Ghostbusters is forty years old now. Forty years old. It is, in my view, an enduring classic, and one of my favourite blockbuster comedies. And yet . . . the fact that it IS now forty years old makes it all the stranger to see how much of it is repeated and/or repurposed in this latest release, officially the fifth movie in a franchise that has maintained a presence in our pop culture thanks to the various movies, videogames, toys, cartoons, etc.
FIRE STATION!
There is probably a right way and a wrong way to write a proper review of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, but I hope doing things in the wrong way will highlight how the film itself was so mishandled.
SLIMER!
Some time has passed since the events of the last movie. Our main characters (played by Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd, and Carrie Coon) are now based in New York, much to the chagrin of the current mayor (played by William Atherton, reprising the character of Walter Peck, of course). But the containment system is perilously close to being overloaded, a big new threat is looming, and the character played by Grace ends up spending a lot of her time with a friendly ghost (Melody, played by Emily Alyn Lind).
LIBRARY GHOST!
Co-written once again by Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman, with the former also being allowed to direct this time around, it’s easy to see why certain choices were made here, and just as easy to see how this film could have been greatly improved. It’s too busy creating moments that will remind you of the first movie that it forgets to make good use of most of the main characters, and the decent finale is a case of too little too late when viewers have slogged through the mess preceding it.
DAN AYKROYD!
There’s some good stuff here, much better than the return of a familiar villain we got in the last movie. The opening sequence is great, everything looks set to be spectacular and thrilling, and then it is all largely abandoned in favour of callbacks and cameos, which is all the more frustrating when you get a treat like the new character, Lars, played by James Acaster with a hairstyle not entirely dissimilar to the one sported by Egon Spengler in The Real Ghostbusters. I also have to say that Lind is fantastic as the forlorn and regret-filled Melody.
STAY-PUFT MARSHMALLOW MAN!
It is hard to give my opinion on a cast who are so often wasted in their roles. Grace remains a very watchable talent, but her sub-plot here ensures that her character is unwisely kept moody and lonely until the third act. Acaster is a fantastic addition, it’s nice to see some more of Ernie Hudson, Patton Oswalt comes along to be Mr. Exposition, and Kumail Nanjiani isn’t given a chance to be as funny as we all know he can be. As for the other familiar faces, they are all pretty unnecessary.
BILL MURRAY!
This is a series that seems intent on restricting itself to tales that are now just frames to hang a load of nostalgia on. It’s not a good approach, and this review emulated the structure of the film. You have everything punctuated by a cameo that is supposed to bring some extra happiness to the viewers, but it doesn’t work when there is no other reason for those cameos to happen. It’s the equivalent of some SNL sketch being hate-crashed by a celebrity who just comments on their own celebrity and their bemusement at being on SNL. That could be amusing, but you would soon tire of it if it was every SNL sketch. And you will soon tire of it here.
BILL MURRAY AGAIN!
Each time I think this movie series cannot get any worse I end up being proven wrong. It has become a depressing cycle of ever-diminishing returns now, and I am always sucked in by the trailer and the optimistic idea that “maybe this time they will get it right”. This is the worst yet, and actually feels embarrassingly desperate at times.
I will still watch another one, but you may as well search for my spark of hope in the ecto-containment unit, because that is well and truly dead after watching this.
3/10
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This was from my review of Afterlife on my blog: "Fun Fact: I was never a fan of Ghostbusters. Not even the song. I was only 6 when the first movie came out and when I did see it, it kinda freaked me out. I saw the TV show (both of them) sometimes but didn't like them and didn't have any toys or anything. I never watched the reboot because I didn't care if the busters were guys or gals. So what I'm saying is I didn't watch this with a nostalgia filter, which is something you really need. Without it, you can really see how calculated it all is"
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like this is just even more calculated to touch nostalgia buttons. I might give it a go on streaming but probably only if it's "free" or nearly so.
You're absolutely correct.
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