Ghostbusters: Afterlife

[BatLobster]

@KRYPTON INC.

Hey man, I respect your opinion about the movie but I fundamentally disagree about what Ghostbusters can be and I think that is at the root at our opposite reactions to the movie.

Ghostbusters is something that transcends genre IMO. It is a comedy yes, but the lore was always interesting and Aykroyd and Ramis really cared about that part of it. That was the secret sauce. The whole "oh they're like exterminators only it's ghosts, it's all a joke"...yeah, that gag is there on some level but it's not even that funny of a gag. That part of it skips right past mildly funny into cool. Proton packs are cool. The trap is cool. The Ecto 1 is cool. The firehouse is cool. The flight suits are cool. Ghostbusters is freaking cool. To me, Egon/Peter/Ray/Winston always felt real. They were all playing extensions of their real personalities, which- while very funny together, actually heightened the sense of reality. Those relationships felt lived in, because they were.

Now yeah, GBA is a movie ABOUT how ghostbusting is cool, as seen through the eyes of kids like we were when we fell in love with jt. Which I suppose you could argue, in itself isn't cool and gets a bit touchy feely. That I get. But again, after 30 years, I think it felt appropriate. There is a lot of emotional baggage and I don't think you can shy away from it at this point. I really think the franchise needed a film like this if it's going to live on in some way.

And you can dislike the film all you want, but I think it is becoming clear that this is a hit with diehard fans, and has good general audience word of mouth that is helping propel an impressive box office run. I don't really get the argument of you can't/shouldn't approach the movie in this way. Doesn't a positive audience response vindicate the approach? Is it not having the desired effect on a lot of people, enough to likely warrant a sequel?

End of the day, I think Ghostbusters endured because it makes people feel all the things. It's funny, it's fun, it's scary, it's an endearing story about nerd power and underdogs saving the day, the guys feel like a family and it has great iconography that is just as synonymous with childhood as the Millennium Falcon, the Batmobile, etc. for a lot of people. Yes, Pete Venkman is a sarcasm incarnate and there are a few raunchy jokes that haven't aged well, but that is not enough to negate the wide array of stuff that GB brings to the table and prevent it from evolving.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

 

[BatLobster]

Weak review. That reviewer clearly forgot Egon's elated smirk when Dana kisses him on the cheek in GB2.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Weak review. That reviewer clearly forgot Egon's elated smirk when Dana kisses him on the cheek in GB2.

 

[henzINNIT]

I replayed the video game finally. Considered trophy sweeping but some of them look like a nightmare. Good GB fun.

It does highlight my key issues with the storytelling in Afterlife somewhat. The game retreads a bunch of things for the sake of playing iconic scenarios, but every element works as a starting point to explore further. There's a larger story that these familiar beats are in service of. There's a different villain, using different tactics, and new discoveries along the way. By contrast, Afterlife barely has a story. Almost nothing happens, a slow burn set-up of a little girl exploring dusty props before they hastily do a Ghostbusters at the end. There's no signs of life in the town, no story there, no antagonistic force, very little for the characters to do. The familiar elements aren't there as jump off points, they are the final answer to every question.

This isn't just a recipe for boredom either. It is pretty cancerous to the property, shrinking the whole thing down and feeding on itself. Because this Harold Ramis tribute just had to mine the original's villain for nostalgia, it also had to over-write the last Ghostbusters thing Ramis wrote and performed. That's mighty unfortunate. It causes other problems too:

Spoiler

The Ghostbusters disbanded and the others did not believe Egon's warnings about Gozer. Why? It's already a tough sell that nobody (especially Ray) believed the super genius of the team. It's already weird that no-one would simply check and find all the evidence. But everyone fought Gozer. They know this threat, know it's very real, why the hell would the assumption be that Egon is wrong, or that he's crazy? This would work so much better if it was literally any other threat, something someone would doubt, but it had to be Gozer because reference.

 

[SomeOldGuy]

Down just 3% vs yesterday. Deadline has upped their post-Sunday total estimate to $90 million.

 

[B]

The Ghostbusters are a massive part of my childhood, from the movies to the animated series that run during the early 90's. So it's a touchy subject when you're going to try to touch anything to do with the Ghostbusters given that I hold the franchise so dear.

Went to see Ghostbusters Afterlife yesterday & I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. Simple story premise that not only brings some new characters to the face of the franchise, but at the same time keeps people like myself happy because of the many direct connections with the original Ghostbusters as well as the emotional nature of a portion of the story.

The film in general does a nice job of effectively handing over the reigns from the original Ghostbusters & giving them a nice last hurrah without making it seem like they're being forcibly replaced or ushered out the door.

Pheobe is very much the focus of the film & she steals the show. Her character is a lot more fleshed out than any of even the original Ghostbusters characters ever were, I would quite happily see a sequel to this with her again a the forefront of a new Ghostbusters team in New York.

I've seen some of the complaints that the film wasn't as funny & a bit too serious, personally I don't get that as there were plenty of chuckle moments throughout much like the originals.

In regards to the being too serious, I didn't think it was particularly serious, but I'm glad they didn't go full on comedy with the film, which is probably why the 2016 reboot was such a failure. It had a bit of a Scary Movie type vibe about it in that there was just so much attempts to make the audience laugh at every opportunity, it was almost like it was a spoof film of Ghostbusters.

