2024 ‧ Supernatural Comedy ‧ 115m
The Spengler family return to New York City in a new installment of the Ghostbusters franchise. The remaining members of the original team help out as a new threat comes to the big apple.
The Spenglers have set up shop busting ghosts in the 3 years since the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife. After a lot of collateral damage occurs during a routine bust, Mayor Walter Peck threatens to shut them down. Phoebe, a minor at fifteen, is sidelined from the business until she is old enough. She spends time at Ray Stanz’s occult bookstore with her friend Podcast. Ray has started a video series where people bring in their potentially haunted objects and he runs a test to see if it is haunted or not. A Haunted Antiques Roadshow if you will. One day a man comes in with an orb whose spectral presence is off the charts. It is taken to Winton’s lab for further study. It is determined to be imprisoning a apocalyptic ghost wishes to take over the world via fear and freezing. Inevitably it gets out and once again something strange indeed is in the neighborhood and who you gonna call?
This entry has more laughs than Afterlife. The ghosts are creepier, though not nightmare inducing. McKenna Grace is basically the lead again, and she makes Phoebe a fun and compelling character. Dan Aykroyd is probably the heart of the film. You can tell he relishes playing Ray Stanz, even if he isn’t the one in the writer’s chair. Like Stallone in the Creed movies, he is eager to foster and guide the next generation. Other alumni show up as well, like in Afterlife. Ernie Hudson is getting more to do here, which is nice to see. Kumail Nanjiani is quite funny as the orb owner who gets swept up in it all. Paul Rudd does what is expected of him.
Pun intended, but some will find the pacing to be glacial. Though understandable, it is also fun to “hang out” with these characters. Both the old and the new. There are probably too many characters though and it doesn’t quite gel to a real ensemble. Finn Wolfhard and Carrie Coon feel like they are missing from the action often. Pacing tastes aside, the only real issues Froze Empire stem from trying too hard to be the 1984 film. The nostalgia feels a little less weaponized than the last entry, but still overdone. If Afterlife was a 9 on the overly nostalgic scale, Frozen Empire is 7.5. The mini-pufts did not need to return. Nor did the library ghost. The score also could stop being recycled so much.
Frozen Empire is an enjoyable entry for the lamentably contentious franchise. There are laughs and ghosts are busted. And that is probably enough.
Grade: C+/B-
It is difficult for me to be objective when it comes to Ghostbusters. The original 1984 film is my favorite movie. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen it. I had the toys, I watched the cartoon religiously, I have been to Hook & Ladder 8 more than once, and I once saw a print of the original in the cinema twice in one day. I smuggled in twinkies for the second show. In many ways Ghostbusters is my Star Wars.
The ensuing years since Ghostbusters II were not the best for fans. There was a cartoon revival in the 90s, but that was about it. Merchandise would wax and wane. In 2016, the remake happened. I had fun, ghosts were busted, and it was funny enough for me. Though I was a little let down with the movie, I had already ascribed myself to that expectation when Harold Ramis died. Like Ghostbusters II taught us, it was never going to have the magic, so the new cast seemed a fair idea. However, a vocal collection of fans were very unhappy. To say the least. That vocal contengency, though not all fans, hurt the franchise for me. So when the news of Afterlife came about and it was going to be a GB II sequel, I was skeptical. It felt like those fans were being kowtowed to and that bothered me. Nonetheless, I was going to see the next film.
When I walked out of Afterlife I had a bad taste in my mouth. The use of recycled concepts, tropes, and jokes had the film rightfully and derisively compared to The Force Awakens. The villain was Gozer again, and a similar plot happens, just this time in Oklahoma. What upset me the most was the copy/pasting of the score from ’84 film. And perhaps the most disappointing was that Afterlife wasn’t that particularly funny. Not that they didn’t have funny moments, it was just few comparably from previous GB movies, including the remake. At risk of spoilers, I’ll simply say the ending felt exploitative. I know they did the work to make it feel less so, but I found myself thinking of the adage: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” I did like the new characters though, so much so that bringing in the old Ghostbusters felt more obligatory than necessary. Annie Potts as Janine probably could have been enough. So when I heard that we were going to have a new one, and this time it would be in New York, I was cautiously pessimistic. Pretty sure I was going to be more annoyed than entertained, but I am a die hard fan.
That mindset is probably the saving grace for this entry. Looking at other critiques, that are not wrong, I find myself not as bothered by them. I went in just wanting a funny flick where ghosts are busted, and I got that. It isn’t amazing, but I didn’t expect it. Unlike Afterlife, I find myself wanting to watch it again soon. The highest compliment I can give Frozen Empire, and this really is high praise, is that it made me a little more okay with being a Ghostbusters fan again.
~Andrew