Ghostbusters Review: 6 Ups And 4 Downs

3. There’s A Lack Of Real Conflict

One peculiar thing about Ghostbusters is that while the movie’s engaging, the characters likeable and the action thrilling – there’s a great bit where McKinnon gets to show her stuff to the original theme – there’s a real lack of proper conflict in the film.

You’re never in doubt the good guys will win, and not because this is big summer fun, but because there’s unclear stakes and so it's hard to get properly invested in it (I don’t actually know what the villain’s scheme was). You could argue that this is all about the jokes, but this means that as an overall film it's weaker.

Part of this comes from the general chilled interplay between the characters, but those editing issues won’t have helped either; all the choppy and sudden scenes mean there’s even less tension than you’d expect. In fact, aside from one scene at the start, it’s never really scary, more creepy.