The Flickering Myth Team React…
Who you gonna call? Well if Sony and Paul Feig have their way it will be the reboot of Ghostbusters which lands in cinemas in a couple of months. The long-awaited trailer was released online yesterday [more footage was released here], and the Flickering Myth writing and editorial staff felt it was time they gave their views on it…
Scott Watson: While it can’t touch the original, I think it’s gonna be a silly enough popcorn flick.
Scott J Davis: If there’s something strange in your neighbourhood, who you gonna call? Meh. Looks ok, could still go either way. Humour looks hit and miss, as do the characters (McCarthy/ Jones bad, Wiig/McKinnon good). Hasn’t changed my mind either way.
Jake Wilson: I really enjoyed it. Wasn’t laugh out loud funny, but significant interest and enjoyment to excite me for the final product. Like Scott said though, it really could go either way. Yet, I think it’ll end up more Spy than Tammy.
Martin Carr: I turned off Bridesmaids after 10 minutes. End of reaction. Because obviously that was funny and clever as well.
Luke Owen: To quote Ray from his cameo in Casper, “who you gonna call? Someone else.” It was everything I thought it would be and worse. Typical unfunny Feig/Wiig/McCarthy humour, too many references to the original source material, copying scenes from the source material but “updating” them, lazy CGI ghosts and an over reliance on comedy. Is it a reboot? Is it a sequel? I’m not sure the film knows. The opening 20 seconds acts like a sequel while the rest of the film suggests otherwise. Just the dirt worst kind of reboot. Dreadful.
Oliver Davis: Come on, Luke. Tell us what you really think.
Ricky Church: Looks a little formulaic. This trailer seemed to follow nearly the same story beats as the first Ghostbusters: Bad encounter in a library, self-funding their research, getting a hurst for a car (which nearly repeated the same joke from the original film), etc. McCarthy and Jones kind of got a “meh” from me, but I’m looking forward to seeing Wiig and McKinnon, the latter in particular. McKinnon has been a rising star and one of the few reasons SNL remains remotely funny so I think and hope she’ll steal the movie. That said, this has a lot to live up to, but the same would be said if they managed to bring back the original cast for an actual Ghostbusters 3. Count me skeptical, but a little interested purely due to the brand and McKinnon.
Anthony Donovan Stokes: This is like equal parts ‘could be saving the best for the movie’ or ‘completely flat’. Really loved Spy so I’m willing to give it a shot
Villordsutch: I can safely say it’s not for me at this point. It’s a loud rehash, full of CGI wizardry, of the original story that I don’t really want to be spoiled.
Anthony Donovan Stokes: They avoided the “Ima slap the ghost out of you” joke, but I kinda wish they had left that scene out of the trailer as that was the highlight for me. Probably going to be the best part of the movie. Also no fat jokes which is a good sign
Ricky Church: Yeah, I will say it does seem like they’re saving their “best” material for the actual movie rather than showing it all in a trailer as is common these days. However, they probably should have shown something a little different at the beginning than rehashing the original Ghostbuster‘s plot points. The trailer did get a bit better towards the end though.
Kris Wall: I didn’t like it at all, especially the reworked theme song and weak humour. Pretty much every part of the trailer conspired to annoy me
Sadé Green: Well now I feel bad because I quite enjoyed it. Didn’t look half as bad as I thought it would be, but then it also didn’t make me laugh. Might be more of a reflection of how crap I thought it could have been based on news and pictures.
Anghus Houvouras: I liked it. Reverent to the original while carving it’s own path. A little sedated with the humor but you could see the potential is there. Kate McKinnon seemed painfully underused in the trailer and, in my opinion, is the funniest of the bunch. It’s strange watching someone so explosively entertaining exhibiting such restraint. The only part that made me a little suspect was the bit about ‘someone made a device that amplifies paranormal activity’ which means our villain is going to be a person. That’s a little ho-hum for me. I always liked in Ghostbusters the villains were otherworldly monstrosities. Not some guy or gal with a device that causes the wacky shennanigans. Makes the whole thing seem more like Scooby Doo than Ghostbusters. Still, as a cynical skeptic who has been snubbing his nose at the concept of a Ghostbusters reboot, I didn’t hate it. Mission accomplished Sony Marketing team.
Stuie Greenfield: I really wanted them to at least attempt to stick to the humour style of the originals and stay true the characters, not stick the cast of Bridesmaids and the same humour into a different costume. Alas I am disappointed.
Tom Jolliffe: I almost have no reaction…I didn’t like it, I didn’t hate it. I forgotten everything I witnessed in the two minute trailer (which will undoubtedly also be the case with the full film). I hope Wiig gets pushed a little to the forefront, but the trailer seems to sell the film more on McCarthy.
Tai Freligh: I see no reason to do a reboot of Ghostbusters. The original was campy and made fun of itself. This reboot has no appeal to me whatsoever. It looks like there are way too many sly nods to the original and way too many scenes duplicated from the original. If I wanted to watch Ghostbusters I would just watch the original. Also, I find most of these actresses not that funny on SNL, so why watch them in a movie? If being on SNL is a requirement for being in a Ghostbusters movie, at least take A-list talent like they did for the original. This is a pass for me.
