Ah, Ghostbusters, how Sony has wronged you, and how I have wronged you; Ghostbusters served as the finale to my last Halloween week, you know, the one that was rushed and lazily put together. But as I said at the start of this occasion, there will be some films I'll take another look at, and Ghostbusters being one of my favourite films, it certainly qualifies for the honour. So, let's look at what Paul Feig and Sony would go on to butcher, the original, and classic, Ghostbusters. And the best thing; the disc menu for my Blu ray plays the Ghostbusters theme on a loop, so before watching the film, I just let the menu play on full blast to get myself in the mood.
Something Ghostbusters is very good at doing is getting to the point, with no dialogue at all the opening scene perfectly sets the tone of the film, it's fun and goofy as books float around and the ghost messes with the librarian, but the scene ends with an unseen ghost scaring the shit out of said librarian, establishing a sense of horror, immediately followed by the best piece of music in film history, and our obligatory character introductions. Ghostbusters has some of the simplest, yet most entertaining characters in the genre, as it's easy to see them or aspects of them in yourself. Bill Murray is easily the most entertaining of all of them, a cynical, slightly narcissistic arse who really thinks of himself as a womanizer, you know, the kind of guy that would really get under a feminist's skin, but it's hard not to get wrapped up in the charm, and his ineptitude at pretty much everything he does is really funny at times. Dan Aykroyd's Ray is equally easy to get behind, easily the least mature of the team, even less so than Bill Murray's Peter, he's just loving every minute of being a Ghostbuster, like a kid who always wanted to be a firefighter, only one that never grew out of it, and ended up living in a firehouse. He's dripping with energy and enthusiasm, and it's really hard to not like that. Continuing the trend, Egon, played by the late and great Harold Ramis, is just the best, the film does everything other than say that he's autistic, he's an awkward, socially inept, problem solving little genius, and I love it. Seeing him just walking around punching numbers into a calculator is really funny, he has weird and uninteresting sounding hobbies, and has their love struck secretary all over him, while being completely oblivious to it, it's heart meltingly endearing, while his blunt, objective outlook on the world makes for some good laughs. The fourth and final Ghostbuster, Ernie Hudson's Winston, like all of the others, has something to him that's very simple, but very easy to get behind, he treats the Ghostbusters just as a job, he's in it purely for the steady paycheck. Going up against the cynical womanizer, the man-child and the Aspie, Winston's the character I personally relate to the least, but the blue collar mentality will connect with a lot of people, Making Winston very much the everyman of the film. The rest of the film is populated by a few enjoyable side characters; Sigourney Weaver's Dana serves as the love interest of the film, while also dealing with her own paranormal goings on, and the film takes a pretty funny jab at the EPA and politicians, in Walter Peck and the Mayor of New York respectively, and Janine is great. It's not all perfect though, thankfully the film's lead cast easily makes up for Gozer, who isn't the best villain, only appearing at the end, and not doing much, and Dana's neighbour Louis is a character I've never liked, I liked Rick Moranis in Spaceballs, but in Ghostbusters I find him annoying. Overall though, while most films would struggle with such simple characters, it's amazing how well Ghostbusters does it, and how thoroughly entertaining it is to watch, I say simple because none of them have any huge character arks. I know how bizarre it sounds, but it's true, by the end of the film there is still no character growth, despite saving the world, or at least the tri-state area. This would hurt the film if it was going for depth, but it really isn't, it's going for fun, it's putting its great characters in dangerous situations with dangerous tools, and letting the laughs flow, it's the ultimate casual watch, and in that regard, it's perfect.
Ghostbusters is a peculiar film in that regard however, being a great casual film, it needs a good pace, to make up for the lack of depth, and fortunately, it has a great pace. From the opening scene the film wastes no time at all, whether it's character introduction, comedy, or forwarding the plot, Ghostbusters always has something going on, it never takes a moment to breath, leaving no room for dull moments, and making it a solidly enjoyable film for the vast, vast majority of its runtime, unlike a certain other film that comes to mind. Ghostbusters came out in 1984, before the CG revolution, but it's a very effects heavy film as well, so it'd be understandable if the film's visual effects weren't all that good, the scary thing however is that, now that we know what they'd look like with CG thanks to that train wreck of a remake, these effects actually look better. Despite being translucent, the ghosts in this film look and act more physical than the remake's Haunted Mansion ripoffs, because under the effect is a real thing, a prosthetic monster, and despite being three decades old, they look amazing, as does the great practical work on Zuul and Vinz, and eventually Gozer. The film struggles a bit with wides however; Zuul and Vinz in particular, who, when shown in a wide shot, look like something out of Jason and Argonauts, but look absolutely stunning in close and mids. One effect that the film nails, and that makes the Ghostbusters uniform Halloween gold, is the Proton guns, the packs are intricate and sciency, and make ominous hums when they're turned on, and they look super cool, while the streams are bright and loud and intense, and are the most visually impressive effect in the film, as they dance around the screen like lightning bolts, and cast blackened scorch marks across walls and ceilings. The visual effects work on the Proton streams hasn't aged a day, even if you could argue the ghost effects have, and it makes actually using them on the Ghostbusters video game feel completely and totally badass. The effects have the same strengths and weaknesses as before in the film's finale, as the Ghostbusters finally take on Gozer in a surprisingly low-key confrontation, it's weird that there's no huge battle like you'd think there'd be, especially with the introduction of a building sized marshmallow monster, but the Ghostbusters aren't soldiers, and this isn't an action movie, so it makes sense, and the writing is on point throughout regardless, so it's hardly disappointing. Also something that might be disappointing for some is the lack of ghostbusting, in this film called Ghostbusters, but for the sake of fluid pacing and a manageable runtime, it's perfectly functional to have a montage, and at least this film has that, unlike a certain other film, and at least this film establishes basic rules, and then doesn't break them, *cough* Protonic Reversal *cough*, I should probably stop with those not to subtle jabs.
Ghostbusters is a fantastic example of why a film doesn't need to be perfect, because Ghostbusters isn't perfect, and I can say that despite loving it. It's cast of characters are very straight forward in their characteristics and motivations, and character development is non-existent, yet a disastrous situation is saved by a script that is perfect; the pacing is great, the jokes are consistently on point, and the characters, while simple, are beautifully realised, and the same can be said of the visual effects for the most part, with some awesome looking ghosts and some of the coolest weapons in sci fi. I'm not a fan of Dana's neighbour personally, and I think they could have done more with Gozer, but when this film comes to an end, I can't help but remember why I love it. Ghostbusters is fantastic film, and I can't recommend it enough, it's definitely worth watching.
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