"Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" is the sequel to 2021's "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" and the fourth film in "Ghostbusters" franchise. Directed and co-written by Gil Kenan ("Monster House", "City of Ember", "A Boy Called Christmas"), it falls short of its predecessor in a mediocre follow-up that proves the series has now run its course.
Two years after the events of "Ghostbusters: Afterlife", Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) and Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) decide to move their family from Oklahoma to New York City. Setting up home in the old Ghostbusters' firehouse, the Spenglers work alongside the original team members Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), and Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) in an underground research lab that holds all of their captured ghosts in specially modified enclosures. One day, local resident Nadeem (Kumail Janjiani) discovers an ancient artefact that unleashes an evil supernatural energy capable of trapping the entire world in a permanent ice age. With the fate of the living now in turmoil, both the new and old Ghostbusters must set aside any generational differences to save the Earth from becoming frozen solid.
After decades of patiently waiting, fans of the "Ghostbusters" franchise were finally treated to a third film in the series with "Ghostbusters: Afterlife". This legacy sequel, which served as a belated continuation of the original two films, managed to find ways to appeal to the current generation while simultaneously paying respects to the older fans who made the series popular in the first place. Though not without its faults, fans such as myself found the film to be a satisfactory follow-up that left us with a good feeling after watching, which is exactly what I had hoped for leading up to its release. If it were up to me, I would have chosen to end the series here on a high note but considering its success at the box office, it was inevitable that Sony Pictures would produce more films somewhere along the pipeline. In the year of the franchise's 40th anniversary, we have "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire", a sequel to a legacy sequel that fails to milk any fresh or exciting ideas out of this beloved series.
Admittedly, the film does begin on a promising note, which I initially assumed was setting the mood for the rest of the story. In a fun opening scene, we watch as the Spengler family chase a large dragon ghost throughout the streets of Manhattan in the Ecto-1. As the spectre weaves its way through the various buildings, the Spenglers hastily try to catch it using an array of devices, including a drone with a ghost trap fitted to the top. Upon successfully bringing the creature's rampage to an end, the Spenglers are reprimanded for the collateral damage they caused in the process, later receiving a lengthy scolding from a certain environmental agent. From this point forward, the film takes a decidedly dour tone, with a general lack of excitement beyond the odd nostalgic references to the older movies. Each of the original two films had a nice blend of humour and horror that helped them become memorable staples of 80s pop culture. With this entry, however, I failed to remember even one remotely amusing part of the film once the end credits started rolling.
This brings us to one of the film's biggest problems; the poor attempts at humour. Whether it's a case of weak direction, a subpar script, or a combination of both, every one of the film's comedic moments fell flat. For example, in one scene Gary tries to motivate Callie during a time where she is depressed and feels unable to continue working. He does this by quoting the lyrics to the "Ghostbusters" theme song, a tune anyone with even a passing knowledge of the series has heard at some point. What could have been an affectionate homage to the franchise's iconic theme becomes an awkward moment that drags on longer than it should. All the potential was there for this scene to be funny, but something felt off about the overall delivery from both Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon. The film is littered with misfired comedy just like this, which certainly puts a hamper on its already downbeat tone. In other words, what should have been cringe comedy is instead simply cringe on its own.
Another problem with the film is its uninteresting story. As mentioned above, the film focuses around an ancient artefact with the ability to bring about an apocalyptic series of events. On paper, this sounds like a perfectly fine plot for a "Ghostbusters" film, but the execution is handled very poorly. For instance, the backstory regarding the artefact is told to the audience in a rather clunky, forced manner; by having a random character played by Patton Oswalt explain it through lengthy exposition accompanied by artistic visuals reflective of that era. Even with all that information provided, we never really feel like this is a genuine threat throughout the whole film. There's no sinister build-up, no sense of real danger, and no reason for the characters to be worried about the long term consequences of them failing their mission. As a result, I found it near impossible to become fully invested in the story this time around.
