Yeah, We Need To Talk About That 'Ghostbusters' Trailer
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Yeah, We Need To Talk About That 'Ghostbusters' Trailer

Who you Gonna Call? GHOSTBU- uhhhh...nevermind, I'll pass.

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Yeah, We Need To Talk About That 'Ghostbusters' Trailer

First things first. To my fellow feminists, the men reviewing this trailer are (for the most part) not bashing it because it is being led by female comedians. They are bashing it because it is a poor trailer for a possibly disappointing remake of a beloved film that honestly didn't need to be made in the first place. With that said, the feminist argument of the Sony remake are the least of this film's problems.

Since its premiere on March 3, the official trailer for "Ghostbusters," starring "Saturday Night Live" alumni Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon and Oscar-nominee Melissa McCarthy, has garnered 22 million views on YouTube. It has also has garnered almost 400,000 dislikes and various negative comments from fans of the original film. Though the legacy of the 1984 "Ghostbusters" definitely has a big impact on how the trailer is being received, the sad truth is that even as its own stand-alone film, this trailer is still very poorly done and gives a terrible impression of what could still be a barely-OK film. But just saying what I think overall won't get the real points across as to why Sony failed with GB fans. We're gonna have to put this trailer on the autopsy table and analyze piece-by-piece why this teaser came out dead-on-arrival.


1. First of all, What the hell was that melodramatic opening about??

From the standpoint of the film premiering after the most exciting year in recent film history, the advertisers are gonna wanna grab the attention of the viewer. When Sony was planning out the trailer, they thought "Hey, remember how "Jurassic World" used those quiet piano keys to play the "Jurassic Park" theme song and it made the trailer super suspenseful? Yeah we should totally do that, audiences will eat it up." But the reason why that technique worked in the trailer for "Jurassic World" is because that was a suspenseful action movie about animatronic dinosaurs trying to eat people. THIS IS GHOSTBUSTERS! The only suspense in a Ghostbusters movie usually comes down to when Bill Murray is gonna be puked on by a slimy-zit ghost. If anything, this trailer should have been much more fast-paced, light-hearted and maybe skipped out on the stereotypical slow piano score and establishing city shots. Also, calm down with the ominous 'graffiti symbol on dark subway wall' shot movie, you're an 80's comedy reboot, not "The Crow."

2. It looks like this amazing cast just got all of their comedic charm sucked out of them.


Even with a stellar comedic cast like this, a bad comedy script and bad acting direction would make even George Carlin or Joan Rivers look like a stiff, boring amateur. Instead of letting these comediennes go free and let their freak-flags fly, you can tell that they just seem painfully constricted to the cookie-cutter characters they are forced to play. Basically every comedic theme looks forced and no one looks comfortable, or even confident in their performance, with the only exception being Kate McKinnon, who at least seems somewhat into their character. But even when it seems like Kate may be our beacon of light in this trash heap of a trailer, this cringe-worthy scene happens:

So now this film has comedic jump scares too? Great...


3. WHY ARE ALL THESE CHARACTERS STEREOTYPES?!

Even if you've only seen one movie in your life, you know what these stereotypes are, and the fact that we can recognize everything about these characters without even seeing the movie yet is a bad sign. Kristen Wiig is the straight-edge killjoy, Kate McKinnon is the feisty tomboy (with nice hair by the way), Melissa McCarthy is the 'Chris Farley' character which basically means falls and gets hit a lot (mostly as more of an insult to their size). Even Chris Hemsworth's receptionist is mainly there to play the role of 'man-cady' for the main characters to ogle at. And then there's Leslie....

To me, not only is this a pretty degrading 'Sassy Black Woman' stereotype playing out, but it also shows how grossly typcasted Jones has been throughout her entire career as the overt 'sassy black stereotype'. When you think about it, even on SNL and her appearance on the Oscars this year, the majority of her roles are in that typecast. I can't even think of a single celebrity Leslie Jones impersonated on SNL, and that's a big problem. And the sad part is that I highly doubt this is Leslie's fault. I think she has great energy and a ton of potential as a comedienne, but alas, Hollywood is being Hollywood and giving poor roles for African American comediennes who deserve much better than this.

5. The ghosts don't look right at all.

If it was for a horror film, they are too fake looking. For a comedy film, they look too overly-serious (not even in a scary way). Either way, they just don't work and t just shows how this film is taking itself WAY too seriously. Plus, was the spooky over-glow CGI around all the ghosts really all the necessary? If anything, it makes the ghosts look more asinine.

6. Every gag shown was 99.9 percent unoriginal


Now I know what you're thinking, 'But Nina, it's a reboot of a classic, quotable movie! Of course they're gonna copy some of the material from the original.' But literaly, EVERYTHING in this trailer I have seen in other films. THEY'RE COPYING THE EXORCIST FOR GOD'S SAKE.

Who in 2016 still copies "The Exorcist?" Could Hollywood be anymore unoriginal? What the hell happened?

If you enjoyed the trailer, good for you. I do agree with most that the shining light in this comes from the charisma of Kate McKinnon in her first big film role. I wish I could have enjoyed it too, but alas, I am a film critic who has seen Hollywood's mediocrity with film all too often lately. The the biggest reason for this film and many other classics to be remade was to make money and not for the sake of the original. And the worst part? This will totally work and these lazy studios will make a ton of money, meaning more failed reboots.

Oh well, maybe I'll have better luck when they release the trailer for that reboot of The Crow that's been in the works. Or maybe we'll find out when the remakes beloved cult classics like "The Craft," "IT" and "Memento" are gonna be released. Boy am I stoked for the future of cinema.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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