Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) is a fan-made passion project at its finest. Writer-director Jason Reitman's father Ivan directed the original two movies that starred Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and the late Harold Ramis as the titular ghost-hunting and containing team from New York City. Those films' style and lasting influence are evident in this new installment of the beloved '80s franchise, which does a fine job of scaling the movie down to a more intimate level while coming close to balancing the dual tones of light-hearted wittiness and genuine scares of the original films. Is this legacy sequel better than the original 1984 classic? Not by a longshot. Yet is this a new standard for movie studios on how they can adequately deliver fan service after a poorly received reboot? You bet. With all that out of the way, here is my spoiler-filled review of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, a.k.a. the long-awaited Ghostbusters III.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife takes place thirty-two years after the events of Ghostbusters II (1989) and follows a single mother, Callie (played by Carrie Coon), and her two children, Phoebe (played by Mckenna Grace) and Trevor (played by Finn Wolfhard), as they find themselves evicted from their city apartment and relocated to the abandoned farm of Callie's estranged father, the late former Ghostbuster Egon Spengler, in the small town of Summerville, Oklahoma. Soon, Phoebe and Trevor make new friends with Phoebe's excitable classmate Podcast (played by Logan Kim) and a snarky diner employee Lucky (played by Celeste O'Connor) and begin uncovering artifacts from their grandfather's past, like the Ghostbusters' iconic Ecto-1 vehicle, jumpsuits, and proton packs. Like fate or karma, the small town becomes ground zero for supernatural occurrences and malicious ethereal figures with intents for world domination.
As previously mentioned, writer-director Jason Reitman directs this movie through the eyes of a devoted fan of his father's films as they were being made back in the day (Ivan serves as a producer on Afterlife), and his attention to visual, thematic, and character-centric storytelling here is exceptional. He brings a visually sweeping yet nostalgic-looking aesthetic to this movie, which contains shades of Steven Spielberg's Amblin films from the 1970s and '80s and Reitman's grounded sensibilities as an indie filmmaker. While visually distinct from the original two movies, Afterlife nevertheless remains faithful to their '80s spirit, and despite this not being Reitman's best movie per se, he is undoubtedly the best director to take over the franchise, as he has exemplified with movies like Juno (2007) and Up in the Air (2009). On a side note, I have read a few reviews online that claimed that having the younger Reitman direct this movie is a form of nepotism on Ivan Reitman and the producers' end. While I understand the notion of handing the franchise off to someone new, I not only find this accusation absurd, but it also makes me wonder if I watched a completely different movie than they did.
Performance-wise, the acting in this film delivers and then some. However, Grace's performance as the nerdy and socially awkward Phoebe steals the show. Grace seamlessly balances Egon's deadpan comedic delivery with a young girl's curiosity and enthusiasm for science, which makes her the perfect character to carry the Ghostbusters franchise in the future. Wolfhard looks like a natural pick to play one of Egon's grandchildren, as his character of Trevor demonstrates with his teenage swagger and technical know-how of mechanics. Ironically enough, in one episode of Netflix's Stranger Things, Wolfhard's character of Mike dressed up as a Ghostbuster for Halloween. This movie doesn't focus too much on him, for it is mainly Phoebe's movie. Coon's portrayal of a single mother hurt by her late father's absence in her young life is compellingly tragic, and to see her gradually uncover parts of her father's past at the farm is an arc that is just as excellent as Phoebe. Paul Rudd (yes, Ant-Man himself) plays a local science teacher and Ghostbusters enthusiast named Gary Grooberson, who gets swept up into the world of the Ghostbusters and the evil spirits that they battled, in a similar way to that of Rick Moranis' character of Louis Tully in the original. Rudd fits into the horror-comedy genre like a glove, and his charming presence is more than welcome here.
