MontiLee Stormer started her review by saying, “Had I
written this within hours of seeing Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024), this
review may have been more favorable. Given time to marinate and process, this
sequel to the 2021 reboot doesn’t have the razzle-dazzle, given the star power
behind it.”
The Spengler family, Callie (Carrie Coon), Trevor
(Finn Wolfhard), and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), as well as Gary Grooberson (Paul
Rudd) have moved into the old Firehouse and have taken the title of the
Official Ghostbusters of New York. While good at giving a solid public service,
there comes so much collateral damage, angering Mayor William Peck, reprised by
William Atherton, last seen in the original “Ghostbusters” as the EPA inspector
that ordered the Ecto-Containment Unit to be shut down. Phoebe, while a smart
kid and fearless, is sidelined, and legally unable to handle the proton packs
or help capture ghosts because he is 15. She makes a friend, Melody, played by
Emily Alyn Lind, a lonely teen ghost and wants to be with her own deceased
family. Meanwhile, a strange man named Radeem (Kumail Nanjiani) brings so much
of his grandmother’s stuff to Dr. Ray Stantz (Dan Ackyrod), still running Ray’s
Occult. One of the objects is a powerful orb, solid and able to bring so much
cold and seismic activity. As you might have guessed, all of this connected and
brings about great danger unless certain stuff happens from a lot of loose
storylines.
Stormer admitted, “The trailers for Ghostbusters:
Frozen Empire look profoundly unsettling but that may not be the movie you’re
expecting. Instead of going for thrills, it settles for family-friendly scares
and pulls a lot of punches, going instead for light-hearted fun, some pseudo-science,
and a darling little teen crush (and not the one you’re expecting).” Because it’s
targeting for a younger audience, included in the sequel are two children from “Ghostbusters:
Afterlife,” Podcast (Logan Kim) and Lucky (Celest O’Conner) mysteriously
brought from Summerville, OK. Podcast works for Ray and Lucky works for
Winston, reprised by Ernie Hudson. Necessary? Not really. Wouldn’t Trevor and
Phoebe make new friends in New York? Stormer answered, “No one wanted to think
that hard and they needed to pad the situational dramedy with young faces.”
Stormer continued, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is
front-loaded with family drama and teen angst, and is very, very light on the
actual ghosts, at least ghosts we haven’t already seen. Aside from Melody, who
appears as a wispy teen in her own wispy blue tendrils of flame, there are at
least two callbacks to the original Ghostbusters, one a Non-Terminal Repeating
Phantasm (Class V Full Roaming Vapor) and the other is a Class IV Semi-Anchored
Entity. To avoid spoilers, I won’t name them, but they’re recognizable enough.
At 115 minutes, there was room for more encounters with new ghosts.”
There is less storytelling than worldbuilding, probably
for another sequel, depending on what happens. Unfortunately, it feels familiar
and in a city like New York, the story should be bigger and carry and heavier
cost. Stormer noted, “Plus, the place is still crawling with mini Sta-Puft
Marshmallow men that are the size of Hasbro Trolls, but suspiciously
reminiscent of the Adipose in Doctor Who. They aren’t very menacing, just
psychotically curious and blissfully unaware of their own self-preservation.”
The plot isn’t complicated, but it feels a lot with
multiple storylines included to fill in the last 20 minutes. “Ghostbusters:
Frozen Empire” brings back the old team – again, including Janine (Annie Potts)
and Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) who aren’t given a lot to do, along with Patton
Oswalt who plays a version of Patton Oswalt (but the character’s name is Dr.
Hubert Wartzki) who works out of a library basement and knows things. This is
all very simple stuff.
Mckenna Grace’s Phoebe continues to carry on the
legacy of Egon Spengler, both intelligently curious and logical to a fault. Stormer
said, “Setting aside the original crew for all of their complaints about their
sunset years, she’s a solid bridge to the past, and could likely carry a film
on her own. It would have been nice to see Finn Wolfgard’s Trevor develop a
personality and do more than sigh heavily and make puppy-dog eyes at Celest
O’Conner’s Lucky, but Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was just too busy with the 13
other characters.”
Stormer continued, “Director Gil Kenan, responsible
for another paranormal retread, Poltergeist (2015) is given a lot of ideas to
work with, but not a lot of dramatic capital. There’s no way to keep emotional
investment and tension with comedic pratfalls, mis-timed sight gags, and
unrealistic deus ex machina. You’re trying to tell me a state-of-the-art
containment unit holding an unknown number of paranormal entities relies upon
only a single generator that takes 10 seconds to reboot?”
Stormer went on, “While Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is
a fine enough film to take the kids to, and the merchandising is already in
full swing, I was expecting something more modern.” Instead, we get another
ancient evil spirit who’s waited thousands of years to destroy everyone. If we
get another “Ghostbusters” sequel, hopefully it gives us something to really be
scared of.
I don’t think this is as bad as everyone says it is.
Yes, there are a lot of characters with different storylines thrown in here,
which makes it convoluted and a mess. However, there is still humor and the
visual effects are still great. Overall, I find this to be ok and better than
the 2016 film, but the least of the ones in the original storyline. Check it
out if you like on Netflix.
Thank you for joining in on this review tonight. Stay
tuned to see what excitement I have next month.
No comments:
Post a Comment