I'm rather proud of how the female Ghostbusters came out on that last panel. Sorry about having to hide Patty in the back like that. Think of it as a reference to how little screen time Winston got in the first two Ghostbusters movies.
Now to talk about what I thought about Ghostbusters Answer the Call, since I am now able to since the controversy for that has moved onto more recent stuff, such as Captain Marvel.
I'm not going to go into depth about the controversy in general though, because it's still ongoing, and even if it wasn't, it would take way too much text to cover it. Not only that, but the last time I tried discussing it, I got called both a leftist and a rightist, and I still have no idea how actual politics fit into it.
So I'll just wait until people find the next big thing to be offended about, before I cover that big pile of crap. What I will say, is that if Ghostbusters Answer the Call had been released ten years earlier (or perhaps ten years later), it wouldn't have had that controversy. It would probably still have had controversy, but it probably would've just been about it being a sub-par remake.
Alright, so firstly, I'd like to say that like many others, I was one of those people that hated the idea of an all female cast. My line of thinking, was that it would ruin the core of the humour. A bit like if you suddenly did an all female cast version of Red Dwarf, a show which I think is defined by the bachelor setup.
This was the dumbest line of thinking, EVER!
Firstly, Ghostbusters is nothing like Red Dwarf. It's got nothing to do with single slobby men or anything. No, it's about a bunch of (somewhat normal) guys starting an extermination business.
Secondly, an all female cast was quite possibly the best idea they could have come up with, because it instantly creates an identity separate from the original. I mean, when the film was announced, everyone just called it The Female Ghostbusters. What do you think people would have called it if it was an all male cast? The Boring Ghostbusters? The Rebootsters?
Not only that, but the controversy surrounding the all female cast, stopped people talking about the fact that they were rebooting a beloved franchise!
I mean sure, the all female cast idea was probably made for the wrong reasons, but it was a brilliant idea, and nothing made that more apparent than watching the film.
Now as for the film itself. If it was a normal, standalone film. It would been seen as a somewhat decent but mediocre flick, that would have been quickly forgotten and lost to time. Like... uh, Tammy or something. But that wasn't the case. The film is part of an established franchise. Yeah, sure, it's a "reboot", but it's still part of a franchise. And that means there are certain expectations. The bar is raised slightly higher, and it really didn't reach that bar.
Now there's quite a few reasons why I think it didn't quite reach that bar, and I'm not going to list them all. What I will say though, is that it really kills me to see the potential it had!
Seriously, just watching the film once, and I saw countless moments of potential for the film to be really good. This isn't potential like there's potential for a good Sonic movie. No, this is potential that THIS movie could've been good (something which the recent Sonic movie definitely doesn't have, I can tell you that).
Heck, it was that potential that made me realize just how wrong I was about originally disliking the all female cast idea.
And if you really wanted proof of the potential this film had, just read the IDW comics. They actually make the Answer the Call Ghostbusters good! Like, you want a film of them kind of good. Except there already is a film, and it's kind of bad.
If I had to say something good about the film though, it's Jillian Holtzmann. She was such a brilliant character, that I kind of hope to see her in the new film that's coming out next year.
Also, Kevin was pretty good too.
That's about it. The events were forgettable, and the rest of the characters were pretty damn unbearable in the film, especially Patty. But like I said, the comics made them all great (especially Patty), so there was clearly potential there!
So yeah, the fact that it was part of a pre-established franchise, coupled with so much damn potential seeping through, not only makes Answer the Call a bad film, it makes it a disappointingly bad film.
Funnily enough, there's a fan film called Return of the Ghostbusters, made nearly ten years prior, that's actually BETTER than Answer the Call. Yeah you heard me right, a fan film is better. It was also referenced in the Ghostbusters video game that came out a few years later, so it's kinda technically canon.
You can (attempt to) download the film from here: https://web.archive.org/web/20110828130252/http://www.protoncharging.com/rotgb/rotgbdivx.rar
You can also (try to) download it's rather sub-par prequel here: https://web.archive.org/web/20121110112052/http://www.braxtanfilm.com/movies/wfvgb.zip
You can probably find them on Youtube as well. Maybe.
