Page 1 of 1

Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: November 27th, 2021, 1:09 am
by VenomSymbiote
This Post Contains Spoilers

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: November 28th, 2021, 12:54 pm
by jpetrutis81
I thought the same thing and commented as such on the Ghostbusters News spoiler filled review on YouTube shortly after they posted it. I'm glad I am not the only one with this train of thought.

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: November 28th, 2021, 1:07 pm
by SpaceBallz
No. Egon did not commit suicide to prevent himself from getting possessed by Zuul, who is the gatekeeper btw and needs a female host. He was an old man in a stressful situation that exhausted his options and had a heart-attack from his struggle.

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: November 28th, 2021, 1:14 pm
by yankeetrex
I thought the same thing as well, I kind of think its one of those things that is left up to the viewers interpretation.

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: November 28th, 2021, 1:29 pm
by Chairman Kaga
SpaceBallz wrote: November 28th, 2021, 1:07 pm No. Egon did not commit suicide to prevent himself from getting possessed by Zuul, who is the gatekeeper btw and needs a female host.
What indicated it was Zuul and not Vinz?

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: November 28th, 2021, 2:32 pm
by SpaceBallz
Chairman Kaga wrote: November 28th, 2021, 1:29 pm
SpaceBallz wrote: November 28th, 2021, 1:07 pm No. Egon did not commit suicide to prevent himself from getting possessed by Zuul, who is the gatekeeper btw and needs a female host.
What indicated it was Zuul and not Vinz?
Well the arms popping out of the chair was a dead giveaway, then the terror dog being released from the trap and imprinting on Grooberson was blatant too.

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: November 28th, 2021, 3:21 pm
by Chairman Kaga
I guess.

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: November 29th, 2021, 12:45 pm
by Hairy Biker
Plus when Callie is possessed and Trevor fires up the taser she is visibly scared of it having felt its effects at the start.

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: November 29th, 2021, 3:26 pm
by gerv
Be interesting to hear Jason's take on this, it could really be either option. People are also assuming that it was a regular taser built into the pke meter,it could well be more than that as its attached to a piece of ghostbusting gear. Doubtful a regular taser would have any effect being a conventional weapon vs a ghost/terror dog depending if it fully materialised or not. It did take a tub of ice cream to the head in the Walmart but that was In its solid form vs its spectral form, however that works.

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: November 29th, 2021, 11:07 pm
by One time
For me, Egon sacrificed himself for the greater good.

The way he positioned his chair opposite the door in defiance is a dead give away.

That scene is one of the most memorable in the entire franchise for me.
The scene is so heroic. Even though Egon is a nerd, rolls the truck, etc.
Even though all of that, he is more of a hero than any of us could hope to be.

We are seeing how an OG Ghostbuster (actually) dies.

Alone, in the face of the infernal.

Probably a little scared.

Yet thinking his way through at every moment. Making every decision the right one.

It’s one of my favorite scenes in the entire franchise.

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: November 29th, 2021, 11:19 pm
by VenomSymbiote
One time wrote: November 29th, 2021, 11:07 pm For me, Egon sacrificed himself for the greater good.

The way he positioned his chair opposite the door in defiance is a dead give away.

That scene is one of the most memorable in the entire franchise for me.
The scene is so heroic. Even though Egon is a nerd, rolls the truck, etc.
Even though all of that, he is more of a hero than any of us could hope to be.

We are seeing how an OG Ghostbuster (actually) dies.

Alone, in the face of the infernal.

Probably a little scared.

Yet thinking his way through at every moment. Making every decision the right one.

It’s one of my favorite scenes in the entire franchise.
It's a really great scene and I love how they used clever camera work to let us know it's Egon without having to fully show him. I don't know for sure but it didn't seem like they used any cgi there so it came off as very impressive and genuine. If they DID use CGI it was quite good. What I don't understand is why show Phoebe the trap with Zuul/Vinz if letting them out would be a really bad idea? I don't know if I fully believe he gave himself a cardiac arrest, but I feel like it's quite the possibility. Someone suggested that he had already caught Vinz so he wouldn't have been in danger of being possessed. Even if that's true it's possible Egon had no way of knowing which terror dog he had caught. Even if he didn't commit suicide to potentially prevent something worse from happening it's an interesting topic of discussion or debate. Either way he died trying to protect the world so he went down a hero.

Edit: Kicking this around in my head the past day your turning the chair in defiance comment stuck out. I never thought of it mattering much, but that is a rather unique thing for them to show us if it was unimportant. Perhaps he didn't intend to commit suicide at all. The dog enters the room and possesses the chair to get Egon. He uses the stun PKE on it, but is caught in the shock himself, thus causing a cardiac arrest? He wanted to catch the terror dog off guard and shock it to perhaps give him a chance to flee and get to his pack, but it was too big a shock for his body since he was grabbed by the beast.

