Director
Ivan ReitmanBill Murray - Peter Venkman
Dan Aykroyd - Raymond Stantz
Ernie Hudson - Winston Zeddemore
Harold Ramis - Egon Spengler
Sigourney Weaver - Dana Barrett
Rick Moranis - Louis Tully
Annie Potts - Janine Melnitz
Peter MacNicol - Janosz Poha
Wilhelm von Homburg - Vigo the Carpathian
Max von Sydow - Voice of Vigo
Kurt Fuller - Jack Hardemeyer
David Margulies - Mayor Lenny Clotch
For readers honored, blessed and privileged to personally know me, they must be saying to themselves "Of course Mike would review 'Ghostbusters'." Well, I waited five years since starting this blog to finally include a Ghostbusters movie on this platform. With a fourth Ghostbusters movie just around the corner (who would've thought?) I wanted to make some comments about the second movie in the Ghostbusters line-up. 
Since the first "Ghostbusters" is a comedy best summarized as lighting in a bottle, part two really tries to recreate that, but doesn't quite accomplish what the first movie did.
By the way, I shared my comments on the teaser trailer for the upcoming movie "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire." And you can read my review for the last Ghostbusters movie, "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," on the Junction City Union website.
As I write this, two full trailers for the upcoming movie were released today - one domestic and one international.
While I'm excited to see where things go in the upcoming Ghostbusters movie, my initial impression is that it seems like "Frozen Empire" will be another movie sequel that relies too heavily on call-backs to part one and maybe part two.
Based on these two trailers, while it looks like it might be a fun movie, I get an impression that the comedy won't be terribly strong. I got a laugh at one or two lines in the trailer.
Plus, the upcoming movie has a ton of characters to keep on top of. There's the OG Ghostbusters, some new supporting cast, and the cast from "Ghostbusters: Afterlife."
Anyways, there have been few movies released in my lifetime where I was so eager to see them, I actually had dreams about it prior to seeing.
"Ghostbusters 2" was one of those movies. "It: Chapter Two" was another. And, for some weird reason, "The NeverEnding Story II" was another such movie. We'll talk about that another time.
My friends know that when it comes to the 1984 comedy, "Ghostbusters," I am a self-proclaimed "Ghost-Head." I have some nostalgic investment for the movie.
Few movies have I seen more.
As a kid, I remember the dreadful anticipation I had when the library ghost scene approached. It took a generous portion of courage to sit through that scene. Otherwise, I would run out of the room and hide, listening for it to finish.
Anyways, when trailers for "Ghostbusters II" were released back in '89, my seven-year-old self was bursting with anticipation.
Of course, I loved the sequel back then. The Ghostbusters were back for something different, and I was completely on board.
Now, in my adult years, showing my own kids "Ghostbusters II," my thoughts are clearer on this sequel.
No doubt, I'm not about to say anything that hasn't already been said.
"Ghostbusters II" picks up five years after the Ghostbusters saved New York from an impending apocalypse that Gozer, a god of destruction, tried to unleash upon the world in part one.
Now, despite being hailed and welcomed as heroes during the supernatural events of the first movie, the Ghostbusters have been dealing with lawsuits upon lawsuits for the destruction wrought upon New York. They've been forced out of business and are now looked down upon by the city they saved not that long ago.
Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) make guest appearances at birthday parties. Stantz also owns an occult bookstore called "Ray's Occult." Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) works in a lab studying human emotions. And Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) hosts a local television show called "World of the Psychic."
The film opens with Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) walking back to her apartment, pushing her baby, Oscar, in a carriage.
She unwittingly rolls it over a small puddle of pink slime oozing from a crack in the sidewalk. That's probably not the worst thing to permeate out of a New York City sidewalk.
Suddenly the carriage starts rolling away from her. It starts off slowly and then moves faster and faster away, while still carrying baby Oscar, as Dana chases it. It eventually stops suddenly in the middle of a busy New York City intersection.
Dana reaches out to Ray and Egon, but not Peter after considering their relationship in part one, to investigate how the stroller seemed to roll itself at top speed right into the middle of city traffic.
