Ghostbusters 2

Cast: Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis and Ernie Hudson.

Director: Ivan Reitman

Release Date: 1989

Genre: Action/Comedy

Running Time: 1hr 48 minutes

Rating: PG

Format: 4K Blu-Ray

Synopsis:

Five years has passed since the stay puffed marshmallow man tried to destroy New York City. The Ghostbusters are now plagued by lawsuits and have gone bankrupt. However when Dana begins having ghost problems once again, Peter, Egon and Ray come out of retirement only to be soon arrested. They soon discover that New York City is once again plagued by paranormal activity and must save the day!

Five years have past since the events of the first film, the Ghostbusters are back to save New York City again. We see Ivan Reitman back in the directors chair. Akroyd and Ramis also wrote the screenplay to this film. Equally as enjoyable and fun and even more ridiculous. Peter now has his own TV show, the world of the psychic, Egon is doing tests to see how behavior changes under different circumstances and Ray owns a book shop with anything and everything paranormal in it. Things aren't going so good for them, they've all gone bankrupt. One again they all offer fantastic performances. Dana is back too, she now has a little boy and is now living in a new apartment. Peter MacNicol has a very interesting role in this film. His character is very odd, he appears to be an artist or teaches a form of art, at one point Dana is seen working for him. In all honesty his character is really irritating, I don't know whether to take him seriously, I feel like Peter overplayed the role too much to the point it comes across as cheesy and poor. Sigourney Weaver however is as fantastic as ever as Dana Barrett.

Once again, Akryod and Ramis have done a wonderful job with the script, not quite as funny as the first one, but still very well written. We see lots more ghosts this time round, I like that they've made a point to add Slimer again too from the first film. He's become quite the iconic character. There's a fantastic close up shot of him shoveling food into his mouth at the firehouse. Speaking of slime, it seems to be all about the slime! Slime that feeds off negative energy in the city. The Ghostbusters must get control of it before it's too late! The storyline isn't quite as good as the first one, none the less it's still flows quite nice and is easy to understand. The second chapter is by far the more exciting part of the film. We're introduced to a lot more characters and some truly crazy things start happening, including a creepy painting!

Things however are taking a turn for the worse, the negative energy is getting worse with the holidays approaching and worse of all no one believes in the Ghostbusters anymore after a court order that went down hill when two ghosts appeared out of a pot of slime and attacked the judge. The production department have done a really great job, the Ghostbusters car looks even better then the first time round with plenty more gadgets on top and of course their iconic siren. Reitman has chosen mostly to use medium shots through out the film, however there are some beautiful aerial shots of New York City, particularly the the twin towers. The special effects team have proven once again to offer some great effects particularly the ghosts that are featured through out the film, as I mentioned before Slimer and a ghost ship of the Titanic that appears in the second chapter of the film looks absolutely fantastic, considering this was produced in 1989 you've gotta hand it to them! It looks pretty awesome.

The film once again has chosen to use a contemporary soundtrack with Bobby Brown's "On our own", Ray Parker Jr's "Ghostbusters" only this time a remix by Run DMC and Jackie Wilson's "Higher and Higher" with strangely the slime seems to love! Look out for the scene where the Statue of Liberty also takes a liking to the same song! Bobby Brown also makes a lovely appearance as a doorman too. The soundtrack has a really nice feel good vibe to it that works wonderfully alongside the film. In all honesty I think the filmmakers wanted to make this film a lot more fun the the first one, however there are moments that have been ruined due to poor acting.

Overall this isn't a bad film, however perhaps Reitman should have called it quits after the first film. Safe to say it's good they didn't decide to make a third one. Peter MacNicol ruins the film with terrible acting, the storyline at moments come across as plain cheesy and absolutely ridiculous however one might say that's what makes Ghostbusters great!

Ridiculous and Fun!

4/5 stars