Ghostbusters III

I have to preface my review by saying I've never watched the original. I picked up the Blu-ray on clearance and never even took off the shrink wrap.

I watched this edit with my wife, and the quality was good enough that she didn't know it was an edit until I told her when we finished. The video and audio cuts are excellent.

The narrative was a bit hard to follow. People don't act like real human beings, and I'm not really clear on when Leslie Jones joined the crew, she was just suddenly part of it. But maybe that's the fault of the original material.

I had heard a lot of bad things about over-the-top gags and poorly improved lines, but for the most part the comedy that was still left in this edit did work for us. And I do appreciate the relatively short run time.

Overall, though, I have to say I didn't enjoy this movie. Even edited, it still feels like a pointless remake of a classic comedy, that copied the format and major story beats but lost everything that made the original fun.

After all the bad press for the original, I opted to avoid it. Not for any male dominance boycott, but mostly, because it seemed like a hollow polished Hollywood nostalgic reboot with humor that doesn’t necessarily vibe with me, essentially not my type of movie.

When I saw an improved fanedit had been released, one that had largely favorable reactions, I opted to watch that instead.

I can’t speak for the original theatrical cut, but based off of the more streamlined fanedit material that opts to remove a lot of the lengthy improv, it’s exactly what I thought it would be, a nostalgia fueled Hollywood blockbuster, that instead of going inventive new places settles for rehashing the original.

And to see so much money and talent put on the screen from main cast to supporting cast, (Michael C. Williams, Charles Dance, Andy Garcia, and the absolutely hilarious Chris Hemsworth), CGI and effects including a hefty amount of practical effects, and set design, only for it being a disappointment.

Admittedly, from what I’ve seen of the cut list, the fanedit achieves its goal, letting the jokes here breath and removing some of the worst offenders of the improv, the amount of toilet humor removed is astonishing. The script itself actually isn’t bad, with a core emotional point on the friendship between the two leads, and thankfully the edit keeps the movie moving at a quick clip. The main cast stick to their characters well, even if I'm not fond of the cast by and large.

One thing that bugged me was there’s just way too many, “mount up” scenes, so much so that they lose impact by the end. Compare that the originals confrontation with Zuul in the climax, they're a team, for real and you feel it. This new film spends way too much time spent on gadgetry and gear, while that was the least interesting part of the originals, certainly it's important because it pays off in the climactic fight, it's just not that interesting.

The film as a whole missed its mark, and while there’s clearly a lot of homages and fun cameos to the original films, it missed the inventive spirit of the original, the wit and assholeness of Bill Murray’s Venkman as a guy who doesn’t take this absurdity seriously compared to his colleagues, who spout random techno-babble nonsense. There's far too much scientist here and not enough everyman asshole wit.

As for the fanedit itself, it’s clearly excellent work technically. I barely noticed any cuts, outside of two instances that felt off, the transition of the proton pack testing with Melissa McCarthy to the next scene that features the team, and a line that feels cut, where possessed Hemsworth says, “ Women…”

It did have the usual problem I have with the sound mixing in blockbusters in that the music is really loud drowning out dialogue.

Overall, while I can't compare this to the theatrical, I can give the edit a thumbs up for making a bad movie watchable, but the film as a whole is just another hollow Hollywood nostalgia cash grab, unfortunately and I continue to learn that an edit can't make a bad movie great.

I was very happy with this edit. The pacing has been greatly improved. I noticed a couple of edits that were jarring to me. However, it didn't detract me from my overall enjoyment. I actually didn't mind the original film and even got some enjoyment out of the extended edition. However, this version is far superior to the studio cuts.

Taking the moronic controversy out of the equation, I was not a fan of 2016's Ghostbusters. I hated it, if I'm being honest. Its humor, its characters, its story, its visuals, none of it really worked for me and it angered me something fierce. But as time went by, I felt like maybe I was a bit too harsh on it. Out of curiosity, I decided to check this edit out and, much to my shock, I quite liked it. Almost every change made is for the absolute better. Not only does removing a large majority of the improv, pop culture references, and filler it keep the story focused and have it flow much more naturally and move at a much smoother, less bumpy pace but it also allows the humor to come from the characters, much like the original Ghostbusters films. The characters, especially Erin and Abby, are also more likable and compelling with the improv and out-of-character lines and scenarios -- i.e. especially the dreadful Bill Murray subplot -- being cut out. Even Rowan, as a villain, works much better here, as the changes and edits made allow Paul Feig and Katie Dippold's deconstruction of toxic masculinity to actually have a chance to shine. This is such a significant improvement upon the original cuts it's not even funny. If you want to see a better-realized version of this take on the property, I say give this a watch.

1 star enjoyment, you can't polish a turd.

I commend TM2YC for going through the struggle of doing a fan edit of this film. I can't imagine the time put in to make sure every fart or dick joke was removed. It makes the movie about 1% more tolerable, so it is still unwatchable. The characters are constantly trying to say something more wacky than the last and sometimes are even mumbling improvised lines. Leslie Jones has a few funny moments, so props to her. This film could probably be enjoyed by children and maybe big fans of the famous female cast members.

Everything relating to fan-edit audio/video quality control is 10/10.