Ghostbusters 2016 Reboot U.S. Trailer #2

The second U.S. trailer for the new 2016 Ghostbusters reboot movie came out today. It's embedded above, so feel free to watch it before reading on. I'm going to share my thoughts on the trailer in a sort-of running commentary form, though I won't go over every single shot. The trailer is leaps and bounds better than the first one. That's not saying much since anything would have been better, but I digress. While the first trailer was focused on the movie's bad jokes and inappropriate tone of humor, this one focuses almost entirely on the action and ghosts. It's much better for it, and Sony would have been wiser to lead with this trailer.


Right off the bat, the trailer goes for a scary tone, but with a little comedic twist at the end. Now THAT is the tone a Ghostbusters movie should have. The above quote is spoken by Michael McDonald (of MADtv fame), playing a concert promoter, to the Ghostbusters backstage at the rock concert venue. One thing you'll notice about this trailer is that the majority of the footage comes from the rock concert and Times Square finale scenes, leading me to believe that those scenes are the bulk of the effects work that has currently been completed.


In an attempt to win over the fans of the originals, the trailer then goes on to show the exterior of the New York City firehouse and the ladies working inside - on a set designed to look reminiscent of the original firehouse interior in Los Angeles (which, I think, has been closed down). In fact, it seems like the person who edited this trailer was told to make a conscious effort to show off some of the instances in which the movie references the originals (even though it's in a timeline in which the originals don't exist).


That line of dialog, used here as a voice over, sums up one of the movie's biggest problems, to me. Perhaps this plays out differently in the final film (and I sure hope it does), but these two trailers make it seem like these ladies are destined to be Ghostbusters and save the world. The original movie had the complete opposite tone; ordinary guys in an extraordinary situation. That's how a "Ghostbusters movie" should feel. This one looks and feels like a "comic book movie". (No offense to all of the fantastic comic book artists and the good movies that have actually been made in the past 15 or so years based on them.)


There is a really great shot of some scary ghosts trapped in a mirror. Later in the trailer, we see Kevin (Chris Hemsworth) in a room shattering a whole bunch of these mirrors. That actually looks pretty interesting to me.


The Ray Parker Jr. hit kicks in and we see the ladies walking down the hall of the rock concert venue ala the guys walking in the Hotel Sedgewick in the original. I'd keep a running total of how many times the trailer shows the movie referencing the originals, but it's late and I wanna get this done...so you can try keeping track for yourself :-)


One other thing I noticed is that clips were chosen that seem to be replying to all of the negativity this movie has received. Here, we're asked if these Ghostbusters should be taken seriously. Afterward, a clip of the horrible "Patty Tolan failed stage dive joke", first seen in the International Trailer a few months ago, seems to bring up the issue of race and gender. I already commented on that in an update to my editorial on the first trailer, so I won't go over that again, except to say that I really hope that joke gets left on the cutting room floor. It's a horrible joke in and of itself, but it also doesn't belong in this film. Let's be honest; when you have a film that uses gender as a gimmick and seems to play to some black stereotypes with its only lead black character, do you really want to blatantly point that out in the film itself?!?


One of the ghost shots gives us something rather unexpectedly special. We get to see our first "before and after effects" shot, as the footage of police cars was first used without the ghost in the Trailer Announcement video back in February.


What is it with Paul Feig or writer Katie Dippold referencing 1970s movies in the dialog? First, it was an overused line from "The Exorcist" in the first trailer (a bit that I hope falls on the cutting room floor), and now it's this tired line from "Jaws". I have nothing against 1970s films, "The Exorcist", or "Jaws" (used to scare the crap out of me as a kid), but why not reference movies that are a little more recent? Isn't one of the reasons for doing this as a reboot/remake, and not in the same universe/continuity as the originals, to make something a little more "modern"?

I would say that the references have a connection to the "turn Times Square back to the 1970s" bit we've seen in both trailers (more on that later), but it seems that one has nothing to do with the other.


A Scoleri Brother, from Ghostbusters II, is seemingly back...or at least some blue dude in an electric chair that looks suspiciously like a Scoleri Brother. I don't want to give too much credit to the filmmakers on this one until I see it in context in the final film. The only confirmed returning ghosts are Slimer and Stay Puft - the latter only appearing as a parade balloon (if the Mattel figure is any indication).


Kevin shows off his uniform (dig the "Ghost Buster" motorcycle helmet), complete with a hand-written on duct tape "Kevin" name patch, to his co-workers and speaks the above-quoted line. An obvious reference to Louis wanting to be a Ghostbuster in the second film. I've never hid the fact that I think Ghostbusters II is a textbook example of how NOT to do a sequel (though the more I see of certain things in this film, the better that one is looking). It saddens me that Paul and Katie took one of the worst plot lines of that film and chose to include it here, though maybe it plays out better in the final film than it did in Ghostbusters II.

