Following a ghost invasion of Manhattan, paranormal enthusiasts Erin Gilbert and Abby Yates, nuclear engineer Jillian Holtzmann, and subway worker Patty Tolan band together to stop the otherworldly...
At the height of the #Metoo movement, Hollywood came riding in on its white stallion to save the Damsels in Distress (Liberal Actresses who sell themselves like whores for movie parts) from the evil Meanie, who also just happened to be Hollywood (funny how that worked out) and decided to gut every franchise that they could and retool it for female leads in a hope to quell the decades-old status quo and somehow wipe the slate clean before everyone put the mental pieces together of what was really going on. Ghostbusters was one of those movies.
For over a decade there was talk about a third movie starring the original cast, even adapting the Video Game that was released in 2009 for the silver screen all to no avail. Mostly this was because Bill Murray refused to replay his part for whatever reasons, but then Harold Ramis died in 2014 and any further thought simply evaporated. This of course left the Ghostbusters Franchise ripe for the picking. However, this just couldn't be a standard reboot. Wrongs needed to be righted and messages needed to be sent to let the world know that GRRL-Power is superstrong. Therefore, Ghostbusters was turned into a 2-hour marathon of kicking the male gender in the neither-region while trying to convince the audience that anything men can do, women can do better.
Most of the male supporting cast are EXTREMELY feminine (of course never implying that they would be homosexuals because that would be insulting to the homosexuals) who scream, cry and/or are extraordinarily vapid without any possible intelligent thoughts. References to de-balling men are spread throughout the film - including the "Nutcracker" in the ending credits and shooting the big bad ghostie in the family jewels with the proton pack electron streams - and the only "Man" in the movie is the evil psychotic genius determined to end the world because he's been bullied (another recurrent theme message throughout the movie) his entire life.
Of course, since this movie carried the Ghostbusters title, there had to be some nods to the franchise. Curiously, the actor who created the largest roadblock to a sequel got the most screen time in this film (Murray). Every actor from the original, who was still alive, made at least a brief appearance, sans Rick Moranis (I guess nobody needed their taxes done in this film), however if you skipped the in-credits cameos you might have missed some of them. Even Slimer and Stay Puft get some screen time, however, even the Marshmallow Man gets it in the goodies in the end. Gotta keep up the motif, you know.
Besides all that, the plot is pretty predictable, the characters are pretty shallow and no real boundaries are broken. The female black character is the only non-scientist in the group, is the muscle when needed and keeps the white characters informed on the down-low of the "real" city life. For the rest of the crew, instead of three distinct personalities like we had in the first two films, we have a pair of Egons and a Ray/Egon-like character. The Annie Potts replacement (Chris Helmsworth) is her antithesis and is nothing more than beefcake eyecandy for the crew. The CGI effects, which were supposed to be the lifesaver of the film, are moving at such a high rate of speed that you only really see blue and green blurs; completely opposite of what we enjoyed in 1984. The nods to the franchise are nothing more than pandering and some of the cameos would be unrecognizable to those not familiar to how the actors have aged. The film did rate a #1 ranking for the week it was released, however that was because it was the only new film released that week and was achieved through some superior back-room maneuvering and compromise by Sony Pictures and the rest of the Hollywood Film Elite.
Needless to say, Ghostbusters for the new millennium was an extreme franchise disappointment, probably only equaled by the 1998 version of Godzilla (strangely enough, also released by Tri-Star/Sony Pictures). Like that version, if they had made the movie and had it stand on its own credentials, instead of looking to cash-in and ride the coattails of works previously released, it would have been an above average film. Nevertheless, since Hollywood opted for the "easy way," they lose points for the endeavor. Unless you are a female looking for some gender foundation-strengthening, stick with the original. Don't answer the call, let it go to voicemail.
