Movie Review: Ghostbusters – Afterlife
Rated PG-13 for supernatural action and some suggestive references
Up until 2015, I knew that there were fans of the Ghostbusters films, but I never thought some could be on the same level of obsessive behavior like fans of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series.
Even though the original film’s cast seemed fine with director Paul Feig’s 2016 Ghostbusters film, (set in an alternate universe where four women go into the ghostbusting business) it was hounded as soon as it was announced, and the vitriol still hasn’t subsided after 5 years, with some still acting as if the film’s creation was a crime against humanity.
When it came to an actual sequel to the 1980’s films, rumors had swirled around for years, but with the death of Harold Ramis (aka Egon Spengler) in 2014, it looked like that was the end…until Jason Reitman announced in 2019 that a sequel was in the works.
After the Covid-19 pandemic delayed release of the film for over a year, Ghostbusters: Afterlife has finally been unleashed upon the world.
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When a woman named Callie (Carrie Coon) has learned that her reclusive father has died, she packs up her kids Phoebe (McKenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), and heads to Summerville, Oklahoma.
While Callie finds nothing but a dilapidated old farm, her kids find a number of items, that begin to clue them into their unknown Grandfather’s past life.
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Right from the start, the mood of the film is different from the typical atmosphere of a Ghostbusters film. Summerville is a far cry from New York, with its expanses of farmland and small-town main street. Aside from Callie’s reclusive father, the only thing more mysterious are seismic tremors that rattle the town on a daily basis. The tone of most scenes almost seems to invoke the mood of retro fare like Stranger Things and Super 8, mixed in with the mise en scene of films made under Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment production banner (like E.T. and The Goonies).
Once the family is situated, the focus of the film largely shifts over to Phoebe. Grace’s performance is the highlight of the film, as her character bounces between scientific interests, and trying to be more “normal” (usually in the form of her telling numerous hit-or-miss jokes).
Aside from Phoebe, the rest of the films characters barely register beyond just basic, one-note personality traits.
Callie just goes on and on about her hatred towards her absent father, while Trevor is the smart-mouthed, resident mechanic of the family who happens to find a familiar (to us) vehicle, and just decides to fix it. The film also attempts to shoehorn in a minor “thing” between him and a girl named Lucky (Celeste O’Connor), but the story never seems willing to properly develop anything resembling a relationship.
A highlight for some is most likely going to be the inclusion of Paul Rudd as local teacher Mr Grooberson, but even his time in the film is fleeting. At the most, he’s the avatar for the major film fans, notably once some familiar technology begins to show up.
With the screenplay co-written by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan (director of Monster House and the 2015 Poltergeist remake), there are times it feels like the film is at odds with itself. It’s a tug-of-war situation between doing something different, and falling into repetition based around some major elements from the first film (in case you were wondering, the film quietly retcons the existence of Ghostbusters II).
There are times where I felt like I was watching someone’s adapted Ghostbusters fanfiction come to life. This was most prevalent when the film lingers on familiar iconography, or shoehorns in references that don’t make much sense. Jason Reitman has made films I’ve enjoyed before (such as Juno and Thank You For Smoking), but the overall tone of this film feels a bit amateurish at times. Some sequences feel like they were hacked down in an attempt to get to “the good stuff,” let alone the lack of much meaningful character development beyond just Phoebe.
That isn’t to say this film is bereft of involving scenes. I did find myself getting excited during a high-speed chase using the Ecto-1 vehicle. Seeing it skid around corners with the young actors working together, felt like the most exciting “new” thing in the film, but later scenes never quite captured the camaraderie of those few minutes.
Also rather odd, is the musical tone of the piece. Composer Rob Simonsen utilizes a number of musical flourishes from the 1984 film, but they don’t seem to fit naturally in a number of places. There’s some familiar tones that will surely cue some audience members into where this film is going, while a piano melody that sounds just perfect amidst bustling street traffic, seems an odd choice when it pops up several times in the film.
There also is a rather non-chalant way in which some people react to spirits. Not that one would expect someone to run off screaming, but when one event happens to Phoebe (and later her mother), they treat the happening with no emotion at all. Heck, when Phoebe begins having a chess game with a spectral opponent, she just keeps it to herself like this is just an everyday occurrence!
Aside from McKenna Grace’s performance and a few choice moments, Afterlife just ends up puttering along on nostalgia, willing to play it safe and please its fans, rather than go down new roads and take risks. My big question is in regards to those who are looking at this film as some sort of masterpiece: once the “nostalgic anesthetic” wears off, will they look back on this film in 5 years, and still feel the same?
Final Grade: C
The Entertainment Nut 