The “Ghostbusters” franchise seems stuck in some sort of loophole. It heads into familiar places in its narrative while reinventing (or rebooting) itself, losing sight of what made the original a hit each time. I am not a particular fan of the films. I think the franchise has been aging like milk instead of wine. But I do understand why many have grown attached to it throughout the decades. A significant nostalgia factor is involved, one that feels forced by the studios yet embraced by audiences worldwide… at least to some degree. In 2021, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” was made as a “thank you” note for the “fans” who still made the franchise a staple in pop culture (aka, the same ones who started multiple unnecessary rants on social media about the female-led 2016 film).
A New Legacy Sequel From a Franchise Running Cold
Instead of doing the same thing again, the film had a “Stranger Things” narrative shift. With this change, you can catch the attention of younger viewers while making adults who grew up with “Ghostbusters” go and watch it. While director Jason Reitman had his heart in the right place, the film was a mess—its popcorn entertainment was stale, unfocused, and unimaginative. You felt that the director and producers involved didn’t know the target audience. Even if it was said to be for the “fans” on paper, in execution, it is aimed at anybody and nobody. This is even more evident in the legacy sequel to that reboot, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.” If you thought the 2021 feature was dull and full of cheap nostalgia dumps, hold on to your hats because this one is far worse.
We follow the Spengler family—Callie (the always marvelous Carrie Coon), Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard)—two years after the incidents in the previous film, where they become the new batch of Ghostbusters who will save the day. They have relocated to New York City and made the best out of their new roles as paranormal entity hunters. The film wastes little to no time, giving the audience the ghostbusting action for which they have paid their tickets. It seems too frantic to start with all of this. Director Gil Kenan immediately places us near the ghosts and ghouls roaming the city. He embraces the new yet familiar setting with some fresh eyes due to the focus on the new Ghostbusters team. But he procrastinates when moving the story forward.
“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” stacks up too many unnecessary subplots that don’t necessarily add a more profound level of characterization or narrative development. They are just loose moments with no thread to what’s later in the film. It fills itself with too much baggage, weighing down what little is left of an intriguing factor in the narrative. After those moments, we learn about this new entity trapped inside an ancient artifact. If the Ghostbusters don’t stop it in time, this phantom, known as “the death chill,” will unleash a second ice age. The city and its people are turning into icicles. The image of seeing someone frozen to death is quite bone-chilling, both literally and metaphorically.
The Effects of Nostalgia as Your Storytelling Device
A scene from “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” (Photo by. SONY Pictures).
For a film with a supernatural entity destroying a city inside and out, Gil Kenan and writer-producer Jason Reitman don’t know how to convey those horrors into something containing tension or dread. I understand that the “Ghostbusters” franchise doesn’t focus on the horror side of things. Instead, the films rely on the comedy from the screenplay and the charm of its actors. However, if this is a reinvention, more should be at stake. Make the audience feel the worry of the characters. The new crew is in disarray, although they don’t show it in their performances. What will they ever do? The younglings can’t do it alone. They have only dealt with smaller creatures. So, who are they going to call? Well… you know who.
The original Ghostbusters—Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts—are roped back into this world, all lacking that effervescent charisma that made these characters ever so likable. (Not even Bill Murray manages to make the viewer laugh. His performance reflects the soulless, mechanical procedure of the screenplay.) They arrive at the scene with a proton pack in one hand and a hefty check in the other. And that is part of the big problem this film has. Like the film that precedes this one, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” is excessively reliant on capturing the nostalgic factor—by not only bringing the original cast to reprise their roles but also referencing the entire Ghostbusters mythos—that it doesn’t feel like a project that is supposed to be considered alone.
This is yet another installment of a franchise with no vision or care put into it. The film wants to seize a feeling rather than tell a story. You have Slimer, the tiny Stay Puft marshmallow men, the colander hat, and the librarian ghost, amongst other things. And they all feel like forced reminiscence rather than genuine creations. It is almost sickening and gut-wrenching. The Hollywood machine has grown accustomed to creating this sensation, which is somewhat disheartening and exhausting. By forcing yourself to recreate something that has lost its touch without a sole reason to do so or a unique spin on it, the result is something rather lazy than entertaining, taxing rather than clear-cut.
“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” hit theaters worldwide on March 22nd, 2024.
