I think the only thing to do is to go back and re-cut the entire movie. Maybe even add some of the scenes that were cut and finish FX shots if needed. As it stands now, GB2 is not a great movie and both we and film-makers acknowledge that. The movie is just too kid-friendly. It’s is well-paced but that means less character and plot development for the story. And there’s the whole Statue of Liberty and that rushed ending. Okay. No film is perfect, I know that. The first film isn’t. But what the first movie had in its favor was it’s freshness and originality. The second film lacks these traits and, as a result, it’s flaws are much more noticeable. What can be done to at least hide these flaws?
Don’t get me wrong. This threat isn’t meant to knock the film. I love the movie as much as you guys do. I saw the movie in theaters when I was 7 and loved it. The VHS tape probably saw more playtime in the VCR than the first. But when watching the movie all these years later, it just doesn’t seem to have that certain “something” that the first one had. And maybe the movie will never have that “something” but what if the film-makers could go back and start from scratch? We all know about those deleted scenes. What if the answer is there? If the film was re-worked so some of those scenes could be re-inserted I think we would have an entirely new movie.
But then again, those scenes might make things worse. Look at the first film. It was nice to see that deleted material but it’s painfully obvious why it was removed. Without seeing the deleted scenes from the 2nd movie in their entirety, it’s hard to say whether they would’ve worked or not.
Let’s say that they work. How do the film-makers go about re-working this movie? How can they make it “better”?
Ok, here I go It would be awesome to see an extended cut. Not so much director’s cut since Ivan Reitman made all the necessary changed he thought would make the movie better. It would be great to see what didn’t play out maybe the way they thought. Probably very little could be done, I think. That said, nothing would satisfy me more as a fan than to be able to see the scenes in their entirety. I think like you said, he seemed to make the right call on the first movie’s cuts. Even though they were really more “minor” scenes.
GB2 on the other hand was weird, and it seemed there were some MAJOR scenes that were cut. Maybe they were slowing things down that bad. Like the newlywed couple in the first movie he wanted to keep but cut. I guess potentially good stuff was sacrificed for pacing. A lot of the stuff seems to maybe have enhanced the story I think but with the scenes missing, it seems to lack some things but the movie doesn’t lose any real development of the story because of it. As far as I think things are easy to follow still. It is weird in that aspect that it does seem like things are missing. Maybe because we know they are.
Many things would have seemed to make more sense. Janine doesn’t want to be alone on New Years, Louis almost fries her, the “subplot” with Slimer and Louis, the fact that in the final cut he randomly straps on a proton pack to help the guys. When he sees Slimer on the bus, in the final cut, the only time he seems him is in the montage. Now randomly moreso Slimer helps Louis. Maybe Ray’s final connection to Vigo would have been stronger felt with the “crazy driving scene”
I think with what he had to work with, I can pretty confidently trust Ivan Reitman probably made most of the right cuts he could. Maybe we somehow build up in our minds that the deleted scenes will help just because we have never seen them. They could be cool in themselves but maybe if we watched them all in the movie we might see it differently. The movie might have been a bit longer and the pacing was a big concern for him. Even a longer movie could have made for a slow viewing experience. I dunno.
I think even with the influences from the cartoon, I never saw it as really that kid friendly. Certainly I’m sure the kids who watched RGB were kept in mind. I felt like there were enough horrifying and scary elements. I think there are even some parts that today seem as scary if not scarier than the first movie. Probably like the first one, a lot of kids liked it and they knew that but still some close your eyes moments for kids. That’s my thoughts though.
Maybe character development took a backseat like a lot of sequels that the second time around they assume, you know who everyone is and what their personalities are. I guess they left the deeper character stories for the cartoon. Where each episode, a different character thing could be done. I love the movie guys but there might not be too much there that could be explored, especially in a movie time frame I think. I thought that was a little funny what Bill Murray saying that the characters were less important. I can kind of see it in a way what he was saying but again it’s more about what the characters do and what they’re trying to do than any serious character development I think. When he said the special effects took over. I don’t know if he was expecting “Lost in Translation” or what.
Sort of like the Ninja Turtles. It’s like “okay Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines etc” I feel like the actors/characters are funny in situations and developed enough to where it was okay to me we never really find out who they are. Sort of like in some of the X-men movies. I imagine it can be tough to have a movie with so many characters everyone wants to see and try to fit them all in somewhere. Ghostbusters has that going for it in that aspect, they probably don’t need to be that elaborated on. Louis and Janine probably got the most screwed in the final cut. I think the original scenes would have made Janine seem like less of just slutty.
I think as far as the ending, it might have originally been written and planned to have been a lot shorter. With all the cuts, I think the pacing is alright and the way Vigo is disposed of works for me. At least they didn’t cross the streams again :lol: The final battle/confrontation seems long enough I guess similar to the first movie. It went back and forth enough. If I think of anything else, I’ll post it. I typed way too much and am running out of stuff to say. :lol: In the end, I guess we all just REALLY want the deleted scenes that bad to see for ourselves "what went wrong"I think you’re right, there is just no way it could have had the freshness or originality of the first movie and the first time we saw the guys and everything.
Aww come on, the commercial originally boasted twice the know how, twice the particle power, customers got twice the value with the Welcome Back service plan! I know some people honestly don’t like the logo but at least it’s now confirmed to make sense within the context of the movie now.
