GHOSTBUSTERS II (1989)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *metaphysical*

I've never understood the antipathy for the GHOSTBUSTERS sequel. Like the first film, Number Two was written by stars Dan Ayrkoyd and Harold Ramis (reprising their roles as Ray Stanz and Egon Spengler) but for the sequel the writers relied a lot less on coincidence and produced a much tighter plot. Whereas the menace of the first film is just a mean demon who wants to bring about the end-times for no particular reason, here we have a ruthless revenant who hopes to embody his spirit in the form of an innocent infant. And although once again the romantic arc of Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) and Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) gets the lion's share of attention, the characters have a more involved history, one that includes Dana having had a baby by her absent ex-husband. This development obliged both actors to deliver stronger performances.

As if anticipating the reception of the sequel, the plucky parapsychologists-- Stanz, Spengler, Venkman and Ernie Hudson's Zeddemore-- have lost favor in the eyes of ever-cynical New Yorkers due to the damages they caused in 1984. (One wonders if Akroyd and Ramis remembered the opening of SON OF KONG and the woes of Carl Denham). Even little kids scorn these real-life heroes in favor of He-Man. Aykroyd and Ramis find evidence of a strange river of ectoplasmic slime beneath the city, but pin-headed officials won't listen to them. The slime's source is none other than the spirit of medieval Count Vigo (Wilhelm von Homberg, though his voice was that of Max Von Sydow). This unruly spirit resides in a huge painting owned by a New York museum where Venkman's ex-girlfriend Dana works. Presumably at some point Vigo gets a look at Dana's infant son and decides that the child will be his new place of residence. The river of slime absorbs the negative emotions of New Yorkers and thus supplies Vigo with enough raw power that his spirit can escape the painting and incarnate in a human form. He also suborns museum-official Janosz (Peter MacNichol, sporting a very funny accent), and makes the man his pawn, in return for Janosz getting to wed Dana. 

I don't know if Aykroyd and Ramis were thinking of any particular social developments circa 1989 that informed their idea about New York's negativity (though I should note that the script went through numerous changes over the years). But the idea that New Yorkers might pay some karmic price for their own near-legendary contentiousness is a fine setup for the concluding conflict, in which the heroes must find a way to make New Yorkers project "good vibes."

And this brings us to the colossus in the room. I'm convinced that a lot of fans and reviewers got turned off when they saw Number Two display yet another Godzilla-sized monster stomping through the streets of the Big Apple. In my opinion, the mild humor of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is entirely different in purpose from the Ghostbusters' animation of Lady Liberty in order to boost the citizens' positive emotions. But if there's one thing that cheeses off some viewers more than a sequel that doesn't give them the exact same thing they got the first time, it's a sequel that seems overly similar. Darned if you do, and so on.

Number Two's indictment of short-sighted officials is much more clever than anything from the first film, with a stand-out scene involving an arrogant judge (Harris Yulin) getting "haunted" by the ghosts of men he sentenced to death. As mentioned, Murray has a few more vulnerable moments as he seeks to reconcile with Dana and to cope with her little bundle of joy. Yet Murray still delivers more than his fair share of snark, particularly when he plays at being a fashion photographer taking snapshots of the Vigo painting and lobbing putdowns at the count's surly image.

Even the minor developments, like Louis Tully seeking to become a Ghostbuster, are handled adequately. An eleventh-hour situation in which Vigo briefly possesses Stanz feels clumsy, specifically because Stanz is the most ebullient of the Ghostbusters and the one who primarily comes up with the idea of neutralizing the city's negative vibes. Maybe Aykroyd just wanted a little extra screen time. Weaver's character, who exists in the first film largely to be romanced by Venkman, has a better arc than before, as she makes clear some of the downsides of a relationship with a perpetual snark-machine.

The film made a profit but may have been hurt by a plethora of franchise-movies that same summer, such as the first Batman, the second Lethal Weapon and the third Karate Kid.