I was a fan of ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ and the effort it made to create fresh new avenues for this franchise to explore, whilst honouring the original’s legacy. It seems appropriate then for ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ to bring things back to a standard monster-of-the-week setting. Delivering a nostalgia-high sequel that progresses the story on, ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ is an entertaining watch, even if a few missteps curb this instalment from really going full-throttle.
It’s been a while since the Spengler family helped save the world with the help of the original Ghostbusters Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), with Janine Melnitz in-tow (Annie Potts). Having now moved into the infamous Firestation HQ bought by Winston, Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) and her kids Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) have taken on their father and grandfather’s legacy and are now working as full-time Ghostbusters in NYC, just like Egon Spengler did. Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) is still dating Callie and is working as a Ghostbuster too, whilst Winston helps keep the lights on, and Ray is always on-hand for paranormal advice. When New York literally freezes over during its hottest summer and some insanely weird happenings start manifesting across the city, who you gonna call?
After doing a great job with ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’, it’s great to see the whole gang return for this brand-new spooky adventure. After co-scripting the last movie with Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan now graduates to writer/director of this latest instalment and the film manages to conjure up a setting and an adventure that’s really fitting for the beloved Ghostbusters legacy. It’s a shame then, that the film noticeably lags in the beginning and is lacking an action set-piece early on to properly tie the film together. There are some great ideas that aren’t fleshed out enough, and some missed opportunities for easy-wins that could have really made this film a firm favourite for GB fans everywhere. But regardless of this, ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ is still a very entertaining watch and features the right levels of scares and humour to make this an unmistakable chapter in Ghostbusters lore.
The entire cast of the last film including Paul Rudd, Mckenna Grace, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Logan Kim, Celeste O’Connor and ‘Ghostbusters’ legacy greats Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts, all make welcome returns. Rudd and Coon share a brilliant chemistry, Wolfhard, Kim and O’Connor all develop their respective characters well, with McKenna Grace still really impressing as Phoebe Spengler, who is the main focus of the story once again, and whose shoulders you can clearly see this franchise resting on in the future.
The legacy greats also feature well, with Murray naturally stealing his scenes and both Hudson and Aykroyd in the film much more than expected (which is great news). Throw in new faces like Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Emily Alyn Lind, Britain’s own James Acaster (who is surprisingly brilliant as Lars Pinfield and should have been used more) and even a welcome franchise return to William Atherton (as Walter Peck), and you have a sure-fire crowd-pleaser.
Whilst there are things that it could have improved on, ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ is still a very enjoyable addition to the series and sets things up well for the future. It always honours the legacy of the original films, and it gives us a well-established and exciting new way forward too. The story feels like something that could have featured in an episode of the excellent animated series ‘The Real Ghostbusters’, featuring a scary villain that looks truly incredible onscreen, and with an ensemble who all work brilliantly together. ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ is a very enjoyable way to kick of the blockbuster season and guarantees a fun night out at the movies.
Cast: Paul Rudd, Mckenna Grace, Carrie Coon, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Finn Wolfhard, Logan Kim, Celeste O’Connor, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Emily Alyn Lind, James Acaster, William Atherton Director: Gil Kenan Writer: Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman Certificate: 12A Duration: 115 mins Released by: Sony Release date: 22nd March 2024
