Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021 | USA | 124 minutes | Jason Reitman)
For the few out there that haven’t seen the first two Ghostbusters films released in the 1980s, the world has begun to fill with ghosts wrecking havoc wherever they go. Three scientists Peter, Egon, and Ray (Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Dan Aykroyd), one late-addition helper Winston (Ernie Hudson), and their secretary Janine (Annie Potts) use their wits and wisdom to get rid of them. A ridiculous premise that worked, solidly, and brought joy to many people over the decades since its conception. Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a continuation of that story nearly forty years later.
We see a shadowy older Egon Spengler chased by ghosts to a dilapidated farmhouse where he tries to capture the powerful spirit but fails and shuffles off this mortal coil in the process. His estranged daughter Callie (Carrie Coon) and her two kids, Phoebe (McKenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), are willed the old farm and all the debt that comes with it. Meanwhile, ghosts are once again reappearing in the world of the living and after discovering an old familiar ambulance with some fabulous alterations (including a gunner seat and functioning proton pack), Phoebe, her new pal “Podcast” (Logan Kim), and Trevor head out to get control of the situation. Throw in geology teacher Chad (Paul Rudd) to feed Phoebe info about the disturbances and you’re off on an adventure.
First I’ll start with the good stuff. McKenna as Phoebe was fantastic. She played the deadpan granddaughter of our beloved Spengler exactly right. No fluff, just science. The story was solid. The writing was pretty good and the editing was great, I imagine they could have made it a 2 1/2 hour film (or longer) if they really wanted to. There were some fantastic car chases: the new version of Slimer, Muncher, flying through fields of grain was the intro into the kids ghost-busting and it was a lot of fun. New gadgets and personalities made this one of the better nostalgic-type scenes in the film.
Now for the not-so-good. As for the other performances, they were okay, but not impressive. Wolfhard’s Trevor was a little too gooshy for my taste, but they did give him a knack for fixing cars that played at his connection with Egon and gave him a solid role in the story. He was a fifteen-year-old wanting to break free of his mom, and he did that convincingly, but some of the lines and the goony-eyed way he was following an older girl around was unnecessary. Speaking of the older girl, Lucky Domingo (Celeste O’Connor) was well-written and I’m thoroughly bummed she didn’t end up with a bigger role in the climactic ending. O’Connor put on a great performance despite (or maybe because of) the clingy boy her character begrudgingly let into her life. As for Coon and Rudd, I was pretty disappointed. She was fine, but I didn’t feel much of a connection between her and her kids (though I loved her sarcastic, do what you gotta do attitude… well done). Rudd on the other hand, is completely capable of something more than what I saw and they just used him as a Hollywood name and a plot filler. He played his character in Ant Man (which I loved), but more dopey with little-to-no sense of responsibility. An obvious play to fill the Rick Moranis character with someone more contemporary, meh.
As for the rest of the not-so-good, they relied WAY way way too much on nostalgia and the love of their fans to make this an acceptable film. Winks and nods are good, waving “hey look at me!”? Not so good. Yes, they brought in the original five (Janine literally just shows her face to say hi when Callie and the kids move in to the farmhouse) and while I loved seeing their faces on screen, it wasn’t done right so the nostalgia fell flat. Let the viewers rely on their fandom and intelligence to find those easter eggs for themselves and it’ll be a lot more fun.
All in all, I’m disappointed. It could have been, and had the potential to be, so much more. With the original director’s son (Jason Reitman) taking the helm and his dad as the producer, all original headlining cast members on board (watch into the credits for a sweet and funny cameo by Sigourney Weaver), and a great set of new cast members this should have been better. Perhaps on a second, third or fourth viewing I’ll warm up to it, but I have my doubts.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife arrives in theaters on November 19th.