The movie franchise «Ghostbusters» feels a bit strange today. You might even wonder how such a concept ever turned into a relatively small but still a series that even a separate company, Ghost Corps, is involved in. But in 2021, «Ghostbusters: From Beyond» proved that such a movie can look quite harmonious even in the present, the main thing here is to treat the source material with dignity. The movie «Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire» was supposed to consolidate and develop the success of the previous installment. In our review, we tell you how this movie turned out.
Genre fantasy-comedy action
Director Gil Keenan
Starring Paul Rudd, Kerry Kuhn, Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson
Premiere movie theaters
Year of release 2024
Website IMDb
Gary Gruberson (Paul Rudd) has become part of the Spangler family. Together, they have taken over the duties of the Ghostbusters and are now hunting down various spirits in New York City. The local mayor is not very happy about this, as are many residents who see the Ghostbusters as troublemakers. But the latter will soon have to prove to the whole city that they are really worth something. Otherwise, the whole world will face a new Ice Age.
«Ghostbusters» received a relaunch attempt in 2016, when the entire main cast was replaced with women, and the movie itself was made according to all the trends of Hollywood at the time. It turned out to be bold, but questionable in many ways. The box office failure only confirmed that this formula does not work.
However, the situation with «Ghostbusters: From Beyond» the situation is even more interesting. Because it’s not a remake, but actually a direct continuation of the original, albeit many years later and with new characters at the center of the story. The film was even directed by Jason Reitman, the son of Ivan Reitman, who directed the original Hunters dilogy. That is why the 2021 film adequately conveyed the spirit of the original source, in which the creepy is well combined with the funny, and all this was diluted with a cast of modern stars. The spectacle may have been simple, but it was definitely worthy.
«Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire» has a new director again. It’s Gil Kenan, who co-wrote the script for the previous installment with Reitman. Jason remained in the chair of the writer and executive producer, so no one expected any special changes. But it turned out that «Ice Empire» doesn’t have even a third of the charm that its predecessor had.
At first, it appears that everything is fine. The film doesn’t waste too much time introducing characters and setting up the conflict because all of this has been done in the past. The audience is immediately plunged into the everyday life of the new Hunters in the middle of the bustle of New York City, where even fewer people are satisfied with their work. The ghosts here are both creepy and cute, the chemistry between the characters is quite good, and the naivety and absurdity don’t seem to reach critical levels, remaining just an element of style.
However, the longer the movie goes on, the more naivety and absurdity come to the fore. The script seems to be building everything up to come together in a competent climax, but none of these threads impresses. In addition, you are constantly distracted not even by jokes, but by clumsy attempts at jokes. However, someone in the audience still laughed during the screening, so the comedic elements of the movie still have their audience.
But these elements do not allow the already shaky plot to adequately express itself. It’s as if the filmmakers couldn’t decide what they wanted more: to entertain you with laughter or to tell an interesting story. They suddenly made up their minds in the last third. «Suddenly» here is the key word because the credits are brought to you in a hurry. All the moments converge so unnaturally that all the remnants of the charisma of the local story disappear completely.
And it’s sad because there are interesting ideas here about family, about returning to your life’s work and taking responsibility for your actions and your family. The actors here are also excellent, even if they are sometimes a bit caricatured. The same musical theme is in place, and the ghosts are well stylized and artistically admirable. That is, the technical and secondary elements in the movie are really on top.
But they are all strung together in a story that you don’t want to watch at all. Because it’s about nothing. It’s made up of individual scenes that are somewhere on par with YouTube shorts in terms of their meaningfulness, and they’re not the best ones either. The viewing experience is completely pointless.
Obviously, this movie presses on the feeling of nostalgia even more than the previous one. But here’s the catch: «Ghostbusters» — is a very American franchise, both aesthetically and on the level of meanings. Perhaps that’s why it’s been around for so long. Because the authors simply chose the right market to target.
However, for other viewers, local elements may be completely alien. Especially if we are talking about Ukrainians. Therefore, this eternal pursuit of nostalgia in the case of «Ice Empire» does not work.
And this is also an illustrative moment, which is why cinema has its own pragmatic benefit. Because it demonstrates how pointless almost all modern revivals of famous franchises really are, if you take away the nostalgia for the past.