Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) Columbia/Comedy-Horror RT: 124 minutes Rated PG-13 (supernatural action and some suggestive references) Director: Jason Reitman Screenplay: Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman Music: Rob Simonsen Cinematography: Eric Steelberg Release date: November 19, 2021 (US) Cast: Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Celeste O’Connor, Logan Kim, Bokeem Woodbine, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, Oliver Cooper, Tracy Letts. Box Office: $129.4M (US)/$204.3M (World)
Rating: ** ½
The sequel Ghostbusters: Afterlife isn’t the original or anywhere close. I didn’t expect it to be. The good news is that it’s not as bad as it could have been. The bad news is it still doesn’t measure up. Something’s definitely missing. It’s missing the comic energy that made the 1984 movie an instant classic. Headlined by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and the late Harold Ramis, Ghostbusters was a comedy first and foremost. Ghostbusters: Afterlife isn’t. It’s different. It feels more like a condensed season of Stranger Things than a Ghostbusters sequel. I’m not even sure I can call it a comedy. It’s more of a drama with elements of comedy and horror.
The initial premise evokes memories of 80s-era Steven Spielberg. An imperfect family moves to a small rural town only to discover it’s a hotbed of supernatural activity. The protagonist of Ghostbusters: Afterlife is 12YO Phoebe (Grace, Annabelle Comes Home), a socially awkward nerdy kid with an aptitude for science. She’s forced to relocate to middle-of-nowhere Summerville, OK with her big brother Trevor (Wolfhard, Stranger Things) after their frazzled single mother Callie (Coon, The Leftovers) gets them evicted from their Chicago apartment. It seems her recently deceased grandfather owned property there, a dilapidated farm strewn with junked cars and sheets of rusted metal emblazoned with words from Revelations. It’s hardly an ideal situation, but it’s all they’ve got.
Trevor takes a job at a local fast food joint where he meets Lucky (O’Connor, Freaky), a plucky waitress whose family has lived in Summerville for four generations, while Phoebe is enrolled in summer school in hopes that she will finally make some friends. She does, a local kid who calls himself Podcast (Kim) because of his podcast dealing with the supernatural. Their teacher is Gary Grooberson (Rudd, Ant-Man), a seismologist whose methods involve showing the kids VHS tapes of horror movies (e.g. Cujo, Child’s Play).
What I’m about to say doesn’t qualify as a spoiler since it was already revealed in the trailers which have been running since 2019 thanks to COVID (yes, another delayed release). The dead grandfather is, in fact, Egon Spengler, the Ghostbuster played by Ramis. He’s been estranged from daughter Callie all her life. She never met him and is bitter about it. Phoebe, on the other hand, is a chip off the old block. She even looks like Egon. It’s she who first realizes something is up. There’s a paranormal presence in the house and it leads her to a secret lair where she discovers who Grandpa was. Meanwhile, Trevor comes across the old ECTO-1 and gets her running again.
So yes, there is something strange in the neighborhood (sorry, couldn’t resist) and it involves an old, abandoned mine in a nearby mountain. It also involves Ivo Shandor, the occultist/architect who designed the building (aka “Spook Central”) in the first movie, and (SPOILER ALERT!) the return of Gozer the Gozerian. It’s up to the kids and their new friends to save the day and the world.
Director/co-writer Jason Reitman (Juno), son of original director Ivan, takes a noticeably more serious approach to Ghostbusters: Afterlife. While it doesn’t prove fatal, it does make for a rather bizarre viewing experience. Instead of funny throughout, it’s only occasionally amusing. It’s mostly about these kids investigating the weirdness going on in their town. On that level, it’s reasonably entertaining. It seems like the younger Reitman wants to give Ghostbusters: Afterlife an identity of its own, but also wants to pay homage to the original by trotting out familiar gags, props, lines and characters. That’s all well and good, but it feels inconsistent with the rest of the movie. At one point, a character asks to make a phone call and somebody says….. I think you know. It’s as big an eye-roller as it sounds.
It would be impossible to put together as awesome a cast as the original Ghostbusters. In my own personal opinion, none of today’s “comedy stars” are as funny or talented as Murray, Aykroyd and Ramis. I shudder to think how a Ghostbusters sequel would turn out with Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and Michael Cera in the lead roles. Thank God Reitman didn’t go that way. That being said, let’s look at what he did do. Mckenna Grace does great work as Phoebe. This is a brilliant kid who tries to compensate for her social shortcomings by telling bad jokes that always land with a thud. She plays the role with deadpan conviction. This kid is going places, I’m certain of it. The same goes for Wolfhard as a typical sullen teen trying to fit in with his peers. Coon has some good scenes with co-star Rudd whose character she starts dating.
The special effects in Ghostbusters: Afterlife are mighty impressive. Sure, I prefer the old school FX of the original, but the ones in the new movie are great too. I’m especially fond of the scene in Wal-Mart where Rudd’s character comes under attack by a horde of miniature Stay-Puft Marshmallow men. One shot is reminiscent of one of the more gruesome scenes in Gremlins, one involving a blender.
SPOILER ALERT! I don’t know if this is actually a spoiler as it’s been known for a while, but most of the original cast shows up in character in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. This includes Murray, Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson as well as Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts. Don’t count out Ramis; Reitman finds a way to work him in and it’s beautiful really. It’s as touching a goodbye as one could expect. The film is dedicated to Ramis too. In any event, it’s great to see the guys come together for one more job. They’ve aged, but they’ve still got it.
In general, I like Ghostbusters: Afterlife even if it doesn’t reach the insane comic heights of the one that started it all. It starts out slowly, but gets better as it goes along. A couple of notes; it completely disregards the 2016 all-girl reboot (it’s the true Ghostbusters III) and there are two bonus scenes, one mid-credits and one at the very end (it’s worth sticking around for!). No surprise, the stage is set for future installments and I wouldn’t mind seeing where things go from here. I just hope Reitman ups the comedy ante.
