The original “Ghostbusters” films were not constructed to kick off a huge franchise with regular installments akin to Marvel films. Those original two films were tightly crafted comedies dripping in satire and dry wit thoroughly unfit for that treatment. Yet, four decades later, because those films have a recognizable name and famous iconography, that seems to be where that franchise is heading.
“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” is a direct sequel to “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which served as a soft reboot to those original two films from the 1980s. The grandkids of deceased Ghostbuster Egon Spengler return, with Trevor Spengler (Finn Wolfhard) being a directionless 18 year-old, while Phoebe Spengler (Mckenna Grace) is now an awkward 15 year-old who is the smartest person on the new Ghostbusters roster, but is overly naive and reckless.
The previous film’s Oklahoma setting has been left far behind, as Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) and her boyfriend, Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd), have reclaimed the old Ghostbusters headquarters in New York City thanks to the financial support of veteran Ghostbuster Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson). The mayor of New York City (William Atherton) is the real villain of this film, as he tries to shut the Ghostbusters down, coming down particularly hard on Phoebe, whom he tries to bar form Ghostbusting because she’s a minor.
Our main ghost bad guy is Garraka, an ancient ice god who is immune to proton pack beams. He’s been imprisoned in a bronze ball for thousands of years, until the grandson of his last guardian — an oaf named Nadeem Razmaad (Kumail Nanjiani) — unwittingly sells the contraption to retired Ghostbuster Ray Stanz (Dan Aykroyd).
Aside from the classic firehouse, the Ghostbusters also have a research compound run by Lars Pinfield (James Acaster) and staffed by the Spenglers’ peers from Oklahoma, Lucky Domingo (Celeste O’Connor) and Podcast (Logan Kim).
In addition to Hudson and Aykroyd, Bill Murray also reprises his role from the original films. He shows up for a handful of sequences and has a minor role. He is there presumably for the paycheck, as unlike Aykroyd and Hudson, it doesn’t seem like Murray wants to be here or a big part of this universe again.
The film unsuccessfully juggles its three casts (the Spengler family, the lab staff and the original Ghostbusters). Only Phoebe and Gary have developed arcs, as Phoebe learns that she can’t just rush into things headstrong and Gary tries to be more assertive so Phoebe and Trevor will take him serious as a father figure.
Everyone else’s arcs are either half baked or nonexistent. The film is constantly rushing to its next thing that it doesn’t really give anyone any opportunity to grow or even react to this world.
Garraka was a refreshing villain in concept, though his execution is lackluster. I’m glad that the film did not retread old Ghostbusters villains, but Garraka is just given too little screen time for us to care. His overreliance on unconvincing CGI also thoroughly breaks any suspension of disbelief — or any hope of fear — I had during his scenes.
This film plays it too safe and feels like what would happen if Marvel produced a “Ghostbusters” film. It had an outline for a good movie but it is held back by a bloated ensemble cast it doesn’t know what to do with and a talentless writers’ room.
This is miles above “Ghostbusters” (2016), but aside from being not terrible, it’s a letdown in almost every way as a sequel to “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.” If a third “Afterlife” sequel is greenlit, it needs to get back to basics from a character and world perspective. It’s OK to have some flat characters in your film, but when almost every character in your ensemble cast is one, you have too many of them.
At that point, they only serve to clutter the screen and take time away from those with arcs that need a little more time to fully realize.
“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” gets a 7/10
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