Ghostbusters Back with a Little Help from Lady Liberty

 God, it is hard to believe that Ghostbusters II is 30 years old! I decided to watch a slate of Murray films, including Meatballs and Stripes, and it had been a few years so GB and its sequel were also on the docket. The sequel was simply never going to surpass the original: that was just a hard hill to climb. It has plenty of entertaining moments, though, including the courtroom "electric chair ghosts" raising havoc when "set free" by some ooze found under the city of NY through the outburst of disgruntled judge, Harris Yulin, whose rage provides the Ghostbusters with evidence of how the slime responds to anger and hate, the underground slime tests which include how "happy music" and positive comments get it to "happy dance" inside a toaster among other things, the special effects which include the ghosts returning in the Titanic, a marathoner testing his pulse, the ghost train that nearly gives Hudson a coronary, the Statue of Liberty walking through the streets with help from the slime to confront the villainous demonic spirit, Vigo, Vigo's portrait "coming to life" and emitting "bad vibes" and supernatural tendencies while possessing MacNichol's devotee at the museum, Weaver's baby terror which included MacNichol's possessed "spirit" actually carrying him off in a "phantom carriage" from a balcony of an apartment complex, and MacNichol's "lit eyes" when trying to negotiate his way into Weaver's apartment. Weaver and Murray's chemistry is once again off-the-charts and she spends most of her time trying not to laugh when he goes about his ad-libbing and improv zingers and remarks. Murray and the baby have their cute moments, with Hudson given more to do in the sequel, dragged into Aykroyd and Ramis' pursuit of understanding more and more about the pink slime. The pink slime monster reaching out for Weaver and the baby is quite freaky! Weaver added to her status as a pop culture icon with the GB and Alien franchises. It is clear Murray often just goes off-script and that is what always made him such a popular comedic actor. Much like the first film, NYC is as much a character as the beloved cast. The opening of the film, which shows Murray as a host of a low-rent psychic show with kooks, Hudson and Aykroyd as "GB celebs" accepting gigs like a kid's birthday party, Moranis as a out-of-his-depth lawyer (he took night classes), Potts returning in much brighter colors (and trading Egon for Louis) to babysit while also the secretary again, sets up the sequel hilariously. Even Slimer returns, as it should have, feeding its face and even driving a bus! Just not as iconic as the original, but not a waste of time. Too bad Ramis died before the cast could return for a third film, and unfortunate that Ramis and Murray quit speaking to each other for twenty years. I can remember reading over and over that there were attempts to make that elusive second sequel...sadly, it would never be. Margulies, returning as the Mayor, has the hilarious line, "Being miserable and treating other people like dirt is every New Yorker's god-given right." It will take the city coming together, in unison ringing out a song of positivity to counteract Vigo's evil before he brings about a "new world", in order for the supernatural terror to be quelled...ironic, as it may seem. - August 2019, user comments