|
| Ghostbusters 2 |
|
  (6/10)
|
Runtime: 102 |
| Public Rating: 7.75 (32 votes) |
Director: Ivan Rietman |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Comedy/Horror |
Year: 1989 |
| Writer(s): Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd |
| Reviewed by: Greg C. |
| |
"Ghostbusters 2" isn't a bad movie. It's just dissapointing.
What could have been one of the best sequels ever made (the material was certainly there) ends up as a basic, paint-by-numbers rehash of the last one.
The movie picks up five years after the last one, during the holiday season. The Ghostbusters have been disbanded, Venkmen (Bill Murray) and Dana (Sigourney Weaver) have broken up, and Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston (Ernie Hudson) have been reduced to making birthday apperences in front of kids who don't know who they are.
Then, the ghosts start coming back. A painting of a Carpathian ruler is now haunted by the spirit it depicts, who needs a human child to return to the real world and (suprise!) take it over. He enlists a painter (Peter MacNicoals, who has the best written character out of all of them) to find the kid for him.
Well, as luck would have it, after Dana left Venkmen, she got married and now has a bouncing baby boy! After some strange apparation tries to steal her carriage, she goes to Egon (Harold Ramis) for help. He rounds up the guys, and its not long before they discover a river of slime running through the abandoned subway system beneath New York City.
Here's where the rehash starts. The centerpiece of the original "Ghostbusters" was the hotel chase with Slimer, followed by a montage of shots showing the guys' basic routine set to the tune of a song. Well, here, we get a courtroom duel with two dead ghosts, followed by....a montage of shots showing the guys' routine set to the tune of a song (only Run-DMC took over the theme song...it doesn't work).
And the familarity of this movie just gets more frequent. We have a wormy goverment official that throws the GBs in jail right when the city goes nuts, and all hell breaks loose. We get the GBs pleading their case to the mayor, to get his support to let them take care of the big bad guy (that painting I told you about earlier). We get a ghost attacking Dana, because she fits into the big picture (again). We get the Ghostbusters trying to zap the bad guy once, failing, only to come back to finish him off. It all has a been there, done that feel to it.
Now, that's not to say the movie isn't good. It's still a good movie. It DOES have its strengths. Like its predeccesors, it boats top-of-the-line special effects. There are some real, genuinely thrilling moments (such as the previously mentioned courtroom scene, plus the final showdown has its suspensful moments), plus we still have the great chemistry between the four Ghostbusters, especially Bill Murray, who steals the show yet again.
After its all said and done, though, Ghostbusters 2 can't live up to its now-classic predecessor. It's not like it didn't try though. Where it hit its problem is that it fell victim to what many sequels fall for- simply repeating the basis of the first one seems like it will be enough. This movie is a prime example that it isn't.
Rated PG for violence, intense images and language.
|
 Printable Version
|
Do you agree/disagree with this review of Ghostbusters 2? Let your opinions be heard in our forum.
|
Buy the Poster of Ghostbusters 2 (Click Here)
|
|
|
|
