Who You Gonna Call?
So, you’ve read about what I don’t like. What I’m (as the name implies) indifferent to. Now, let’s talk about something I like. But, before that, some back story!
Now, I’m not some jaded fan boy. I don’t just openly hate something because its popular, or for any other reason that people just hate on things on the internet. If I don’t like something, I can list a metric dickload of reasons why I don’t like something. Go ahead, try it. Ask me about something. I’ll let you know.
Anyhow, there is a laundry list of things that I hate, and an equally long list of things that I love. One of the things at the top of the list is labeled “All Things Ghostbusters”. It doesn’t matter. Anything with those four guys, the proton packs, Slimer…any of it. I can’t help it, I’m a product of the 80s and Ghostbusters was the first movie my mother ever took me to see. Was I a little young? Oh yeah. Did it matter? No.
I really caught the bug with the cartoon, and it only snowballed from there. Toys, videos, video games, bed sheets, etc. All of them owned by this guy…as a mini-this-guy. Do I still have any of that stuff? God, do I wish. But alas, I don’t really adhere to the nerd creedo of “SAVE THIS BECAUSE YOU CAN MAKE MONEY OFF OF IT WHEN PEOPLE BUY IT OFF OF EBAY!” Not how I roll at all.
Which brings me to my topic for this post. Ghostbusters II. I love it. It has problems, which we’ll address, but its still great. Everything about it.
So, we all know that the first movie was HUGE. Like, about as huge as something could be in the 80s. Just massive. So massive, in fact, that a cartoon was quickly produced to not only keep the movie fresh in people’s minds, but also rope kids in and create merchandise.
The cartoon, while not great in some spots is pretty good. It even carries over a few plot points and such from the movie(s). But the biggest downfall of the cartoon, is that it made the movie’s distributor, Columbia, pressure Dan Akroyd, Harrold Ramis and Ivan Reitman to make another movie. As the story goes, they didn’t want to because they thought the first movie was self-contained and were wanting to make other projects. If you’ve seen Akroyd’s work when he doesn’t have at some kind of filter on him, you can see why this was a bad idea.
Eventually after continued pressure from Columbia, the trio put a script together. But not the one that became the movie we all saw. No, this script has been nicknamed “The Last of the Ghostbusters” by Bill Murray. In this version, Dana Barrett, played by Sigourney Weaver, is kidnapped and taken to Scotland. While there, she discovers a magical ring and an underground civilization (see what I mean about Akroyd with no filter??). That was quickly nixed. Akroyd and Ramis then put together a new script which became Ghostbusters II. What some people don’t know, is that there were also still different versions of that script. One where they Ghostbusters are super-successful and have franchised out their business and another that picks up as soon as the first one ends. Weird stuff.
So with that all set-up, the movie began production. A new Ecto had to be made, because the one used in the first movie was in major disrepair. The state its in when we see Ray and Winston for the first time, is not movie magic. The car was that beat up. It finally died while filming on the Brooklyn Bridge, which caused the filmmakers to be fined because there isn’t a repair lane on the bridge and traffic was disrupted. Yikes.
Fast forward a few months, and the movie was in theaters. But, let’s look at the releases for the year of 1989, shall we?
Born on the Fourth of July, pfft. Cheap crap compared to Ghostbusters! Honey I Shrunk the Kids? Did America REALLY need two doses of Rick Moranis?? I think not. UHF? Please. I love Weird Al as much as the next guy, but not in movie form. What could possibly take down Egon, Peter, Ray and Winston?
Indiana Jones. Eek. Well that was a given, there couldn’t have been anything else that could be that huge in one year, right? Oh…Batman. Shit. Well, okay, two movies isn’t terrible. We’re still sitting pretty. Look Who’s Talking. That’s just not fair. How can anything top a talking Bruce Willis baby? Lethal Weapon 2...okay well everyone loves Murdoch and Riggs. And that’s not even the tip of the iceberg for this movie, because 1989 is also the same year a little sleeper title called Back to the Future 2 was released. And Dead Poet’s Society. But mostly Back To the Future 2. Mostly.
So yeah, not a good year. But, to the studios credit they braved those waters and went ahead. And its not like the movie did badly. It was in the top ten of that year! But still, most people know remember it as the bastard child of the franchise. But, why?
First…its not THAT funny. Not as funny as the first one, anyways. Yeah, it has its moments. Most of those, however, are thinly veiled innuendo. Because you have to remember that this movie was marketed more towards kids hooked on the cartoon than the adults that made the first movie so successful.
Secondly, the acting is kind of hit or miss. Bill Murray just looks bored the whole movie, as does Ernie Hudson. Dan Akroyd gives it the ol’ college try. And Harold Ramis (my personal favorite) seems kind of “meh” on the whole ordeal. The few saving graces are Annie Potts and Peter McNichol. There’s something about the sly sexiness Potts tries to bring to the role of Janine Melnitz the second time around, but Annie Potts is neither sly nor really all that sexy. And Peter McNichol should have been given top billing. Every scene he’s in, he steals it. The subtle little movements and the way he portrays that awkward foreign guy, just great.
Other than that, it’s a mess of character actors playing characters. The mayor acts like he learned nothing from the first go around with the Ghostbusters, his assistant might as well have been called Walter Peck, Mayor’s Assistant. Pretty much the same part, just different actors and jobs.
The critics tore the movie apart for pretty much what I listed above. Siskel and Ebert called one of the worst of 89. But you know what? It still made money. Still made the title a successful franchise and is still a great, if not flawed movie.
Now, I’m leaving a big part of the story out, and that’s the soundtrack. What a catastrophe that thing is. Its mostly that weird late 80s/early 90s hip-hop that was just starting to catch on, and then Glen Fry, Elton John and fucking Oingo-Boingo. The only song that really sticks out is “Spirit” by Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew. Its not bad, but the only time you hear it in the movie is over the ending credits.
But, all this aside, you really should give this movie a second chance. Or even a first chance if you’ve never seen it. Its kind of stale by today’s standards, but you can see glimmers of the first TRYING to fight out of the studio rushed garbage. And the special effects are still kind of cool, even if you can notices the green screen effect on the Statue of Liberty.
And Vigo kicks ass, I don’t care if he kind of looks like a bad LARP’er. Or a really good one, I can never find the difference.
Oh! I almost forgot, Vampire's Kiss came out in 1989!
