Ghostbusters?…well friends, Sony confirms it, the original fearsome foursome are back in their third installment which I think, personally, should be left alone after 2.
Now I love Ghostbusters, it was actually the very first DVD I ever bought…back in 1998. In the halls of great 80’s characters, the spectral relocation firm of Stanz, Spengler, Venkman, and Zeddemore are among the most coveted and loved characters of any film genre. However the above mentioned heroes (per the new films plot synopsis), are reportedly in trade talks and franchise sales…legal jargon aside, this new film’s premise is to hand-off the ghost busting business to a younger group.
In the past the internet ran thick with hopeful whispers of the Judd Apatow involvement and the speculation of “passing the torch to Seth Rogen and the bunch” this abridged post from TheMovieBlog looks to debunk all previous rumors…or you can read the entire post at Screen Rant here.
I think I’ll offend some fans out there when I say this, “I’m not so glad they’re coming back”. Here’s why:
Ghostbusters 2 (although it’s loved now), to me, it just didn’t do that well living up to the unexpected and amazing success of the first. The intention, probably, was to make it a little more kid friendly, especially considering the inclusion of the baby Oscar as a main plot device/character. It ended kind of cute and all but come on, think of the plot as a whole: the appearance and ultimate re-banishing of the ghost of a centuries old Carpathian tyrant, featuring a river of mood slime and the hopes that mankind’s good mood would aid in saving the day on New Year’s Eve? A little cartoon-ish and child like compared to the threat of Gozer. OK so the Marshmellow man and the Statue of Liberty were nice (but campy) touches giving some kid friendly vibes to a “ghost” story. But think about this, why is Dana the glutton of the god and demi-god uprising? In all of the tri-state area, what are the chances that in 5 years she was involved in 2 re-emergences of these feared mystical spirits?
Don’t get me wrong, I really like 2, almost as much as I did the first but I think that waiting this long with this type of mythology could turn into Kingdom of the Crystal Skull…which was bad. I don’t like to point out these plot problems (just like all the Star Wars movies) but I feel I have to otherwise this third film could fall prey to an over-hyped and under-delivered sequel which simply rides on nostalgic hopes (again Indy 4). Think about this too…if they plan to retire, can we honestly believe they’ve been running around for the past 20 years without already hiring help? This sounds like it should have already happened by now. How many thousands of flights of stairs could they have traveled in New York City??
If passing the torch is the route they’re headed (which sounds like it is the best route), then how about modeling it after the Zorro premise: they met their successors as children during one of the many times they saved the day. The kids now revere the Ghostbusters and their dreams of becoming a Ghostbuster become their ultimate goal. So 20 years later, they’re nearing 30 years of age (similar to when we all met the original crew) and they have been developing their own tactics (possibly retooling discarded proton pack parts that were donated to college science departments to create their own) to help in the ghost fighting after reading of their exploits and all the articles printed about them. They’re going to need some major CG to get the kids worked into a scene or two or revert the original team to a younger version (like X-Men the Last Stand), but it could work.
Anyway that’s just some thoughts I had trying to blend hopeful speculation with problematic notalgia. Anyone out there more hopeful than myself?
