Why I Won't Be Seeing The New Ghostbuster Film

Ok so this is a step away from what I normally write but I felt that I needed to address this. This little post is about why I’m not going to see the new Ghostbusters film at the cinema or even buying the blu ray when it is released.

I’ll start from the beginning, like many people I have been a fan of Ghostbusters for numerous years. I’m not as big of a fan as many others and there are other franchises I’m a much bigger fan of such as Jurassic Park and Marvel Comics. My first introduction to the franchise was through the cartoon series the Real Ghostbusters and then after that Extreme Ghostbusters. I have watched both of the Ghostbusters film and I own them both and I do like Ghostbusters 2 although it isn’t praised that much. Hell Ghostbusters 2 was the first DVD I ever bought (I bought it along with Monty Python’s Life Of Brian). I always have fond memories of the Ghostbusters and the franchise in general. In fact one memory I have in particular is that I used to have a recorded video tape of Disney’s Robin Hood. Since it was recorded off the TV it had all the adverts in as well and one of those adverts advertised the second Ghostbusters film.

Like most people I wanted there to be another film for so many years. Like many I thought that it wouldn’t be possible after the passing of Harold Ramis. However I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were indeed making another and I was actually excited. When I heard that it was going to be an all-female cast I actually didn’t mind. If you read any of my stories you know that they are mainly female led so I thought it was going to be interesting.
Then the first trailer came out and I didn’t think it seemed that good. Despite this I did still plan to go and see it at the cinema when it was released. However I discovered all the controversy soon after and how people who hated the trailer were sexist. Of course there will be some that hate it for sexist reasons which is unfortunately just the way of the world. However the vast majority of the negativity towards the film was nothing to do with sexism but the quality of the product. Again I was still going to watch it anyway since it was Ghostbusters.

However then I watched the video created by James Rolfe who many of you might know as the Angry Video Game Nerd. He went through several points about why he wasn’t going to watch the film and I felt that he was very reasonable with his points. There was nothing about sexism in the video and I thought that he made points that were perfectly fair and reasonable. However he was called a sexist for the video and many other names that I don’t want to mention.

Personally I thought that there was nothing wrong with the video and the attackers were trying to defend the film. It was at this point I thought that it was bang out of order what had happened to him. I have been a fan of his for a couple of years now and of course I’m not going to take his word as the law. But what happened to him made me decide that I wasn’t going to waste my time or money on this film in the slightest. I’m not going to watch it at the cinema, I’m not going to buy the DVD or Blu Ray and I am not watching it if it came on the TV. The film is more or less dead to me.

For the people behind the film I’m starting off with the lead actresses. One I do like, the second I don’t like and the other two I have no opinion on since I haven’t watched any of their material so I can’t judge. The one I do like is Kristen Wiig, I have watched a few of her films and I do think that she’s funny. The actress I don’t like is Melissa McCarthy, like Kristen Wiig I have watched a few of her films and I just don’t find her funny at all. Bridesmaids I thought was crap but not for sexist reasons, I just didn’t find it funny at all. Now Leslie Jones and Kate McCinnon I haven’t watched any of their material. I know that Leslie Jones has received a lot racist and sexist comments on Twitter which I think is wrong. There is no need to attack her like that and those who made the comments should really be ashamed of themselves. For the director Paul Feig once again I don’t like his films, also the way that he attacked the Ghostbusters fan base just showed me that he can’t really handle criticism. One of the golden rules in filmmaking is not to piss of the fan base. I understand that films have to change things to allow it to translate to screen better but burning the fan base like he did is not a good idea.

I have seen reviews of the film and although critics are giving it the thumbs up the majority of the people who went to see it are giving it the thumbs down. Not surprisingly the film has more or less bombed at the box office. As of writing this it has made roughly two hundred and ten million dollars at the box office. For most films that is pretty good but when the budget is a little over a hundred and forty million dollars and the marketing is more than double that then you have problems. From the looks of it there isn’t going to be a sequel which I’m actually happy about. The film was a disaster from the start really and it seems that Sony are now having to pay the price. It would have gone better if they had handled the criticism better. Rather than trying to iron out the wrinkles they instead attacked the critics which has more or less made them shoot themselves in the foot.

Thanks for reading and now you see why I am not going to see the film. As I stated sexism has nothing to do with it and I hope that you enjoyed this little post.