I was thinking about it earlier. How do you top the most successful comedy blockbuster of all time?(up to that point) You don’t. The expectations were extremely high I’m sure. There was an interview with Reitman that says that’s the thing with sequels, the expectations and pressure to be bigger and better and all that.
There’s an interview with Dan Aykroyd from the 90s I think where he said he felt like they made a good movie but Batman opened the weekend after and knocked them out of the summer. It’s just funny everyone that “hates” GB2 always thinks they have the secret answer for the story/etc that would have made it better. I think they did a pretty good job following up that kind of hype even though critics and other people wouldn’t agree. A lot of it again probably does depend on the age people were when they saw it.
I always thought Vigo was a bit scarier than Gozer. As far as I’m sure young kids would agree :angryvigo: Also the heads on pikes and all that, demonic possessions all over the place.
It should never be “fixed”. I go along with the thinking that, in a manner of speaking, the movie is a finished work of art and should not be altered. That having been said, I think it’s ok to have some kind of “special edition”, so long as the original is still available. Superman II was redone, more or less, based on its original vision…the Donner Cut, I believe? That would be fine, but I would consider that a seperate work of art. Besides restoration (including minor little fixes, like what was done with the snowspeeders in Empire Strikes back being partly see-through originally), I think a finished work of art is a finished work of art, and belongs to everyone for all to enjoy (or not enjoy).
I thought about this the other day. It’s one of the things that has always bugged me. ILM wouldn’t have any problems redoing the logo digitally. But when I read Zack’s post about the “Twice the know-how…” it finally fits in with the context of the story. I had always tried to make sense of the “2” logo and the best I was able to come up with was that this was their 2nd time in business. Almost like they’re “2nd Coming”(sorry Jesus fans). As a business owner myself, I understand this concept and have changed my own company logo in order to attract new customers. So thanks to Zack, we finally know that this is what they were trying to convey with the GB 2 logo(well that and it’s the 2nd movie). It’s just too bad that it ended up on the cutting room floor.
As for the other stuff, I don’t know if it’s possible to go back and make a “director’s cut”. As was mentioned, what we have now is probably the best movie that Reitman could deliver. We’ve seen what can happen with alternate versions of films. Films like Superman 2, Apocalypse Now and Payback. The director’s original versions of those movies are definitely interesting to watch but in the end, they got it right with the theatrical versions, at least IMO. Maybe that is the case with Ghostbusters 2 as well but you never know. I just can’t help but think “what if?”
Hey there long time fan of the moves/cartoons/comics and games! This topic I found to be rather intresting and I got thinking to myself. In the novel that I have (which I just finished reading recently) by Ed Naha, it states all four of the boys are wearing the Slime Blowers not just two of them as we see in the film. This takes place as they are standing infront of the statue and Venkman makes that naked under the toga coment. And if I recall from the same novel was a part where the guys go to investigate a pyrogenesis (The ability some people have to generate great amounts of heat, for those who didnt know as Spengler had put it) at the world trade center. I guess the guy has the power to make objects burst into flames and turn to ash! There are other little scenes that I didn’t hear or know of yet untill I had read this novel but had known mostly of the other deleted scenes from fans and websites lol. But yeah I wondered what it would have been like if all four of the boys had slime blowers? I honestly don’t know how that would played out myself!
Having all four boys wear slime blowers would have been lame…the proton pack is much cooler, it’s just that slime blowers were a necessary plot device.
Yeah the split seems a lot better. I know there would have been some REALLY ■■■■■■ people if they didn’t use them in the final battle. The slime blowers are potent stuff and were needed but the proton packs still were very necessary. Visually, 4 slime blowers shooting at a painting wouldn’t have looked very good either. Boring
for me GBII is all about the visuals. Im a loyal fan of GBI and nothing to me will ever top the look and feel of that movie but seeing things like the ecto-1A, the blue flightsuits, the slimeblowers and even the extra padding in the proton pack straps etc etc feels like a breathe of fresh air each time i watch GBII even after all these years. i just try and ignore the plot/storyline.
i just watch it for the pictures
if adding/extending scenes brings more life to the movie then i’m all for it. would love to see the louis busing slimer scene in its entirety.
if GB2 was released first, and GB1 as the second movie, everyone would still have the same argument but the other way around,
I personally have no problem with the film plot, logo and all the different changes, GB2 is a film i find very hard to fast forward or turn off once im watching it. the other night i only turned it on to check something on there suits, but i ended up watching it to the end.
each time i watch it, i understand another joke, notice something new in the background and my favourite bits just get better and better.
whereas i have favourite scenes and lines in GB1, i actually like everything in GB2, hence my flight suit is proud to where the GB2 logo
You’re probably right. If it was the other way around we might be doing the exact same thing. Ghostbustes 2 is my favorite of the two films but the first film is better, if that makes sense. I guess that’s why I’m so critical of it.
My wife and I watched it last night (and she knows I’m highly critical of it) for the first time in a few years and she said “I thought it was really funny.” She was right too I found myself laughing a lot more than I remember. I still don’t like that the plot is more or less copied from the first one, but there is plenty of good in there. All in all I’d say it was a worthy sequel and could have been much worse. Although I wouldn’t mind seeing an extended cut one day as some of the deleted scenes sound really good!
It would be awesome to see an extended cut. Not so much director’s cut since 
Probably like the first one, a lot of kids liked it and they knew that but still some close your eyes moments for kids. That’s my thoughts though.
I know some people honestly don’t like the logo but at least it’s now confirmed to make sense within the context of the movie now. 
The 