NEW BLOOD: GHOSTBUSTERS

GHOSTBUSTERS
SONY
2016 Color
116 Mins.
Horror/Comedy
Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Ed Begley Jr. and Zach Woods star.
Written by Paul Feig and Kate Dippold
Directed by Paul Feig
Rated PG-13 for language, violence and adult themes.

I was not really a fan of the Ghostbusters movies growing up. I liked them but preferred harder stuff like Evil Dead 2 and Dead Alive when it came to horror comedies. But after having recently revisited the original I don't now why. It's such a great movie that I now count amongst my favorites. I haven't been sure about the remake of Ghostbusters since the first trailer hit. It sounded like a good idea to revisit the concept with an all female cast and to be honest there were better cast members in the running like Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone than who is in the final film. But when that first trailer hit the film just looked alright. And by no means did it deserve the feverish, sexist backlash it got. But as the film got closer to release and better trailers hit with a wave of positive buzz I began to look forward to see what they did with the material. Well I am happy to say that the final product is a very good one just not a great one which I'm sure at least partly has to due with the film trying to please everyone and never really finding it's own identity. Like the original the film centers on a group of characters researching the paranormal who come up against a ghostly invasion of sorts. But unlike that film it never seems to be grounded in any type of reality. What made that film work so well was how genuine the people in it felt. Here there are pretty much the same amount of misses as there are hits. Yes the special effects are spectacular especially in some of the best IMAX 3D  I've ever seen but the film lacks a bit of substance and heart. Now it seems like I am bashing this film and in truth I really am not. It's a very entertaining spectacle and has lots of hilarious moments and some truly inspired twists especially in the film's spectacular finale. But it just spends too much time trying to be what it's not and never finding out how great it could really be. As for the four ladies Wigg And McCarthy lead the troupe but could have used a bit more heft. Leslle Jones of course steals most of her scenes although her character hardly has any development and Kate McKinnon is mostly annoying and weird and she tries way to hard but does manage a moment or two.Truth be told Hemsworth end up being the real charmer here in a goofy performance as the ridiculously hot receptionist. In the end the film pales in comparison to the excellent original which it doesn't hold a candle to but it does manage to carve a big enough piece of it's own thing to be a truly entertaining summer hopefully blockbuster that will inspire better sequels that approach their subject matter in the less is more department. ***.5/5