Then Kevin goes and gets his ass possessed...though we kinda already knew that from the first trailer and all of the leaked photos and videos. This trailer played on the possessed Kevin stuff a bit too hard, making it seem almost like a HUGE spoiler.

Oh, and for the love of Bob, please give Kevin a last name in the end credits of the film. All of the promotional materials give last names to the ladies, but not him. Otherwise, I'm going to officially call him "Kevin NoLastName" as I have been doing all along :-)


Some spectral cloud shots referencing the first film, more ghost shots, more possessed Kevin, a pelvis thrust from Abby/Melissa (won't get that out of my head for a while), and then we finally learn why Al Roker's been getting all of those on-set exclusives.


That leads to our first look at Andy Garcia as the mayor and Cecily Strong as his aide, in a scene reminiscent of the original Ghostbusters' meeting with the mayor. We get yet another reference to the originals when Abby says that they "don't want Mass Hysteria". You know, for a movie that likes to pretend that the originals don't exist, it sure is going out of its way to reference them.

Fun Fact: I saw Andy Garcia live when he was a guest on "The Caroline Rhea Show" back on April 22, 2003. My family all went into New York City to celebrate my sister's birthday, and after the tv show taping (at 30 Rockefeller Center), we went to Times Square, where I saw an awesome Ghostbusters display in Planet Hollywood (gotta post those photos one day) and went to the WWE New York restaurant right before they went out of business. Anyway, never in a million years would I have thought that I was seeing a future Ghostbusters mayor!


Erin clings to a table as she is dragged out of a fancy restaurant because she was "scaring the straights" by yelling to them to "GET OUT OF THE CITY!". Maybe it's just me, but the scene reminded me of Ghostbusters II, when the guys are escorted out of Armand's by the cops. Of course, the guys had a little more decorum and weren't screaming their fool heads off. They went calmly and peacefully.


More shots showing off this film's overuse of the green, red, and blue color palettes, leading up to a series of shots of various ghosts in Times Square. We get some nifty-looking parade balloon ghosts. Not shown is the aforementioned Stay Puft balloon. They're probably keeping him as a surprise for the movie. Too bad Mattel ruined it by releasing the figure over two months BEFORE the film! I want to say that the filmmakers are referencing The Real Ghostbusters episode "The Revenge of Murray The Mantis" or the deleted parade level from Ghostbusters: The Video Game, but I think I would be giving them WAY too much credit. I'm sure this is just one big coincidence.


A little more is shown of Slimer pigging out at a food truck. He's looking grosser - and glossier - than ever.


A whole bit from the rock concert scene is shown, wherein Patty has a ghost dragon sitting on her shoulders. Rather than freak out about it when the other ladies point it out, she calmly walks through the crowd to the exit. I have mixed feelings about this bit. The dragon looks cool, albeit fake, and overall I thought the joke worked, though I thought Leslie's acting was a bit wooden.


This capper on the bit made me chuckle a little bit, though it's possible that this gag will "date" the film. One of the nice things about the original movie is that while it has some telltale signs of being an "'80s film", it's pretty "timeless" in it's overall look and feel. There isn't much in the way of dialog or jokes that roots it in the 1980s.


A Stay Puft-esque entity is stomping through the city destroying buildings and causing havok. Studying this shot, we see that it takes place in the "transformed back to the 1970s" Time Square. Above is a close-up because I wanted to note the yellow theater sign advertising "The Godfather", with that movie's title logo on the black marquee next to it. The Godfather was released in 1972 by Paramount Pictures.


It's not Stay Puft, of course, but Rowan - the film's big bad. Rowan is designed to look like the No Ghost logo ghost, and is available for purchase in his angry action figure form from Mattel and his his cute action figure form from Funko/Pop!.


"Ghostbusters: Answer The Call" - Is this a tagline or a new subtitle? I'm thinking tagline, because it doesn't really sound like a subtitle, but I think everyone is hoping for subtitle because this movie needs one so we don't have to keep calling it "the reboot", or "the remake", or the "all-female Ghostbusters", or "Ghostbusters 2016".


The end card reveals some new information if you look carefully. The soundtrack album will be released on RCA Records, and a Score Album (with music by Theodore Shapiro) will come out on the Sony Classical label on July 8th. I don't know if either are worth purchasing, though it's interesting that this film is getting a score album, while the second film (with music by Randy Edelman) never got one, and it took 20 years for the first film (with music by Elmer Bernstein) to get an official one.

Also, if you tweet on Twitter with the #Ghostbusters hashtag, you'll unlock this exclusive emoji (for a limited time, no doubt):


So, to wrap this up. This trailer does a better job of making me want to see the film, though it doesn't completely sell me on it. If anything, this trailer proves that this film has WAY more ghosts than both original films combined. Too bad they look so bright and cartooney, like live-action Scooby-Doo ghosts, and not scary like in the original films. That said, they're the most interesting things about this movie to me. I'm rooting for them, even though I know (SPOILER ALERT) that they don't win in the end.