All in all, as I said I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It's not ground breaking, won't revolutionise cinema, but my general opinion is that this film should please the majority of the diehard fans while at the same time potentially garnering new ones.

I'm also glad I didn't frequent this thread for fear of having something spoiled for me -

Spoiler

Olivia Wilde as Gozer was a nice surprise which I didn't know going into the film, I think I remember reading somewhere that she was going to be in it a while back, but her role wasn't known or confirmed at the time.

Her being in it only makes me like her even more.

 

[Sithborg]

I will say, that for all the comparisons between the two films, 2016 and Afterlife both had some very weird and apparent editing issues in the final act.

 

[Gold Samurai]

Spoiler

 

[Galactus123]

This was good. I liked the new characters and the movie was fun. Sadly there was less than 10 people in the theatre. The movie was released today here in Finland so I expected more. I hope it does well so we get more Ghostbusters movies.

Spoiler

It was so good to see the old characters again. It was more emotional than I expected. I liked how they brought Egon back as a ghost. I understand why he didn't say anything but it would have been great if he had one line at least. Maybe they could have used something from the 2009 game. There might be unused dialogue. I enjoyed the story but it was too much like the first movie.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Between this thread and Dune's, I feel like KRYPTON is trying to tell us something...

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Down just 3% vs yesterday. Deadline has upped their post-Sunday total estimate to $90 million.

Every update shows it doing better and better. Almost like people are enjoying it...

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I will say, that for all the comparisons between the two films, 2016 and Afterlife both had some very weird and apparent editing issues in the final act.

Afterlife's finale reminds me of Begins. Where I feel like it clearly cut 5 mins. But overall it still totally worked for me. But then again:

Spoiler

The Cell Games is peak DBZ for me.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Between this thread and Dune's, I feel like KRYPTON is trying to tell us something...

I don't like to be bored by movies, yeah.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I don't like to be bored by movies, yeah.

Neither do I. But for two films you found boring, you have a lot of say about them. Seems you found more there then you realized.

 

[Sithborg]

Afterlife's finale reminds me of Begins. Where I feel like it clearly cut 5 mins. But overall it still totally worked for me. But then again:

Spoiler

The Cell Games is peak DBZ for me.

Feels like a bit more than 5 minutes here.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Feels like a bit more than 5 minutes here.

I assume they reworked the ending, because they realized what the emotional focal point should be. With most of what was cut, coming from the town.

 

[Sithborg]

I assume they reworked the ending, because they realized what the emotional focal point should be. With most of what was cut, coming from the town.

Spoiler

I assume there was more of the dog possession scenes, as I have no idea how they knew Rudd was possessed. Which, after the little bit with the mom, was probably a good thing to cut

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Spoiler

I assume there was more of the dog possession scenes, as I have no idea how they knew Rudd was possessed. Which, after the little bit with the mom, was probably a good thing to cut

Spoiler

I can't remember if they mention knowing he's possessed. But I also don't remember it being necessary. I thought Stranger Things was a little thrown when he saw him, after breaking him out. Which would make sense if they were already in dog form when the kids got to the cave the second time.

 

[Sithborg]

Spoiler

I can't remember if they mention knowing he's possessed. But I also don't remember it being necessary. I thought Stranger Things was a little thrown when he saw him, after breaking him out. Which would make sense if they were already in dog form when the kids got to the cave the second time.

Spoiler

It came up when they were talking about what happens when the gatekeeper and keymaster meet up, before the transformation, I believe. As it was a joke about Rudd and the mom already dating. That specifically threw me off, because we had the Walmart scene, and then the meet up.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Spoiler

It came up when they were talking about what happens when the gatekeeper and keymaster meet up, before the transformation, I believe. As it was a joke about Rudd and the mom already dating. That specifically threw me off, because we had the Walmart scene, and then the meet up.

I guess I'll just have to go see it again to make sure!

 

[samsnee]

Spoiler

In the first movie, Dana and Louis became gatekeeper and keymaster because their apartments were located where Gozer was expected to return if I remember correctly.

Besides being needed for the plot, it didn’t make sense why Paul Rudd got possessed when it could have been anyone in that town. Nor why did it go all the way to the farm to possess Phoebe’s mom

 

[super85]

But... Did that automatically make it compelling or even interesting? Does "respect" for you or any fan's sense of the lore history or fan's feelings about a franchise, does any of that actually translae into quality? Or just boilerplate entertainment even?

The Good acting, likeable characters, nice cinematography and very nice FX work added to me liking it.

 

[B]

Spoiler

In the first movie, Dana and Louis became gatekeeper and keymaster because their apartments were located where Gozer was expected to return if I remember correctly.

Besides being needed for the plot, it didn’t make sense why Paul Rudd got possessed when it could have been anyone in that town. Nor why did it go all the way to the farm to possess Phoebe’s mom

Spoiler

I don't actually think, even in the first film they thought too hard about why it was Dana & Louis in particular that got possessed. In theory it could have been anyone in that entire building & in Louis's case it also could have been anyone at the party were Vinz first appears or anyone that he passes on the streets of New York when he's running from it.

 

[SomeOldGuy]

Early Friday estimate from Charlie over at BOT is 9.6 (+81%) which would take it to $72.8 million. Looking good for 90 as long as Saturday holds and Sunday’s drop isn’t too harsh.

ETA: