As a lifelong Ghostbusters fan “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” is a nostalgic ECTO-1-driven joyride offering up all the trademarks of the 40-year-old franchise. It’s a beloved continuation that serves as a loving tribute to the late Ivan Reitman. “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” is also an all-out ghostbusting adventure set on the streets of New York City and finally, after all these years, back at the Firehouse. The film is reminiscent of the Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters animated series; the cartoons have leapt into live-action. It’s an emotional and hilarious coming-of-age story about friends, family, and, of course, ghosts. Taking the helm of a Ghostbusters film is a responsibility that shouldn’t be taken lightly, but writer/director Gil Kenan has truly delivered a confident step forward for the franchise as a whole! Because it’s the perfect way to honor an iconic franchise while simultaneously accelerating and pushing the ghost trap into the future.
As with all films in the franchise, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” is an entry point for new moviegoers and new audiences who have never seen a Ghostbusters movie before, and to also satisfy diehard Ghostheads like myself, who are absolutely in love with this iconic franchise, and also those who have been at every opening day since 1984. In picking up the reins, Kenan takes the franchise’s themes and messages and makes them his own. With Ghostbusters: Afterlife, there were very personal themes to director Jason Reitman, the son of the late Ivan Reitman, that were showcased throughout. Afterlife was truly an emotional and touching film about the passing of a generational torch and seeing whether the characters in that story could look at their heritage and accept their destiny. Now, three years later, the story continues as the Ghostbusters return to their old haunts in lower Manhattan to face their most terrifying (and hilarious) threats yet. Reitman and Kenan once again co-wrote “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.” However, Reitman this time takes on producing duties and Kenan directs. What I gathered throughout Gil’s filmography is that there has always been a question about how to define home—the principle of “Frozen Empire.” Is this story of a family trying to find a way to ground themselves, to have a place they can hold onto, and ultimately a place to define themselves as a family
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In “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire”, the Spengler family returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artefact unleashes an army of ghosts that casts a death chill upon the city, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.
Afterlife ended with the Ghostbusters taking the Ecto-1 back to the Tribeca firehouse. where it all began, and that is where “Frozen Empire” picks things up. They’re learning to become a family and have made the firehouse their home, their workshop, and their laboratory. However, it isn’t easy when the place where you live and grow up is also the place where you work. Part of their tension is the interplay between life and work and ultimately finding the balance. The firepoles lead from the bedrooms down to the kitchen, then down to the lockers where they put on their flight suits and strap on their proton packs; the car is on the ground floor. That natural tension between who we are as a family and who we are as Ghostbusters is right at the centre of this story.
In New York, the Ghostbusters encounter new characters who will hold some answers to the new threat facing the city. At the centre of the story, an object comes into their possession, an old brass orb that’s right up Ray Stantz’s alley – and indeed, its PKE readings are off the charts. However, it turns out that the orb is an ancient jail holding the terrifying demon Garraka. Garraka’s power is “the death chill” – he freezes people in fright. And this is no ordinary frostbite – his supernatural power can ice out every ounce of your body – causing you to shatter into tiny crystals. And not just you — Garraka can unleash a devastating, unrelenting evil, capable of deep-freezing the earth and everyone on it.
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The cast additions and inventive storytelling keep things feeling fresh and new. Ghostbusters: Afterlife was an incredible return to the world of Ghostbusters that fans didn’t think was possible. It added emotional depth and re-connected us with the original characters we loved so much. But “Frozen Empire” is the long-lost Ghostbusters movie we have all been waiting for. It’s a Ghostbusters movie for Ghostbusters fans. It’s everything I’ve always known Ghostbusters had the potential to be.
Throughout the film, it was so good to see Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts, I was grinning from ear to ear from start to finish. The performances, action, and moments are all able to recapture the magic of the original. Helping the film stand on its own two legs. The OG Ghostbusters… Winston Zeddemore has become the keeper of the flame as the only living Ghostbuster with a head on his shoulders – having made his fortune, He has kept the firehouse going and started the new Paranormal Research Center. Ray Stantz still has his occult bookshop and has hired Podcast to bring him into the modern Age. Janine Melnitz will always have a home in the firehouse and it was so good to finally see her suit up much like her counterpart in The Real Ghostbusters. Honestly, it was long overdue. And Venkman… well, who can ever know what Peter’s up to?
All of the characters have to face the fact that they are leading very different lives than they did four decades earlier.
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McKenna Grace shines and stands out once again as Phoebe Spengler, and it felt nice to see the crew return to NYC. Though, it is the bond of the Spengler family made up of Carrie Coon’s Callie, Mckenna Grace’s Phoebe, Finn Wolfhard’s Trevor, and Paul Rudd’s Gary that is the beating heart of the film. While being the Ghostbusters team, the dynamics between them as the two teenagers grow into adults capture a great coming-of-age tone to the film. The film’s first two acts are full of world and lore building and character development. There is no question that with Rudd, Coon, Wolfhard, and Grace as our main Ghostbusters, the franchise is in safe hands. The four of them dazzle on screen as a family unit.
Also returning are Celeste O’Connor as Lucky and Logan Kim as Podcast. Lucky has moved to the Big Apple and had the amazing opportunity to have an internship with the Ghostbusters in New York City as an engineer. Podcast’s relationship with Ray Stantz has expanded ever since he found out that the legendary Ghostbuster was the novice’s one and only fan.
We’re also introduced to new characters that expand the lore and mythology of the Ghostbusters. Nadeem, who’s played by Kumail Nanjiani, is an aimless slacker selling off his late grandmother’s old possessions from scratch to survive. Nanjiani is truly having a good time playing this character and Patton Oswalt joins the fun as Dr. Hubert Wartzki, a librarian with an amusingly deep knowledge of supernatural arcana. Making his motion picture debut is British comedian James Acaster, playing Lars, a Scientist with Winston Zeddemore’s Paranormal Research Center.