Ghostbusters
Afterlife is finally out, and the critics seem to want to cry about it.
They are using buzzwords like "fan service" and "nostalgia" as if they
are bad things. Once upon a time, movies used to be made to entertain
people. Movies that made a bunch of money generally did so because they
entertained the people enough to make them want to spend money to see
them. Over the last decade or so, beloved franchises have been used to
push narratives and ideas that were never part of the franchise to begin
with.
Some will cite the Ghostbusters 2016
movie as ground zero in the trend of woke remakes. Others will say it
started before then, but there was certainly much controversy
surrounding the 2016 Ghostbusters movie. For the record, I enjoyed the
movie, although I avoided it like the plague when it was released. I
didn't like the idea of swapping the gender of the lead characters,
because it's my belief that it wasn't done to make a good movie but
rather to earn woke points. I dislike that notion in the strongest
possible way.
I didn't pay attention to what
was happening on social media back then, although I heard bits and
pieces of it. With the election happening in the United States at that
point, the Ghostbusters movie seemed to be used to make political
statements. If you liked the idea of this movie, you supported Hillary
Clinton. If you didn't like it, you were a Donald Trump supporter. I
don't particularly care for breaking it down that way, but that's the
way it seemed. I also don't believe all of the criticism of the movie
was fair, but the way the movie was marketed gave the fans of the first
two movies the ammunition they needed to put it down.
In
my opinion, if you can go into the Ghostbusters 2016 movie without
paying attention to any of the noise surrounding it, you'll see it
wasn't that bad of a movie. Yeah, some of the jokes didn't land, but
overall the movie wasn't that bad. I gave it a positive review. When I
say that, I still believe that the original Ghostbusters and its sequel
were superior movies to this one, but that doesn't mean the movie wasn't
enjoyable. However, all of the talk on social media surrounding this
movie just served to make it about more than what was happening on the
screen.
To
understand how we got to that movie, we have to look at the efforts to
make a sequel. Multiple scripts were written, but generally there was
one holdup that kept the original cast from getting back together and
doing it one more time. Bill Murray wasn't on board with it. They kept
going back to the drawing board until the studio executives decided to
reboot it and go with an all-female cast. Rather than acknowledging the
first two movies, this movie was its own thing. Nobody who loved that
movie seemed to be bothered by that fact, but many of those fans are
crying over the fact that their movie isn't being acknowledged by the
new movie.
When Ghostbusters Afterlife was
announced, there were some negative things said on social media about
it. It's just fan service was one thing that was said. Another popular
complaint was the idea that the fans who wouldn't give Ghostbusters 2016
a chance or who were critical on social media were being rewarded for
their "bad" behavior.
Leslie Jones came out on
social media and slammed the idea of this movie. While I understand
people coming after her for expressing her opinion on the matter, I
firmly believe that she and her cast mates have every right to say what
they will. Some of the criticisms against them in 2016 crossed the line,
in my opinion.
That not withstanding, Jason
Reitman was the one directing Ghostbusters Afterlife. This movie can be
seen as a love letter to the first two movies. He's picking up the
directorial duties from his father (Ivan Reitman), and he's continuing
where the storyline left off after the second movie. Obviously, this
means introducing new characters who have a connection to the original
characters. The movie isn't set in New York, and there are other
changes. However, it's done in the spirit of the first two movies. This
is a direct sequel to Ghostbusters Part 2, and long time fans will
maintain that this is all they wanted from the franchise.
The
sad reality is the third movie should have been made years ago. The
feud between Bill Murray and Harold Ramis obviously didn't help.
However, Murray had a love/hate relationship with the franchise as it
was. While he seemed to enjoy the first movie, he wasn't particularly
fond of the second one. At that point, he moved on to other things and
wasn't even thinking of returning. Because of that, the window to making
a proper third movie closed. It's impossible to get the original cast
back together with the passing of Ramis. Furthermore, Rick Moranis
hasn't been too keen on doing much acting due to things happening in his
own life that necessitated him focusing on family.
The
bottom line is money talks. If it's not profitable, most Hollywood
studios aren't keen on making a movie in the first place. They obviously
felt like there was money to be made from the Ghostbusters name, so the
geniuses at the studio went with the 2016 reboot and the all female
cast. They had an opportunity to make a big enough profit to warrant a
return with a sequel to that movie. Unfortunately, they didn't make
enough money. Given enough time, it might have been possible to return
to the Ghostbusters 2016 movie with a sequel, but the movie Jason
Reitman is directing was never going to be that movie.
While
people can complain about it, the bottom line is this was the only way
forward if the studio was going to attempt to make any money from the
Ghostbusters brand. At the end of the day, that's why they make most
movies. It's too early to know whether Ghostbusters Afterlife is going
to make money, and I'm not even sure what the story will be about as I
write this. From the things I've been hearing, I think there's a good
chance that this movie will be profitable, and that might even spark
talks of a sequel with the new stars and even some of the original stars
coming back again.
I know the Ghostbusters
2016 crowd will lobby for the ladies to come back, and long time fans of
the franchise will gleefully say that this is never going to happen. To
them I respond that never is a long time. While I don't think a movie
that focuses only on the ladies will be made anytime soon, that doesn't
mean that their characters couldn't be included in a Ghostbusters sequel
if Ghostbusters Afterlife proves to be a success. In this day where we
talk about alternate universes and those types of things, anything's
possible. Somebody In Hollywood may even be drafting ideas to make it
happen.
I don't hide the fact that I'm not
enamored with the woke Hollywood trend and the damage it's done to long
time franchises that I've enjoyed. I don't think it's a good thing. I
don't believe that Ghostbusters has been damaged enough to ruin it, but
Ghostbusters Afterlife needs to be a hit. I'm hoping this movie is
successful. I don't care about fan service or nostalgia, because if it's
written well enough, it adds to my enjoyment. All I really want from a
movie is to sit down and enjoy it and not feel like I'm being preached
to or treated like I'm a bad person if I don't enjoy the story.
