I’m always dubious about classic franchise reboots… I’m looking at you RoboCop. So going in to Ghostbusters I was holding my breath. But it’s at the outset of this review that I must acknowledge the mistake of my trepidation, because it’s right bloomin’ good.

 

Obviously with classics such as Ghostbusters the power of nostalgia is difficult, nigh impossible, to overcome; shown in early responses to the ‘female reboot’ of a dearly loved franchise. This is all I’m going to say on the female based cast because frankly it isn’t the sort of angle I think is worth feeding. It isn’t a ‘female reboot’ so much as a reboot which predominantly cast women. So there.

 

From here I suppose I must go into the casting, which other than a few personal complaints about the over-the-top acting of Melissa McCarthy was pretty flawless. And even with that opinion I cannot fault the electric dynamic between the cast. Led by McCarthy (Abby Yates)  and Kristen Wiig (Erin Gilbert) who are obviously favourites of director Paul Feig after bridesmaids) we see Saturday Night Live’s Leslie Jones (Patty Tolan) and my personal favourite (who I’ve not before come across) Kate McKinnon (Jillian Holtzmann). Each character is distinct if not a little archetypal, but not to the detriment of the film by any means; and together the group provide a formidable force of quite genuine laughs. Some of these laughs are a little on the nose, a snort rather than a belly laugh, but all in all this is a funny film, funnier than I expected, which was obviously a pleasant surprise.

 

In terms of plot, I have to say there isn’t a huge amount new to say… Much like the original we find scientists, an engineer and a bit of a tag-along (sorry Patty) tackle a ghostly problem plaguing the streets of New York city, one proton-stream at a time. With Dan Aykroyd and the late Harold Ramis at the helm, who could expect anything different. It works, the plot is functional and familiar, but leaves room to play with some new things. New things such as a character-specific-ghost-busting-gizmo (try saying that five times fast) which whilst a little on the gimmicky side do provide a new spin on something so classically familiar. Similarly we see a familiar face (well, set of wheels) in ECTO-1, a new take on the Ghostbuster-mobile, lacking only the classic ‘WAAH’ of the original. Speaking of the original I can’t not mention the countless cameos from the cast of the original which were fitted in pretty neatly, contrary to most films which so so so obviously shoehorn in characters (a massive bugbear of mine I’m sure you can understand!). We see Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and a bust of the late Harold Ramis, which some might call out as a bit cheap or hammy but I liked it, a respectful nod to the film’s origins. However, one thing which does not stand up to the original franchise is the theme music Walk the Moon attempt to keep the Ray Parker Jr. dream alive, and I give them credit for that, but I’m so so sad to tell you readers that Fall Out Boy take that dream and pummel it bloody, throwing it down into the dirt. Apologies for the graphic imagery there, but Fall Out Boy. Please stop.  Oh… And before I forget i must celebrate an extended cameo by everyone’s favourite ghost Slimer… Nuff’ said.

 

Now onto the more technical stuff, which may or may not be that interesting to you my reader, but I’m afraid that if you’ve read this far you may as well finish! So, I saw Ghostbusters in IMAX 3D (very fancy) and frankly I was blown away by the visuals of the film. Spectral smoke-filled the auditorium in swathes of green and sweeps of blue, red eyes glowed fierce  as sparks sparked spectacularly. And the 3D, oh my, that was a treat; stuff your ‘depth-of-field 3D’, I mean real 3D; ghosts reaching out to me, ectoplasm flying towards me in a messy green splash or proton-streams billowing around me. Good is an understatement. Also, Ghostbusters did something I can’t recall seeing any other film do in 3D, using screen tabs. Now for those of you not in the know, screen tabs are the black spaces at the top or bottom of the screen (or the sides if the director is playing with aspect ratios); for the most part, these sit empty, their purpose simply to make sure everything is in proportion, but not here. Here they were used in such a profoundly interesting way, to maximise the impact of the 3D effects, I saw ghosts literally climbing out of frame and proton-streams (sorry for saying proton-streams so much, but proton-stream is the only phrase I can use to talk about proton-streams) whipping out of the film and into the cinema. it’s safe to say that I’m a fan of this technique, and that I’d be very surprised if this hasn’t been done before.

 

So that’s it I suppose, a film which initially was under fire for its casting choices, attempting to stand toe-to-toe with the 1984 behemoth. Like I said, nostalgia is a mighty beast to fell, and whilst I don’t quite think this 2016 reboot has done that, it puts up a strong fight and definitely holds its own as a summer blockbuster (a term which I despise, despite it being particularly apt!). So if you have a day off and you’re bored with the sun, or a free evening or just a lust for echoes of 80s classics, then perhaps Ghostbusters is the film for you.