But Venkman catches wind that Ray and Egon are helping his old girlfriend and butts into their research.
The paranormal readings they take with their gadgetry at the spot where the carriage stopped are unusually high. So, Ray, Peter, and Egon take it upon themselves to start digging in the middle of the street to see what's hiding underneath.
They discover a river of slime flowing under the streets along the route of an old, abandoned transit line.
Of course, they're quickly arrested for this unauthorized digging but not before Ray, who's dangling by a wire underground, collects a sample of this slime. After the slime tries to pull him under, he accidentally causes a massive blackout across the entire city.
During their court trial, in which this slime is presented as evidence, it becomes clear the mysterious viscous substance responds to human emotion. And when the judge explodes with anger at the Ghostbusters for the damage they've cause, the slime also as an explosive effect. It bubbles over until two ghosts emerge whom the judge recognizes as the Scoleri brothers - two murderers the judge sentenced to death by electrocution.
The ghosts attack the courtroom until the Ghostbusters put their proton packs back on and save the day.... or save justice...or, I don't know. They catch the ghosts and that somehow brings them back to legitimacy throughout New York.
They investigate the psycho-reactive slime (slime that reacts to human behavior) that has been collecting and pooling underneath the city. And it all happens to flow straight underneath the art museum where Dana works.
The art museum has a painting of a 16th-century European madman named Vigo the Carpathian which Dana swears has been coming to life. That's because it has been coming to life thanks to the slime underneath the museum.
Vigo's spirit begins inhabiting the painting and takes possession of the museum's department head and Dana's boss, Janosz Poha (Peter MacNicol). Vigo demands Janosz to find him a baby that his soul can inhabit so he can live once again and rule the world.
As Janosz has a crush on Dana, he chooses her baby as a vessel for Vigo's soul to inhabit and take over. The Ghostbusters of course aren't going to let that happen.
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| Wilhelm von Homburg as Vigo the Carpathian. |
It's different but the same.
While the story line and the final big bad ghost are different, the general plot is the same as the first. A supernatural source causes a buildup of supernatural phenomenon throughout New York enough to keep the Ghostbusters busy until in culminates to one ultimate spooky showdown with a big bad ghost who wants to rule the world.
As the first film takes the center of the story to the top of a New York City high rise, the sequel takes the center under the streets of New York.
As a comedy, the first movie is true lightning-in-a- bottle. Its premise is a classic comedy scenario involving four comedians trying to do something outlandish - capture ghosts. "Ghostbusters" sits proudly with other paranormal comedies like the Abbott and Costello film "Hold That Ghost" as well their "Meet the Monsters" movies. The 1940 horror comedy, "The Ghost Breakers" starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard deserves a nod here. By the way, Hope and Goddard previously appeared together in the 1939 horror comedy "The Cat and the Canary."
"Ghostbusters II" manages to be liked by fans well enough, though its comedy tries hard to be the lightning -in-a-bottle comedy the first is.
It doesn't quite work as well as before. But that's not to say the entire sequel is terrible. It has some hilarious moments and memorable scenes.
My main complaint about the movie is where the story picks up after the events of part one and what's become of the Ghostbusters since. It doesn't make sense that after all the Ghostbusters did for New York City just five years earlier in front of multiple eyewitnesses, they'd be forgotten and despised as frauds. However, I can believe five years later they'd be dealing with lawsuits and court appearances for the destruction and everything that happened in part one. That's how the movie should have started -with the court scene that's already in the movie. And instead of being completely disbanded as Ghostbusters, their organization should still exist to some degree. Also, part two takes some inspiration from the animated cartoon "The Real Ghostbusters." It's clearly done just for marketing purposes. It's distracting and unnecessary. The cartoon is the cartoon. The movie is the movie.
"Ghostbusters II" is entertaining enough but it needs some more solid thought behind it. It tries to be too much while not being enough.
Trivia:
In my "Psycho IV" post, I included the following trivia question:
"The Sixth Sense" (1999) is the second movie in which Bruce Willis is paired with a character named Cole who sees dead people. What is the other film?
Answer: 12 Monkeys.