However, perhaps the film's most notable undoing is in the mishandling of its characters old and new. There are simply too many character subplots intertwining at the same time that the whole film becomes cluttered. If you are going to have a film with such a large cast of characters, you better find an appropriate way to use them within the story. Unfortunately, the film fails at that in every way possible, as we are instead subjected to irrelevant plot elements that go nowhere and characters whose presence is only there for fanservice purposes only.
Like in its predecessor, the film's protagonist is Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), the bespectacled young girl who follows in her grandfather's footsteps using her intellect to help capture ghosts. Yet in this film, Phoebe hardly changes all that much throughout the story, save for her desire to be taken more seriously due to her being labelled as too young to be a Ghostbuster. Her interactions with others are nothing more than surface level complaints about her age, meaning that we never really feel sorry for her on a deeper level. I assume Phoebe's character was supposed to have a more detailed arc but it was likely abandoned in favour of focusing on less important creative aspects like nostalgic fanservice.
The three original "Ghostbusters" actors; Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson, also return for another outing as their respective characters. Unfortunately, the trio seem quite unenthusiastic to be here and each look as though they are phoning in their performances. I cannot go into too much detail about their roles in the film without giving away spoilers but I felt underwhelmed by each of their contributions to the story. Still, I will admit that it is nice to see them put on their old Ghostbusters uniforms at least one more time for us, especially after four decades since their debut. There's no denying these three are only doing this film for the paycheque, so hopefully they got their money's worth out of their participation.
From the perspective of a longtime fan, "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" is a sad reminder that some IPs are doomed to be milked for all they are worth by their distribution companies. Had the story ended at "Afterlife", I would have been satisfied to call the film series a trilogy, but its success has now opened the door to more byproducts of corporate greed like this one. According to some research, there are more films planned for release in the future, which has me concerned as I believe there is little else in the way of "Ghostbusters" lore to draw inspiration from. In my humble opinion, Sony should have quit while they were ahead, but so long as "Ghostbusters" remains a profitable name, things will continue in this direction for a long time.
I rate it 5/10.
Two years after the events of "Ghostbusters: Afterlife", Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) and Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) decide to move their family from Oklahoma to New York City. Setting up home in the old Ghostbusters' firehouse, the Spenglers work alongside the original team members Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), and Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) in an underground research lab that holds all of their captured ghosts in specially modified enclosures. One day, local resident Nadeem (Kumail Janjiani) discovers an ancient artefact that unleashes an evil supernatural energy capable of trapping the entire world in a permanent ice age. With the fate of the living now in turmoil, both the new and old Ghostbusters must set aside any generational differences to save the Earth from becoming frozen solid.
After decades of patiently waiting, fans of the "Ghostbusters" franchise were finally treated to a third film in the series with "Ghostbusters: Afterlife". This legacy sequel, which served as a belated continuation of the original two films, managed to find ways to appeal to the current generation while simultaneously paying respects to the older fans who made the series popular in the first place. Though not without its faults, fans such as myself found the film to be a satisfactory follow-up that left us with a good feeling after watching, which is exactly what I had hoped for leading up to its release. If it were up to me, I would have chosen to end the series here on a high note but considering its success at the box office, it was inevitable that Sony Pictures would produce more films somewhere along the pipeline. In the year of the franchise's 40th anniversary, we have "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire", a sequel to a legacy sequel that fails to milk any fresh or exciting ideas out of this beloved series.
Admittedly, the film does begin on a promising note, which I initially assumed was setting the mood for the rest of the story. In a fun opening scene, we watch as the Spengler family chase a large dragon ghost throughout the streets of Manhattan in the Ecto-1. As the spectre weaves its way through the various buildings, the Spenglers hastily try to catch it using an array of devices, including a drone with a ghost trap fitted to the top. Upon successfully bringing the creature's rampage to an end, the Spenglers are reprimanded for the collateral damage they caused in the process, later receiving a lengthy scolding from a certain environmental agent. From this point forward, the film takes a decidedly dour tone, with a general lack of excitement beyond the odd nostalgic references to the older movies. Each of the original two films had a nice blend of humour and horror that helped them become memorable staples of 80s pop culture. With this entry, however, I failed to remember even one remotely amusing part of the film once the end credits started rolling.
