Ghostbusters: Afterlife, from director Jason Reitman, son of original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, is a film made for the fans of Ghostbusters with almost every scene bursting with love and praise for the franchise and its fans. The original’s lore is treated as gospel and entire set-pieces are built around fan service. But does a film made for fans result in a good film?
The plot follows science geek Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), her older brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and their struggling mother Callie (Carrie Coon) who are forced to live on a dirt farm in a small mid-western town left to them by Callie’s deadbeat father and one of the original ghost-busters Egon Spengler. When Phoebe and Trevor discover their grandfather’s ghostbusting past, along with the help of Phoebe’s science teacher Mr. Grooberson (Paul Rudd), the siblings team up with new friends Podcast (Logan Kim) and Lucky (Celeste O’Connor) to form a new ghost-busting team to fight the town’s rising paranormal activity.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife spends its entire runtime trying to please fans of the original, stuffing the film with references and Easter eggs and the third act is specifically designed to elicit cheers and tears from fans. But it could not be more a different film from the original. While the original is an irreverent, cynical and hilarious comedy, Afterlife is a deadly serious drama that treats the irreverent first film with the utmost reverence and delivers only a mere handful of mild chuckles, which is disappointing considering it’s a sequel to one of the funniest comedies ever made. It’s an achingly earnest film that wallows in nostalgia for a film that was about cynicism and irreverence.
The plot is formulaic and predictable and the cast is solid, but characters like Trevor and Lucky are given nothing to do. But despite its flaws, it’s not a bad film. The action is fun with the Ecto-1 chase scene being one of the funniest action scenes in any blockbuster in 2021. The effects are great and if you’re in for the fan-service and references, you will likely walk away from Ghostbusters: Afterlife satisfied. My audience of enthusiastic fans certainly was!
Reviewed by Jordan Ellis
Ghostbusters: Afterlife opens on New Year’s Day
Fan service! 2 stars
