Rating of
2.5/4
Ghostbusters: Afterlife - Review
Matthew Brady - wrote on 02/02/22
"Nostalgia is a powerful feeling — it can drown out anything." - Terrence Malick
And yes, I just quoted Terrence Malick in a Ghostbusters review; the years just keep getting stranger.
Anywho, ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ is the ‘Force Awakens’ of the franchise, something you probably all heard of by now, but not to say it isn’t true.
With all this nostalgia, all this “heeeeey, remember that from the original” with the little whimsical music cue note, which got on my nerves very quickly and that’s 60% of the whole movie, with similar plot beats from the original recycled for this movie. It was more annoying watching this with a bunch of people in cinema who responded to that “heeeeey, I do remember that from the original”.
Mckenna Grace was great thou and handled the dramatic material like a pro, especially at such a young age. Paul Rudd will always be charming no matter. And despite appearing towards the climax out of nowhere, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson reunion was bittersweet, even though I question how they all know where to be at the right time during the final climax.
The rest of the characters kind of suck. Finn Wolfhard has nothing going for him in terms of his character in this movie. Nothing against Wolfhard, but I’ve got a feeling he was only cast because of popularity for ‘Stranger Things’, even when the show hasn’t been on for nearly 3 years. Carrie Coon, who plays a terrible and irresponsible mum, but her performance was good. There’s a kid named Podcast, who was supposed to be funny even though I didn’t laugh or chuckle at a single thing he said.
While I have mixed feelings with the movie, but overall, I still think this is better and more respectful to the brand name than the 2016 movie. This movie has heart and there was a couple of emotional scenes. How they handle the death of Harold Ramis was another element of the movie that I was mixed on. It was a touching tribute, even if it did feel a bit off.
I’ve been a little harsh towards director Jason Reitman in the past, but despite all that it was clear his heart was in the right place.
