Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Celeste O’Connor, Logan Kim, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd

Director: Gil Kenan

What’s Good: Paul Rudd is always a delight along with Carrie Coon, one of the best actresses out there.

What’s Bad: It delves very quickly into nostalgia bait, and once it is in that territory it refuses to get out of there, even when the new characters beg for their attention.

Loo Break: The first and second acts have a lot of meandering, so if you need to step out for a moment, there’s the opportunity.

Watch or Not?: Watch only if you are a huge Ghostbusters fan; if not, then maybe see Godzilla x Kong, which works harder to keep moving forward with its concepts and characters.

Language: English

Available On: Theaters

Runtime: 115 Minutes

User Rating:

A successful blockbuster often means that a sequel is not far behind, whether it was planned or not is of little consequence, but sometimes this method of making sequels as you go along can have some very bad consequences, and it seems like Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is the result of that. While the film looks good and hits all the right notes that a sequel should hit, it feels hollow in its execution. The actors seem to be there for the paycheck and nothing else.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Movie Review: Script Analysis

Yes, it might sound harsh, but watching Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is an experience that I didn’t enjoy very much. The story follows the events from the previous movie, Afterlife, and sees our newly formed Spengler family following the steps of the past by keeping the ghostbusters business alive. However, when things don’t go as planned, the family seeks the help of an expert team, who you would have guessed by now are the main characters from the original films.

The journey through memory lane is quite fantastic, and it is great to see three of the four original Ghostbusters back in their overalls, but as the movie doubles down more and more on nostalgia, it loses its sense of self, and the new characters feel more as an afterthought, struggling to find their own space in a movie that should have them as the main characters. This is exactly the same thing that happened with Jurassic World-Dominion, bringing back the old actors to replay their characters, even if it doesn’t make much sense for the story.

The final result is a film with too many characters, which also leads to not having enough time or story to give each one of them their due, and the movie ends up feeling a lot less captivating. The script tries hard to give Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) the main spot she deserves as a character, but she cannot compete with Bill Murray’s Venkman, and so by the time the movie ends, you know that her story as the main character should have been so much more exciting probably if the movie didn’t have multiple other characters running around asking for attention.

Having just enough characters to tell the story is a sign of good writing, all characters should have a purpose and intervene as much as they need to, but in movies like Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the characters are kept around even if they are not needed. So get ready for a lot of empty conversations and moments that feel like filler. There’s a good movie trapped inside Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, but it needed to break away from the nostalgia bait philosophy, at least as much as Afterlife did.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Movie Review: Star Performance

McKenna Grace is great as Phoebe, her arc shows real growth of the character, and it is also particularly interesting in a way that only a movie like Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire can afford to be, which is why it feels a bit of a shame when the movie has to split its attention in so many other directions. Rudd and Coon do what they do best, and their presence is always appreciated. They keep the movie grounded even when everything else around them breaks into chaos. Finn Wolfhard is not that lucky, and his character feels barely present.

And of course, what most people have been waiting for is the return of Hudson, Murray and Aykroyd, but they are not alone, bringing with them Annie Potts as well, another veteran from the series. It is great to see them back in their uniforms, but the movie focuses way too much on them.