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Ghostbusters II (1989)

Ghostbusters II (1989)




6/10





Starring
Bill Murray
Dan Aykroyd
Harold Ramis
Sigourney weaver



Directed by Ivan Reitman



The first Ghostbusters was a masterpiece. I can assure you it’s a movie you can watch any day, at any time. It was written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. This 1989 sequel, however, had some problems. Even though it completes the first part, it feels more like the same thing, just rehashed on screen.

The approach the writing pair took was a fun beginning where the Ghostbusters team struggles to find work since ghostbusting is no longer a viable business. For me, this dragged a little, but the moment the ghostbusting began, it was cool to see the four gear up again. Even so, I believe the first movie isn’t complete until you’ve seen this second one.

After saving New York City in the first film five years earlier, the amazing Ghostbusters—Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, and Winston Zeddemore—are now completely broke.

The team was sued for unimaginable fees due to the property damage they caused while saving New York. To make matters worse, they were banned from investigating or interfering with anything supernatural. This forced them out of business.

When a friend calls them after her baby’s carriage moves by itself, uncontrollably, into the middle of a busy intersection, the team decides to investigate. This leads them to discover a pink slime flowing beneath the city. Their disturbance causes a citywide blackout, and the team is arrested. However, during the court trial, ghosts are released in the courtroom.

This incident gets their ban lifted, and they resume their ghostbusting duties.

Here’s some nice trivia:

Aykroyd originally conceived the Ghostbusters idea for Saturday Night Live, with himself and John Belushi taking up the mantle. The skit was titled “Ghostmashers,” and the duo would travel through time and space on their adventures.

After Belushi’s death, Aykroyd and Ramis rewrote the script, and the first movie went on to be nominated at the 57th Academy Awards.

This sequel wasn’t as lucky, failing to secure nominations for prestigious awards. It also didn’t make it onto the AFI’s 100 Years...100 Laughs list of film comedies, unlike the first Ghostbusters, which was listed at 28th.

The first Ghostbusters was even selected to be preserved by the United States Library of Congress.

Ghostbusters 3 never saw the light of day, and with Ramis’s passing and the aging of the original cast, many expected a reboot.

The 2016 reboot (Ghostbusters (2016)) wasn’t as amazing as the first movie, nor was it even as good as this sequel. It featured an all-female cast but, in my opinion, leaned too much into irrelevance rather than telling a good story.

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