Gav Logan: Honestly I didn’t think it was that bad. It is what it is. McCarthy and Wiig can be gold at times but other times very tiresome. Still up in the air for me.
Freda Cooper: Lukewarm on both the trailer and the idea of the film. But trying very hard to reserve judgement until release.
Neil Calloway: “Bridesmaids in jumpsuits” is my girlfriend’s disappointed reaction.
Chris Cooper: I didn’t hate it. I didn’t love it. The only thing I liked for sure was seeing the firehouse and Slimer but they seemed confusingly out of place. So…confused?
Oliver Davis: I didn’t laugh once.
Tom Jolliffe: That CGI looks a little too `Disney theme park ride` to me.
Luke Owen: Disney theme park ride seems strong. I was going to go with The Haunted Mansion or Scooby Doo.
Helen Murdoch: Thought the trailer was awful. Unfunny, dull and pointless
James Garcia: I’m actually in the camp of really liking the trailer – I thought it did a great job of establishing the tone of the reboot as well as introducing us to the new characters. I agree that the trailer itself is a bit misleading about whether it’s a reboot or sequel thanks to that first title card, but all of that is cleared up in the actual footage. I was a bit skeptical about how Feig would handle such a CGI-heavy film, and I actually thought he did a great job with the new ghosts. As for the cast, McKinnon looks like she’s going to steal the show, while Wiig and Jones look entertaining. I’m not sure about McCarthy though, her particular brand of physical humor has grown tired over the last few years. I get that she’s Feig’s go-to comedy start and all, but I wish he’d have branched out there. All in all, the trailer did a great job of getting me on board with the movie, which to me looks more like a reMAKE than a reBOOT, but that could just be semantics at this point. I’m intrigued, and willing to give the movie a shot. It won’t top the original, but I don’t think it ever really stood that chance in the fans’ eyes. At least it might be better than Ghostbusters II!
Jake Peffer: The trailer didn’t blow me away but it definitely had its moments. I do like the cast in most of their other roles and I think Paul Feig is actually a pretty good director. I don’t think they would tarnish what was so great about the original but we won’t know for sure until the full movie is released.
Andrew Newton: The trailer made me want to cross the streams…..not in a good way but in a way to make every molecule in my body explode at the speed of light. The CGI looks like it came straight from a Scooby Doo film and the acting and timing of lines made an episode of Tellytubbies look Shakespearian.
Tom Jolliffe: I think my brother summed it up perfectly: “Looks like Pixels.”
Kieran Fisher: It looks fun at least.
Luke Owen: We’ve all overlooked the dumbest part of the whole trailer. It opens by saying four scientists saved the world, but Winston wasn’t a scientist. Guh. This film can’t get anything right.
Luke Graham: I was feeling positive about the reboot. I like the cast and director, I enjoyed Bridesmaids, I didn’t have a problem with a gender-flipped reboot/remake. But that trailer was pretty dreadful. Only a couple of laughs, lots of annoying cliches, dreadful CGI ghosts. Very disappointing.
David Opie: I actually love the cast when they’re working at the top of their game, but this trailer didn’t appeal to me much. This reboot has so much potential, but if the jokes don’t improve in the final release, this could be THE dud of 2016… aside from Gods of Egypt of course. I’m still willing to give this one the benefit of the doubt though.
Eric Bay-Andersen: Absolutely terrible. Exactly what I was expecting. I’m willing to bet this will get plenty of Razzies next year.
—
Well, it’s not an overwhelmingly positive reaction, but also not the most negative we’ve had (the first couple of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailers got a harsher tongue lashing). If anything, most of our writers just seem non-plused by it. Even those who had good things to say where shrouded with, “I’m sure it will be funnier in the theatre”. However, as the results show below, 45% of our writer’s pool have given it a thumbs down rating, so maybe it is more negative than it seems.
Results based on 26 votes:
Thumbs up: 14%
Thumbs in the middle: 41%
Thumbs down: 45%
Here’s what you had to say:
@flickeringmyth Stink-fest. Sorry to be so negative. But it really needs to be stopped. haha
— DrCrowlee (@DasherCROW) March 3, 2016
@dashercrow @flickeringmyth I agree. Let's call it what it is. A shitty attempt at a cash grab #Ghostbusters #Ghostbusters2016
— Rigormorton (@WeirdNPissdOff) March 3, 2016
https://twitter.com/anthonyperrone/status/705510127399542784
https://twitter.com/_jawwaadh/status/705399837861285893
https://twitter.com/SchottsList/status/705673019465801728
Very wise of the team behind new Ghostbusters to apparently save all the funny stuff for the actual movie, and not put any in the trailer.
— ralphgarman (@RalphGarman) March 3, 2016
What did you make of the trailer? Let us know below or tweet us @flickeringmyth.
