As far as the end result... ...the film completely fell flat across the board. I have nothing against the four leads. I more or less blame the writers, director and the studios choice of direction for the new Ghostbusters.
The acting is some of the most stiff and cookie cutter I have ever seen. There were times when it really sounded like they were reading their lines. The actors did NOT mesh well at all and their interaction with all of the blue and green screen effects was lifeless and clueless.
I was just lost with the approach on their attempted humor. I mean, it's bad. I don't know what panel sat around the table reading the script and laughed at it, but I hope they never do again.
The effects were horrible. Every time, which was A LOT, they used a green screen, I found myself taken away from the movie.
The film constantly contradicts it's own established continuity. One minute they can't kill the ghosts, only contain them, the next, they can. Just ridiculous.
They even added a segment to the movie early on that shows the four girls poking fun at all of the hate for the film. I just don't think the studio gets it.
More mocking of the very people they expect to pay top dollar for their product.
Despite all of the sexist remarks towards the movie, the movie itself is EXTREMELY sexist against men and borderline racist. All men are portrayed as fools in the movie and in order to kill the final villain they have to shoot him in the crotch.
It almost seems the team behind the film knew how stereotypical and sexist their movie was, so they capitalized on the sexism against the film in order to hide that.
I honestly recommend wearing a padded glove when you watch this, IF you watch this. I have never face-palmed so many times during a movie in my life. I would not suggest this film to anyone except maybe children under ten years old and even then, it would simply be for a cartooned 3D experience.
I wish I could find positives because I dislike being so negative about a film. I understand completely the amount of work that goes into something like this. Chris Hemsworth was probably the best part of this believe or not. I could see him leading a team of his own Ghostbusters in another version if written correctly.
But I can't help but quote Jurassic Park concerning the very idea of this film.
The filmmakers "were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should."
I really did try to give this film a chance despite all of the negative hype. But, the film was not funny and does not stand on it's own. Honestly, the only thing that intrigued me was seeing the cameos from some of the original cast.
I will add that if you were thinking you had seen the majority of the movie throughout all of the trailers, various clips, TV spots, etc., you would have been thinking correctly. Sony used all of what they considered to be the best material in all of the promotional releases. Let that be your red flag considering how poor the trailers were.
If someone were to ask me if they should go see it, I would say, "No, but if you are curious, just wait for it to become available for Internet streaming."
I don't think people will walk away from this movie afraid of ghosts. I imagine they walk away afraid of the movie and more so, the people who thought it was wise to make it in the first place.
There is some irony here. Ghostbusters 2016 has literally become a ghost. It was dead on arrival.