Director: Paul Feig.
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Charles Dance, Chris Hemsworth, Andy Garcia.
Director Paul Feig teams up yet again with Melissa McCarthy and a Saturday Night Live line up cast which follows trend of the original 1984 cult classic. Being a female reboot, you try to figure out who's respectably who; is McCarthy Ramis and Wiig Murray? Each character having similarities while still oozing something new.
The person who stole the show was SNL regular and TV comedy personality, Kate McKinnon who resembles Aykroyd's Ray, only a little more crazier and somewhat crankier to full comedy effect. Another SNL regular joins the team, the giant Leslie Jones who I reckon would make a great celebrity death match for Game of Thrones' Gwendoline Christie.
Andy Garcia plays the mayor but is nothing like David Marguiles' mayor from the first. And Chris Hemsworth's Kevin as an answer for Annie Potts' Janine, playing a dumber than dumb partially blind and deaf receptionist. I think they actually doped him up before takes. Neil Casey, yup, another writer from Saturday Night Live, plays the bad guy nut job who's going around waking all the spooks up. I think I preferred it when Gozer came to town.
It's a very similar story, with some interesting tweaks for background paying respect to the originals. The old famous Hook & Ladder Company #8 building makes an appearance, along with Ecto1 (though missing the annoying yet lovable siren) Slimer and his nasty appetite and the usual proton-packs with upgrades. The Stay Puff Marshmellow Man gets a facelift and the cameos are brilliantly placed but no Moranis.
Theodore Shapiro does the score but gets sounded out by the soundtrack, which is actually a lack of and its been reported Ray Parker Jr. isn't happy with Missy Elliot and Fall Out Boy's rehash version. There's no Mick Smiley's Magic or Laura Branigan's Hot Tonight.
Same premise as the original, possibly playing to fresh fans, this might do what the '84 classic did for us oldies, (middle-aged) and should it matter if it's an all female cast? It's funny with some very good moments but unfortunately there's plenty of mediocre comedy that just doesn't hit home. It's a little longer than the original and it does feel it in parts and the effects are what you would expect, they're good but nothing really mind-blowing that we haven't already seen before.
Seeing a lot of hate, and low scores and to be honest, being apprehensive and a big fan of the originals, it's a good reboot, its a carbon copy yes, but how else would anyone expect to make a reboot and the fact the film pays so much respect to the originals and especially with the cameos I find it hard to hate it. Hater's gonna hate and they need to let go. It's more than 30 years on and yes, I was around when the original came out, so come on, it's a not a bad fresh start to the franchise.
As Bill Murray might say "yes, it's true, they have no dick."
Running Time: 7
The Cast: 8
Performance: 7
Direction: 8
Story: 6
Script: 6
Creativity: 8
Soundtrack: 5
Job Description: 6
The Extra Bonus Point: 5 for the nice little touches, nods and cameos paying respect to the originals.
66% 7/10
