- November 19th, 2021, 11:32 pm#4960645What a let down for me. A movie I had been looking forward to and had high hopes for.
Bob Gale of Back to the Future is right 100 percent about revisiting the well too many times.
I just saw GB AF. I watched it as GB fan, but also as a fan of filmmaking in and of it self. First character development, there is some but the way they do it just was lacking for me during the start. Characters just randomly pop up and disappear with no context which could have been with more drama. We didn't learn anything new about the characters or what really happened than what we learned in the trailers, honestly. The run down Ray gives in the middle compared to Winston at the end doesn't really fit.
They got Ray so wrong for me. Anyone who loved the original GBs should feel how wrong they got him, I am surprised that Dan would film that. I actually cursed under my breath during that scene. The heart of the ghostbusters, the one who chased all the ghost stories... the BELIEVER ... really Jason Reitman, really that is what you think Ray would have done? The guy who Pete made fun of as they entered the library. The same guy who Winston told Ray "ghostbusting is dead" yet now rich Winston is a GB for life. What the hell, this was a bait and switch by Jason and crew. They threw us fans easter eggs that don't mean anything. A shot of a Twinkie in the glovebox is supposed to say "yah canon" yet they basically threw our characters out and pretty much threw GB2 out. The fan in me loved to see the action, the Ecto in action, the equipment. I loved seeing a Gozer Temple again (BUT that was short lived, it didn't do anything, it was a true rehash of the first movie). The Gozer of 84 is legit creepy to this 2021 Gozer who wants to just lay about on the steps.
.
Also I was hoping to hear some of the score from the first movie, but they SO over used it and the again the context of how it was used in the first movie versus this one, was cheap filmmaking. They want you think and feel xyz without delivering xyz. There was also a good bit of sloppy filmmaking and continuity that just jumped out at me, for a movie that was delayed as much as this, there is no excuse for it and I shouldn't see it in the first viewing.
At the end of the day, this film is a nail in the coffin for us old GB fans, that is what they showed you with this film. You wanted GB3 with the original Ghostbusters, nope you get the crums and you get to see your heroes look old and worn out, tired, with lines that felt like they were read off of a cue card. All the while doing a tribute to Harold, (which I did like seeing the image, but again it was a nail in the coffin for us). All these new movies that revisit our old films are doing this. Look what they did to Star Wars, James Bond. Can't wait to see how they screw up 89 Keaton in Flash. It was just sad. I'd waited for over 30 years for a GB3 and to have a film in the universe I love and I was let down. In spite of all the easter eggs to basically erase a key chapter in the film makes this a no go for me.
That being said Phoebe, and Podcast were fun characters that I really enjoyed. There is just so much dumb stuff in and just jumping around. Here you are in a scene then bam here you are somewhere else with no drama structure. The first GB and even second had a layering which just worked. Also the way they handle them not knowing Egon, and Ghostbusters could have been done so much better, again it felt like sloppy filmmaking.