Ghostbusters (2016) Review

Time: 116 Minutes
Age Rating: Coarse language & some scenes may scare very young children.
Cast:
Melissa McCarthy as Dr. Abigail “Abby” Yates
Kristen Wiig as Dr. Erin Gilbert
Kate McKinnon as Dr. Jillian “Holtz” Holtzmann
Leslie Jones as Patricia “Patty” Tolan
Chris Hemsworth as Kevin Beckman
Neil Casey as Rowan North
Director: Paul Feig

Following a ghost invasion of Manhattan, paranormal enthusiasts Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) and Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy), nuclear engineer Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), and subway worker Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) band together to stop the otherworldly threat.

The Ghostbusters reboot had been a divisive film upon its trailer’s release. I had no idea how this film would be, it looked honestly horrendous from the marketing. In the end I finally watched the movie, to see for myself what it is like. Ghostbusters 2016 wasn’t good but it wasn’t a disaster either. It wasn’t really that funny, the characters are poorly written and the script overall wasn’t good. At the same time though, it wasn’t painful to watch. Very disappointing however.

The movie isn’t really boring, it’s very easy to follow and it doesn’t get dull. However the story is still not that well written. The characters are clichéd, the story is so basic (it’s impossible to spoil this movie), there’s nothing really great about the movie. The comedy is very different from the original. The original’s comedy was a lot more sarcastic and the characters played it more straight, this movie however was more out there and over the top. A lot of the comedy is Adam Sandler comedy, and that’s never a good thing. There were some mildly amusing moments but that was it. It’s frustrating, the movie had a lot of talent but it’s not used well at all.

There isn’t any chemistry between the Ghostbusters. These actresses are talented but the film may as well have had Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, Kevin James and Tyler Perry in their roles (it’s not quite that bad though). The actresses aren’t really bad in this movie, it’s just that they are only as good as their writing. All of them are extremely over the top. The person who comes across as the funniest between the 4 is Kate McKinnon. Chris Hemsworth is the only other actor who manages to produce some comedy. However he plays literally the dumbest character I’ve ever seen in a movie. Like, mental condition level. It was a weird decision. Maybe it was because they needed to make the Ghostbusters look less dumb in comparison, because honestly they do some really stupid things throughout the movie, I don’t buy for a moment that they are even close to being competent, no matter how hard the script tries to make it seem that way. Also the villain is terrible, it’s literally a janitor who in his first scene says his motivation and plan, which is to destroy the world because he hates everyone. The actor (Neil Casey) does his best but he’s got nothing to work with. Also as for the cameos of the cast from the original, absolutely forced and painful.

The special effects for this movie were hit or miss. Sometimes it was fine, other times it was really bad and odd looking. The third act had horrendous green screen, it was kind of embarrassing. The colours also are really bright and neon like, I’m not sure if that was a good decision or not. Also I want to add that the remixed new version of the Ghostbusters is absolute garbage.

Ghostbusters 2016 is not one of the worst things ever made. The film wasn’t boring and some of the jokes worked (mostly from McKinnon and Hemsworth). However this is still disappointing. It could’ve been a lot better, they had a great comedic cast and a great comedic director, this should’ve worked perfectly. However it just ended up being a mediocre movie. This instalment is planning on having sequels and I don’t think I’m that interested in sequels if it’s going to be anything like this film. However, if you are curious enough, check it out.

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Spy (2015) Review

Time: 119 Minutes
Age Rating: Violence, Sexual References and Offensive Language
Cast:
Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe/Einar Wegener
Alicia Vikander as Gerda Wegener
Matthias Schoenaerts as Hans Axgil
Ben Whishaw as Henrik
Amber Heard as Ulla
Sebastian Koch as Dr. Warnekros
Director: Paul Feig

Despite having solid field training, CIA analyst Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) has spent her entire career as a desk jockey, working hand-in-hand with dashing agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law). Using high-tech equipment and a hidden earpiece, Susan is the guardian angel who helps Bradley avoid danger. However, when Bradley is assassinated by Bulgarian arms dealer Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne), Susan wrangles her way into her first undercover assignment to help capture Boyanov and avenge Bradley.

There have been a lot of spy movies this year, with Kingsman: The Secret Service, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Spectre and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Spy is another one of these movies and like U.N.C.L.E. and Kingsman, is a comedy, and a very good one at that. I haven’t watched any of Melissa McCarthy or Paul Feig’s other movies (Bridesmaids, The Heat) before but now I definitely want to. This movie is really entertaining from start to finish, with good performances, a great script and the movie never had any dull moments.

When it comes to the plot it wasn’t anything special, someone who isn’t a field agent is forced to become one but despite that, it still worked for the film. The great thing is that they played with the usual plot set up, unlike a lot of films like Get Smart where the spy character isn’t exactly the smartest, McCarthy’s character is great at what she does, making the whole movie more enjoyable as well as fresh and new. With that said, you’re not going to be really focused on the plot, the film was mostly focussed on these characters in these situations and the comedy that insures. This movie is still a comedy and the humour is mixed in well into the movie, and all the actors have at least one great comedic moment in the film.

This is the first Melissa McCarthy movie I’ve seen and I really liked her here. As I said earlier one thing I like about her character is that it’s not like Get Smart or Pink Panther where the main character is incompetent but yet saves the day (sometimes accidently). Her character here is actually capable and it was very entertaining to watch her be awesome, especially in the action scenes. The supporting cast which had Miranda Hart, Jude Law and Rose Byrne were also really good. The showstealer for me though was Jason Statham. His performance was sort of a parody on his previous action film roles, with him being super intense and overly serious (which he pretty much does in every movie he’s in). There is one moment where he has a monologue which I can only describe as multiple Chuck Norris jokes rolled into one and for me it was the funniest scene in the whole movie.

The action scenes were actually really good, I haven’t seen The Heat so I don’t know if Spy is the first action movie Paul Feig directed but it was really good. What surprised me is that this movie actually works as an action movie, which really gave Spy even more credibility and separated it from other films with similar premises.

Spy is a great action comedy movie and I think it’s really worth watching. I haven’t watched any of Paul Feig’s other movies but if they are anywhere near as good as Spy, I would really like to check them out at some point and from this movie alone, I think Paul Feig will deliver a great Ghostbusters movie coming later this year (even if the trailer doesn’t showcase it). From the smart writing, hilarious performances and of course the great comedy, there’s a lot to enjoy about it. Check it out if it interests you.