First
Previous
Now to talk about what I thought about Ghostbusters Answer the Call, since I am now able to since the controversy for that has moved onto more recent stuff, such as Captain Marvel.
I'm not going to go into depth about the controversy in general though, because it's still ongoing, and even if it wasn't, it would take way too much text to cover it. Not only that, but the last time I tried discussing it, I got called both a leftist and a rightist, and I still have no idea how actual politics fit into it.
So I'll just wait until people find the next big thing to be offended about, before I cover that big pile of crap. What I will say, is that if Ghostbusters Answer the Call had been released ten years earlier (or perhaps ten years later), it wouldn't have had that controversy. It would probably still have had controversy, but it probably would've just been about it being a sub-par remake.
Alright, so firstly, I'd like to say that like many others, I was one of those people that hated the idea of an all female cast. My line of thinking, was that it would ruin the core of the humour. A bit like if you suddenly did an all female cast version of Red Dwarf, a show which I think is defined by the bachelor setup.
This was the dumbest line of thinking, EVER!
Firstly, Ghostbusters is nothing like Red Dwarf. It's got nothing to do with single slobby men or anything. No, it's about a bunch of (somewhat normal) guys starting an extermination business.
Secondly, an all female cast was quite possibly the best idea they could have come up with, because it instantly creates an identity separate from the original. I mean, when the film was announced, everyone just called it The Female Ghostbusters. What do you think people would have called it if it was an all male cast? The Boring Ghostbusters? The Rebootsters?
Not only that, but the controversy surrounding the all female cast, stopped people talking about the fact that they were rebooting a beloved franchise!
I mean sure, the all female cast idea was probably made for the wrong reasons, but it was a brilliant idea, and nothing made that more apparent than watching the film.
Now as for the film itself. If it was a normal, standalone film. It would been seen as a somewhat decent but mediocre flick, that would have been quickly forgotten and lost to time. Like... uh, Tammy or something. But that wasn't the case. The film is part of an established franchise. Yeah, sure, it's a "reboot", but it's still part of a franchise. And that means there are certain expectations. The bar is raised slightly higher, and it really didn't reach that bar.
Now there's quite a few reasons why I think it didn't quite reach that bar, and I'm not going to list them all. What I will say though, is that it really kills me to see the potential it had!
Seriously, just watching the film once, and I saw countless moments of potential for the film to be really good. This isn't potential like there's potential for a good Sonic movie. No, this is potential that THIS movie could've been good (something which the recent Sonic movie definitely doesn't have, I can tell you that).
Heck, it was that potential that made me realize just how wrong I was about originally disliking the all female cast idea.
And if you really wanted proof of the potential this film had, just read the IDW comics. They actually make the Answer the Call Ghostbusters good! Like, you want a film of them kind of good. Except there already is a film, and it's kind of bad.
If I had to say something good about the film though, it's Jillian Holtzmann. She was such a brilliant character, that I kind of hope to see her in the new film that's coming out next year.
Also, Kevin was pretty good too.
That's about it. The events were forgettable, and the rest of the characters were pretty damn unbearable in the film, especially Patty. But like I said, the comics made them all great (especially Patty), so there was clearly potential there!
So yeah, the fact that it was part of a pre-established franchise, coupled with so much damn potential seeping through, not only makes Answer the Call a bad film, it makes it a disappointingly bad film.
Funnily enough, there's a fan film called Return of the Ghostbusters, made nearly ten years prior, that's actually BETTER than Answer the Call. Yeah you heard me right, a fan film is better. It was also referenced in the Ghostbusters video game that came out a few years later, so it's kinda technically canon.
You can (attempt to) download the film from here: https://web.archive.org/web/20110828130252/http://www.protoncharging.com/rotgb/rotgbdivx.rar
You can also (try to) download it's rather sub-par prequel here: https://web.archive.org/web/20121110112052/http://www.braxtanfilm.com/movies/wfvgb.zip
You can probably find them on Youtube as well. Maybe.