Some of the other characters aren't bad but rather undercooked in terms of character depth. First off, Kim's character goes by the nickname Podcast. As an Asian American, I am not too enthusiastic about the name, for it sounds like a throwback to '80s sidekicks like Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) or "Data" from The Goonies (1985) (coincidentally, both were played by the same child actor, Ke Huy Quan). Thankfully, Podcast's character is quite funny, likable, and resourceful, and not a shallow and offensive racial stereotype. O'Connor's character of Lucky is decent but relatively underdeveloped, which is a shame because her sarcastic interactions with Trevor are pretty enjoyable. I would love to see more of her and Podcast in a potential sequel because these newcomers have plenty of untapped potentials.
Unsurprisingly, Peter Venkman (Murray), Raymond Stantz (Aykroyd), Winston Zeddemore (Hudson), Janine Melnitz (played by Annie Potts), and Dana Barrett (played by Sigourney Weaver) return as cameo appearances to save the day (and the film). It is bittersweet to see the three remaining original Ghostbusters suited up with their packs at the end, sharing quips and busting evil spirits after a thirty-two-year hiatus. Going in, I was initially nervous about how this movie would address the fate of Egon given Harold Ramis' death in 2014. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the respectful nature in the way that the filmmakers approached this subject by having an older (albeit visually obscured) Egon die at the beginning while fending off Gozer the Gozerian (this time played by an uncredited Olivia Wilde and voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo), and fully revealing him at the end via a CGI interpretation of the character as a ghost to join his granddaughter and fellow Ghostbusters in saving the day. This reveal was not only heartwarming but bittersweet given how this gives Bill Murray a chance to bid farewell to his late friend after his real-life fallout with Ramis during the making of Groundhog Day (1993) and eventual reconciliation just before his passing.
Speaking of cameos, J.K. Simmons makes a brief appearance as Ivo Shandor, the leader of the Cult of Gozer, as was briefly mentioned by Egon through expository dialogue in the original movie regarding the construction of the building featured during its finale. This aspect is an excellent example of expanding on pre-existing lore via worldbuilding and fully realizing the 1984 movie's untapped potential as a crucial plot point.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife is the best-looking Ghostbusters movie, technically speaking. From Eric Steelberg's immaculate cinematography, the reliance on practical sets, locations, traditional animatronic puppetry for Gozer's demon dogs to an appropriate level of CGI effects that seamlessly blends them in a lovely-looking package of visual wonders. Afterlife's musical score from Rob Simonsen pays loving homage to the late Elmer Bernstein's score for the original movie by bringing back multiple cues for character moments while simultaneously elevating the film to biblical proportions (so to speak). On a side note, Bernstein's son Peter Bernstein served as a score consultant for this movie's soundtrack. This is not only a touching gesture on the filmmakers' end to pay tribute to Elmer Bernstein's work, but it also maintains a level of consistency with the movies' soundtracks and gives Afterlife more of its distinction of being a passing of the baton between filmmakers.
As for negatives, the most glaring issue about this movie is that it relies heavily on the story and plot beats of the original film and the fans' nostalgia for the said film. I understand how this would be seen as a detractor from a critical standpoint, especially with the screenplay. It feels like and is written like a Ghostbusters movie, which is, in all fairness, what Afterlife set out to be. I cannot speak for every fan, but as a relatively new one myself, I can confidently state that this film's use of fan service does not feel gratuitous. Instead, the references are gently interwoven throughout the story for the characters to utilize as plot devices instead of merely serving as blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos. This whole-hearted approach to fan service, which drives the story forward and re-familiarizes fans with the franchise's roots, is masterful compared to the likes of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy (2015-2019), which made huge promises with its premise but delivered underwhelming results.
Overall, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a delightful legacy sequel that is bound to please fans both young and old this holiday season. While nowhere near as good as the original film, it is a definite step up from Ghostbusters II. This entry in the Ghostbusters franchise is also heartfelt, which I never expected from a series based on blue-collar ghost exterminators from 1980s New York. I highly recommend that you see this movie in a theater, for it was one of my most anticipated films to see this year, and it did not disappoint. See this before Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) comes along and blows the competition out of the water.
Final Score: 8 out of 10
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