To Gerv, there's no way it's a normal taser. The effect at the ends are proton colored if memory serves, so it's specifically designed for warding off spooks. I don't know how strong a Proton stream is against normal humans but I've always assumed it does not in any way feel good. Even without the PKE stunner being as strong as a proton stream it for sure is stronger than a normal stun gun.

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: November 30th, 2021, 9:57 pm
by ecto88mph
Idk, I could see it. Egon was pretty old at this point and he absolutely 100% knows there is some kind of afterlife. This is the same guy that once tried to drill a hole in his head.

If it seemed like the logical choice I'm sure he would have zero issue with killing himself.

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: November 30th, 2021, 10:22 pm
by jonogunn
Good question to ask Jason if he ever does an AMA

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: December 1st, 2021, 4:53 pm
by gerv
VenomSymbiote wrote: November 29th, 2021, 11:19 pm
One time wrote: November 29th, 2021, 11:07 pm For me, Egon sacrificed himself for the greater good.

The way he positioned his chair opposite the door in defiance is a dead give away.

That scene is one of the most memorable in the entire franchise for me.
The scene is so heroic. Even though Egon is a nerd, rolls the truck, etc.
Even though all of that, he is more of a hero than any of us could hope to be.

We are seeing how an OG Ghostbuster (actually) dies.

Alone, in the face of the infernal.

Probably a little scared.

Yet thinking his way through at every moment. Making every decision the right one.

It’s one of my favorite scenes in the entire franchise.
It's a really great scene and I love how they used clever camera work to let us know it's Egon without having to fully show him. I don't know for sure but it didn't seem like they used any cgi there so it came off as very impressive and genuine. If they DID use CGI it was quite good. What I don't understand is why show Phoebe the trap with Zuul/Vinz if letting them out would be a really bad idea? I don't know if I fully believe he gave himself a cardiac arrest, but I feel like it's quite the possibility. Someone suggested that he had already caught Vinz so he wouldn't have been in danger of being possessed. Even if that's true it's possible Egon had no way of knowing which terror dog he had caught. Even if he didn't commit suicide to potentially prevent something worse from happening it's an interesting topic of discussion or debate. Either way he died trying to protect the world so he went down a hero.

Edit: Kicking this around in my head the past day your turning the chair in defiance comment stuck out. I never thought of it mattering much, but that is a rather unique thing for them to show us if it was unimportant. Perhaps he didn't intend to commit suicide at all. The dog enters the room and possesses the chair to get Egon. He uses the stun PKE on it, but is caught in the shock himself, thus causing a cardiac arrest? He wanted to catch the terror dog off guard and shock it to perhaps give him a chance to flee and get to his pack, but it was too big a shock for his body since he was grabbed by the beast.

To Gerv, there's no way it's a normal taser. The effect at the ends are proton colored if memory serves, so it's specifically designed for warding off spooks. I don't know how strong a Proton stream is against normal humans but I've always assumed it does not in any way feel good. Even without the PKE stunner being as strong as a proton stream it for sure is stronger than a normal stun gun.
According to jason Reitman the opening with egon was also using the cgi likeness, he mentions it at one point on the interview with "yes have some" (i think) youtube channel.

As for the tazer, if you listen to the noise it makes it does sound like a wand powering up on a smaller scale. So not your garden variety tazer. :-D

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: December 3rd, 2021, 8:19 pm
by Wiggyof9
While I do think that Egon might actually end his life in order to keep himself from being used as a tool to end the world, I do not think that is what he did in this scene. It was his last stand and unfortunately he lost. I don't think that Zuul killed him though, I think the PKE taser setting got him as he was fighting off Zuul as was said above.

Re: Could the beginning of the film been darker than I thought? [SPOILERS]

Posted: December 4th, 2021, 7:17 am
by RealGhostbusterJay
I would agree that it was Zuul and not Vinz that was he cause of Egon's death. The PKE Taser could have been used on the entity after it grabbed him from the chair and it's done off screen. Zuul does have a scare moment of it after it's used again later by the kids and thats when she's sitting in the same chair she killed him in.

Egon's put the chair over the trap hideaway so that Zuul would not get to it meaning if HE is there she'll focus on him and even when he'd dead, the spirit leaves back to the mine. I would say that Egon did not plan to die but the struggle with the terror dog and perhaps injuries from the crash did lead to it.