Review Detail

First of all, I should fully disclose that I never actually hated this movie to begin with like many others did. I love Kristen Wiig, and I feel okay about the other leads, except maybe Leslie Jones. I went into the theater with an open mind and came out only slightly disappointed. I thought it was okay. However, it was never laugh out loud funny, and more importantly, I felt it was a huge departure from the first two films.

But wow! This is a fantastic fan edit. There are some people who will always hate this highly divisive movie no matter what, but I think it's primarily because this film never found it's audience. Nerds had been waiting 25 years for a sequel to the Ghostbusters franchise, and instead they got something their mom might like instead--something that depicts nerds as sociopathic freaks I might add.

But that isn't the film's fault, and that isn't fixable by the fan editor. The truth of the matter is that there is a definite diamond in the rough here, and TM2YC has proven the haters wrong through his efforts. So thanks, TM2YC. You made an okay movie into a good one.

Again, this a is a phenomenal fan edit. Given the amount of cuts that were made, it's amazing just how much the viewer DOESN'T notice. TM2YC is a real pro, and I'm interested in checking out his other fan edits due to the quality of this work alone. I particularly liked how he executed the removal of the very juvenile fart/queef joke. I actually thought he had replaced it with an alternate take in the Blu-Ray extras, but nope, he actually reconstructed a new joke all on his own. It's so much more clever and funny and befitting these characters. The fart joke made me cringe; the new joke made me laugh out loud. Inspired.

I think in terms of what TM2YC set out to do, he succeeded fully. I think the pacing starts to drag slightly in the latter half before the climax, but I think I would prefer the added scenes be there than not because they carry some emotional heft. One choice I don't understand, however, is the removal of the candlestick trick. It was a clever misdirect in the original film, and removing it didn't really serve the faneditor's overall purpose, so what was the point?

Other than those minor nitpicks, the only complaint I have is that this fan edit left me wanting more. When you actually take all the silly improv out, a movie with the feel of an actual Ghostbusters film starts to materialize. That was a huge surprise to me, and a pleasant one at that. But it wasn't fully formed. Holtzmann still needed to be reined in a bit more. As wacky as she is, she still needed to conceivably be a real person--just like the others. In a scene at the end of the movie, she stands and says something very open and heartfelt to the others--and has a very difficult time saying it. Here you learn that Holtzmann isn't just some slapsticky cartoon-like character. You learn that she's keeping a lot of her true self buried. There's nuance and complexity there, and more than one way to look at her, despite the stupid grunt she lets out to ruin the moment.

Along the same lines of wanting more, the climax is just too silly. With most of the improv removed, most of the film works well tonally, but the end just hurdles towards the furthest reaches of ridiculousness, and I just wonder if a clever faneditor couldn't pull it back just a little to keep it in line with the first two films.

Beyond that, the films colors are oversaturated. The movie has some legit scary parts, and they would be scarier if the film was drained of some of it's color and made to look like the other two films and a horror film in general.

I think putting Ghostbusters III in line with I and II is perfectly doable, and TM2YC's edit really sheds a spotlight on those possibilities. Unfortunately, I don't think there's anyone out there who will take up the cause. It's a miracle that anyone bothered to do anything with this much maligned movie.

But again, a great fan edit. Musings aside, probably one of the best I've ever seen, so I don't want to detract from what we've already been given. I think anyone who watches this film with an open mind will find a lot to enjoy and laugh at thanks to TM2YC.