Stubs - Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) starring Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Celeste O'Connor, Logan Kim, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson. Directed by Gil Kenan. Screenplay by Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman. Based on based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters by Ivan Reitman, and on the 1984 film Ghostbusters written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. Produced by Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman, Jason Blumenfeld. Run time: 115 minutes. Color. USA Supernatural, Comedy

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) was a re-awakening of a franchise which had been dormant for more than 30 years. (I am purposely not counting the 2016 gender-bending remake/reboot since that is not part of this continuity.) The ending of the 2021 film, and by that, I mean the after-credits scene, pointed to bringing the story back to New York, which is where the new film comes in.

 Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd), Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon), and
Phoebe (McKenna Grace) are three of the four "new" Ghostbusters.

Two years have passed and all of the characters from Oklahoma have now been relocated to New York City and are all involved in the supernatural, with the Spengler family, mother Callie (Carrie Coon), eighteen-year-old Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (McKenna Grace); and Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) are now officially Ghostbusters. Podcast (Logan Kim) is spending the summer working for Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) who has an occult store and a podcast. Even Lucky Domingo (Celeste O’Connor) is there, too, working for Dr. Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) doing research on ghosts and possessed items. The hows and the whys are apparently unimportant as no time is spent on that backstory.

The film is a continuation of the relationships established in Afterlife, though at the same time most don’t seem to have progressed farther than they had in that film. As an example. It is not apparent that Gary and Callie have married and Trevor and Lucky seem to be more in the friend zone. The only new relationship is one between Phoebe and a ghost, Melody (Emily Alyn Lind), who it seems at first blush is someone she can relate to.

Garraka, another threat to the world.

The Spenglers, as the four choose to be called, find themselves fighting the same city official, who has inexplicably been elected mayor, Walter Peck (William Atherton), who tried to shut down the originals, as well as fighting a powerful godlike entity named Garraka, who had been captured in a brass orb, after already wreaking havoc in New York in 1904. The orb comes into their possession by way of Nadeem Razmaadi (Kumail Nanjiani), a ne’er-do-well who doesn’t know what he has when he sells it to Ray.

The pacing is better in this film than in Afterlife but apparently, the hand-off to a new generation isn’t quite complete. This never really feels like a Ghostbusters movie until Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) gets involved. There are several callbacks to previous films, not to mention the now ever-present Stay Puft Marshmallow Mini Men, but I don’t know if we’re ready yet for Ray, Winston and Peter to be excluded from further films.

There are a lot of special effects, as one would expect in a film about supernatural agents. Like past films, they seem to be state of the art for their time, so there are no complaints there.

The acting, too, seems to be spot on. While there is humor, the acting is not played for laughs. The actors seem to be very comfortable with their roles including Rudd and Coon. With the generally young cast, two years can make a big difference, at least in appearance. Podcast isn’t quite as cute as he was in Afterlife, but his enthusiasm is still affecting. Even though she doesn’t get higher billing, McKenna Grace’s Phoebe is once again the center of the film. Though he has no presence in this film, Phoebe is the best substitute for Egon (Harold Ramis).

 Dr. Hubert Wartzki (Patton Oswalt) helps Phoebe, Podcast (Logan Kim)
and Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) with crucial research.

Of the additions to this film, Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt are both good as Nadeem Razmaadi and Dr. Hubert Wartzki respectively. No idea if either would return in case there is a sequel, which the film in mid-credits definitely hints at, but they would be welcomed additions.

Dr. Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) and Dr. Peter
Venkman (Bill Murray) come to the rescue.

Annie Potts, like in Afterlife, seems to be given more screentime than she got in the original films. Of the three surviving originals, it was good to see Ernie Hudson taking a bigger role, though Dan Akroyd is much more involved in the plot than Murray. It is sort of like the latter is saved back until it becomes absolutely necessary, sort of like a secret weapon, to get the film over the final hurdles.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a better follow up than Ghostbusters II was to the original film. It definitely helps if you have seen Afterlife, as so much is based on what was set up in that film, including all the interpersonal relationships that do play a part. If you haven’t seen Afterlife, you might want to consider watching it prior to going to the theater for this one. Because of this dependency, Frozen Empire will probably not grow the audience for the franchise, but I hope it does well enough so that there might be a sequel. The film was fun and there are never enough of those.