The latest movie in the Ghostbusters franchise deserves watching

Ghostbusters first hit Singapore cinemas 30 years ago in a slather of green slime, outrageous humour and brilliant comic acting. Featuring major talents such as Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Sigourney Weaver, it brought an irreverence never seen before in films involving the supernatural. And now, a bit like the undead themselves, the latest movie of the saga rises again, brought back to life by comic writer/director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, Spy, Arrested Development).

The third movie of the series

Rebooting something of the status of the Ghostbusters is never easy, but Feig has certainly amassed the weaponry to give it a good shot. Featuring Melissa McCarthy, Kirsten Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones as the core Ghostbusters team, it presents us with some of the finest female comic talent working in Hollywood today. Factor in Charles Dance, Chris Hemsworth and Michael Kenneth Williams as male support roles, and you have a cast any director would be proud to oversee. Combine this with Feig’s obvious mastery of both comic writing and directing and you have the perfect formula for sheer comic genius. Or do you?

Criticisms and reactions to Ghostbusters 3

Reactions, especially to the two trailers released to date, have been mixed, but that is to be expected when touching on something as revered as the first two Ghostbusters movies. Critics have been unsure about the all-female team, the quality of the comedy writing, and even the role played by Leslie Jones (which is merely a replication of that played in the original by Ernie Hudson). In truth though, all this criticism is based on nothing more than a couple of trailers, which are notorious for not being true indications of either the quality or worth of a feature film. Trailers are generally not even cut together by the original film makers, so to suggest that they are a true representation of the movie is fairly thin ice.

Looking at what makes up the reboot itself

Dan Aykroyd is one of the executive producers, so it’s highly unlikely he’d put either his name or reputation to something that in any way lessened the almost cult-like status of the original movies. Paul Feig is quite rightly known as a comic genius with a portfolio of film and television successes that are the envy of Hollywood, and he’s probably one of the only writer/directors that could successfully bring a project like this to fruition. And finally the cast members themselves…with a pedigree that includes Saturday Night Live and some of the funniest, most successful comic releases of the last decade, you could literally sit them together in a room and it would end up being hilarious.

With the advances in special effects, guest appearances by both Aykroyd and Murray, and the sheer genius of the talent involved in this production, there’s little chance of it failing. Mix in ghosts, side-splitting humour, ludicrous weaponry and buckets of slime, and you have a movie that should entertain every member of your family.