Look who’s back!

Couple of weeks back, I saw Creed – the best Rocky picture in years, and one that toed the fine line between carving out its own niche and harking back to the original. This is a necessary balance to strike to appeal to old fans as well as a newer audience, and is particularly prevalent seeing as Hollywood is a churner of remakes, reboots, re-imagings and whatever other re- words you want to toss into the fold.

I don’t particularly expect to enjoy the picture, but if it keeps forcing my mind back to 1984, I’ll never even have the chance to try.

Cast of Ghostbusters, 1984. Image Evoslip/Imgur

The new Ghostbusters film is not particularly positively anticipated, but something that has got the fans interested in the cameo appearances of all of the original’s main cast members (with the exception of Rick Moranis, turning it down based on the flimsy nature of the part offered). Bill Murray said he agreed to do a cameo simply because not doing one when everybody else had would cast a shadow over the movie.

A similar case in point is Jeff Goldblum. With the sequel to Independence Day heading for the summer schedule, Goldblum is now being asked whether he will reprise his role as Dr Ian Malcolm in the sequel to Jurassic Park. The actor has said he is open to it if the job was offered.

Now, as nice as these cameos are, they bring with them a big issue – although an obvious consideration anyway, the use of the same actors forces the viewer to think about the original film. A film like Ghostbusters is going to receive a lot of negative press anyway, but how can it really stand on its own two feet if we’re going to have Dan Ackroyd or Sigourney Weaver cropping up throughout?

Cast of Ghostbusters, 2016. Image: Evoslip/ Imgur

A lot of sequels do employ the same actors, but that is the logical course of action – the Jurassic Park films are set in the same universe, and so it makes sense that Dr Malcolm or Sam Neill’s Dr Grant would reappear. Jurassic World was automatically struck with the burden of nostalgia the moment it was commissioned, and although it effectively ran many of the same eats as the originals, it was its own beast.

A certain portion of the audience would have seen Jurassic Park and although it would have been in mind, they would have immersed themselves in this film and enjoyed it on its own merits. If Dr Malcolm turned up, they would automatically have started thinking about the classic and the newer film would have suffered by comparison.

It is difficult for any filmmaker to take on a classic property – there supposedly has to be some link with the original, but too much just renders it cheap and derivative.

Cameos within the same world help up the nostalgia (indeed, half of the new Star Wars was the joy of seeing the old cast), but films must try to be individual, or there is no point.

My fear is that the shoehorning of all the cast members, the same locations, the same theme – hell, even Slimer is back – means Ghostbusters will just make everyone reminisce fondly about the original. I don’t particularly expect to enjoy the picture, but if it keeps forcing my mind back to 1984, I’ll never even have the chance to try.