This brings us to one of the film's biggest problems; the poor attempts at humour. Whether it's a case of weak direction, a subpar script, or a combination of both, every one of the film's comedic moments fell flat. For example, in one scene Gary tries to motivate Callie during a time where she is depressed and feels unable to continue working. He does this by quoting the lyrics to the "Ghostbusters" theme song, a tune anyone with even a passing knowledge of the series has heard at some point. What could have been an affectionate homage to the franchise's iconic theme becomes an awkward moment that drags on longer than it should. All the potential was there for this scene to be funny, but something felt off about the overall delivery from both Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon. The film is littered with misfired comedy just like this, which certainly puts a hamper on its already downbeat tone. In other words, what should have been cringe comedy is instead simply cringe on its own.
Another problem with the film is its uninteresting story. As mentioned above, the film focuses around an ancient artefact with the ability to bring about an apocalyptic series of events. On paper, this sounds like a perfectly fine plot for a "Ghostbusters" film, but the execution is handled very poorly. For instance, the backstory regarding the artefact is told to the audience in a rather clunky, forced manner; by having a random character played by Patton Oswalt explain it through lengthy exposition accompanied by artistic visuals reflective of that era. Even with all that information provided, we never really feel like this is a genuine threat throughout the whole film. There's no sinister build-up, no sense of real danger, and no reason for the characters to be worried about the long term consequences of them failing their mission. As a result, I found it near impossible to become fully invested in the story this time around.
However, perhaps the film's most notable undoing is in the mishandling of its characters old and new. There are simply too many character subplots intertwining at the same time that the whole film becomes cluttered. If you are going to have a film with such a large cast of characters, you better find an appropriate way to use them within the story. Unfortunately, the film fails at that in every way possible, as we are instead subjected to irrelevant plot elements that go nowhere and characters whose presence is only there for fanservice purposes only.
Like in its predecessor, the film's protagonist is Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), the bespectacled young girl who follows in her grandfather's footsteps using her intellect to help capture ghosts. Yet in this film, Phoebe hardly changes all that much throughout the story, save for her desire to be taken more seriously due to her being labelled as too young to be a Ghostbuster. Her interactions with others are nothing more than surface level complaints about her age, meaning that we never really feel sorry for her on a deeper level. I assume Phoebe's character was supposed to have a more detailed arc but it was likely abandoned in favour of focusing on less important creative aspects like nostalgic fanservice.
The three original "Ghostbusters" actors; Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson, also return for another outing as their respective characters. Unfortunately, the trio seem quite unenthusiastic to be here and each look as though they are phoning in their performances. I cannot go into too much detail about their roles in the film without giving away spoilers but I felt underwhelmed by each of their contributions to the story. Still, I will admit that it is nice to see them put on their old Ghostbusters uniforms at least one more time for us, especially after four decades since their debut. There's no denying these three are only doing this film for the paycheque, so hopefully they got their money's worth out of their participation.
From the perspective of a longtime fan, "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" is a sad reminder that some IPs are doomed to be milked for all they are worth by their distribution companies. Had the story ended at "Afterlife", I would have been satisfied to call the film series a trilogy, but its success has now opened the door to more byproducts of corporate greed like this one. According to some research, there are more films planned for release in the future, which has me concerned as I believe there is little else in the way of "Ghostbusters" lore to draw inspiration from. In my humble opinion, Sony should have quit while they were ahead, but so long as "Ghostbusters" remains a profitable name, things will continue in this direction for a long time.
I rate it 5/10.