a goofy buddy comedy with jokes ranging from ectoplasm in various crevices to Leslie Jones seemingly being relegated to loud black New York woman.  There are so many awesome ladies in Ghostbusters lore, yet, they all seemed to be ignored.

This is a talented cast, make no mistake of that, each in different ways. They deserve better.

This quote on my personal FB page sums it up nicely

“It gave off a strange vibe like it’s just a random comedy but they sometimes fight ghosts.” – Taylor H

See for yourself, and let’s discuss it in the comments or on twitter (@thecrunkpanda). Until next time, I’m still holding onto hope when it releases in July, but, I’ll keep the old Proton Pack alive, luckily these power cells have a half life of 5000 years. Apparently the franchise rights alone weren’t as priceless as Venkman thought.