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#57 - Ghostbusters II
Ivan Reitman, 1989
After their actions in the first film are denounced as an elaborate hoax, the Ghostbusters are forced to team up in the face of yet another dangerous threat.
Whoo, boy, well, if you've already seen the review I gave to this film's extremely beloved predecessor then you can probably tell I'm not going to give this much of a shot. I think there needs to be some sort of shorthand term for sequels that have good ideas that would've been great in the context of their source films but they just end up being disappointingly executed in a sequel of generally lesser quality. The whole concept of the "mood slime", nebulous and inconsistent though it was, seemed like it could've been a bit more interesting than the fairly basic combination of haunted architecture and arbiter of doom kind of deal that the first film had. If nothing else, at least they got the visual of the Statue of Liberty stomping through the streets of New York as a result.
Beyond that, it's business as usual. The recurring characters haven't had much of a personality change in the intervening years. It's pretty telling how the main villain has more screen time than the villain from the first movie but still struggles to be a tenth as interesting, even with the assistance of a brainwashed thrall that talks in a supposedly amusing European accent. The Ghostbusters get back on the street, bust some ghosts then eventually face a major challenge thanks to the main villain. In short, it's a bust.
Ivan Reitman, 1989
After their actions in the first film are denounced as an elaborate hoax, the Ghostbusters are forced to team up in the face of yet another dangerous threat.
Whoo, boy, well, if you've already seen the review I gave to this film's extremely beloved predecessor then you can probably tell I'm not going to give this much of a shot. I think there needs to be some sort of shorthand term for sequels that have good ideas that would've been great in the context of their source films but they just end up being disappointingly executed in a sequel of generally lesser quality. The whole concept of the "mood slime", nebulous and inconsistent though it was, seemed like it could've been a bit more interesting than the fairly basic combination of haunted architecture and arbiter of doom kind of deal that the first film had. If nothing else, at least they got the visual of the Statue of Liberty stomping through the streets of New York as a result.
Beyond that, it's business as usual. The recurring characters haven't had much of a personality change in the intervening years. It's pretty telling how the main villain has more screen time than the villain from the first movie but still struggles to be a tenth as interesting, even with the assistance of a brainwashed thrall that talks in a supposedly amusing European accent. The Ghostbusters get back on the street, bust some ghosts then eventually face a major challenge thanks to the main villain. In short, it's a bust.