GHOSTBUSTERS 2 REVIEWED
“Ghostbusters 2” was supposed to be huge. 1989 was the first major summer movie release season I remember and it seemed like we were getting bombarded with a giant movie every weekend. The kicker was that I was 8 and I maybe got to see 4 or 5 movies a year. The keyword being maybe. Most of my film viewing either came from Kroger Video or HBO. When I got the opportunity to watch “Ghostbusters 2”, I was a little underwhelmed. I remember being impressed by the courtroom ghosts, the jogger ghost, the dancing toaster and the killer painting of Vigo the Carpathian. Other than that, I stuck to my VHS copy of “Ghostbusters” for years.
It wasn’t until my college years that I decided to revisit “Ghostbusters 2”. While it had been premium cable fodder for years, I went out of my way to avoid it. I watched it with semi-adult eyes and found what I didn’t like. Bill Murray was obviously phoning it in, the supporting characters got way too much attention and nobody cares about a painting trying to possess an infant. Seriously, guys. If my 2 year old can put her foot through real paintings, what chance does Vigo have against a baby? One temper tantrum and Vigo is sitting at the curb waiting for Trash day. Then, there’s the pink slime.
By pushing harder into the tangential supernatural elements and dialing back the major FX, we had to care for passive moments. Ray is piloting the Statue of Liberty with a NES Advantage controller! Who cares? If Vigo made the Statue of Liberty come to life and start stomping New Yorkers, I’d be impressed. Hell, have Lady Liberty barf pink slime on Kurt Fuller and then cock punt the Mayor into the East River. The first movie established a world and the sequel established a cash-in. That being said, the shameless cash-in never looked better. The Scolari Brothers in 4K show that the few major special effects sequences look amazing to this day. The line work and detail on the major FX is stunning to a point of making all CG look garbage by comparison. That’s 2 for 2 in winning me over to 4K.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Music Video
- Deleted Scenes
- Featurette
- Trailers
A/V STATS
- 2.40:1 1080p transfer
- Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 7.1
