"Ghostbusters: Afterlife" Review: Haunted by Nostalgia

Platform: In Theaters

Release Date: November 19, 2021

In Jason Reitman's anticipated addition to the “Ghostbusters” franchise, the movie opens with Egon Spengler meeting a grim fate in the midst of a ghost attack. With his estate left to his estranged daughter, Callie (Carrie Coon), she moves herself and her two children, Phoebe (McKenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), into the farm left to her in Summerville, Oklahoma. Initially distraught by the sudden change, Trevor becomes enamored with a local girl named Lucky (Celeste O'Connor), while Phoebe, who has struggled with making friends, becomes enamored with some of the strange technology found around her grandfather's property. After bringing a ghost trap to school, her teacher Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) recognizes it and Phoebe, along with her friend Podcast (Logan Kim), learn the history of the Ghostbusters. Between Gary's research into the town's unusual seismic activity and Phoebe's ghost-assisted discovery of her grandfather's secret lair, they piece together Egon's plan: to stop Gozer (the main threat in the original film) from returning. As Gary and Callie are possessed by the Keymaster and Gatekeeper that fuel Gozer's resurrection, Phoebe, Trevor, Podcast, and Lucky suit up in some familiar coveralls with a plan to lure Gozer into the trap on the Spengler farm. As all parties converge on the final confrontation, familiar faces bring the legacy of the Ghostbusters full circle.

Without much of a connection to the original film, other than having seen it and enjoyed it, I went into this installment with no annticipations or nostalgia to either amlify or hinder my experiences. The big draw was the film's cast and, for the most part, they were hitting their strides well enough. Leading the charge was my favorite young actor over the past five years or so, McKenna Grace, who I first became enamored by following her role in “Gifted” before being completely sold on her talent after her starring role in Amazon Studios' “Troop Zero”. She brings such a warmth to her roles and brought a sympathy to the nerdy and reserved portrayal of Phoebe. Even without much explicit emotional expression, she was the heart of the film and was the easiest character in which to invest. Finn Wolfhard and Paul Rudd brought exactly what you would expect from their previous roles, with Wolfhard playing a nerd trying to play cool and Rudd as awkwardly charming as ever. The secret weapon for “Afterlife,” though, was Logan Kim as Podcast, who stole the comedic spotlight in all of his scenes with his quirky one-liners. The old guard's reunion in the final act was full of nostalgia, but you could tell how past their prime they all were with a stiffness they could not shake, though it was still an awesome moment. The only issue I had with the casting was Carrie Coon's role as Phoebe and Trevor's mother, who I did not feel put forth much effort in convincing me that her reactions were genuine or that she was invested in the problems plaguing her family.

The story fit the place of a sequel to the original, with Gozer and its minions leading the charge of the antagonists, as well as a bite-sized return of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. It was a clean way of transitioning the old guard to what I presume is the new one, but the unoriginality did not escape me. While balancing the nostalgia within a new world and cast of characters, the movie does lose sight of its character development and related narratives. Rather than delivering more of a reaction to the conclusion of Connie and Trevor's emphasis on Phoebe trying to make friends, the film delivers a eye-rolling “who you gonna call” line. Instead of some resolution of where Trevor and Lucky stand at the end of the film or the Spengler family's state as a whole following the film's events, the mid-credit scene gives a meaningless dose of more nostalgia. The emotional tone of the film was centered around the family's revelations about their father/grandfather, Egon Spengler, and while we see the climax of that tone, we are never offered a glimpse as to where it settled. That being said, the movie was paced really well and I never felt any lull, I experienced it as practically zooming by.

Something that really added to the fun was the ability for the movie to maintain a really enjoyable build to the final confrontation and actually deliver on that fun without it feeling rushed, overly CGI'd, or unearned. Even with the movie seemingly dropping all character narratives before providing a satisfying resolution, the emotional beats the final third of the movie hit were almost all on high gear. The elements of the story that connected this film to the original entry were really fluid, such as the man who built the town of Summerville also having built the New York skyscraper from the original. The action scenes and re-introductions of the classic ghostbusting gadgets, both of which were done in tandem, really upped the adventurous feel to a movie set in a single small town. Having the characters experience all of this through fresh eyes was almost a call back to us as kids watching the original “Ghostbusters” for the first time and the imagination it captured. I did not find the Wal-Mart sequence to be particularly enjoyable and, likely, would have hated it if not for Paul Rudd. However, I have to appreciate the “Ant-Man” easter egg with the Baskin Robbins.

There are more minor nitpicks of the film that had an impact on my experience and will keep it from being rated higher, even though it was really fun and enjoyable. Firstly, there are hundreds of better ways for the original Ghostbusters to join the final act than the cringey hiding off in the corner and slowly walking in sequence. Also, while you could eventually infer enough about the nostalgia and gadgets from the previous films, they could have done a better job of giving a bit more exposition for the general audience member. Again, not to harp on the mother, but her relationship to her daughter was portrayed a bit harsh with little understanding for Phoebe's social difficulties, of which Grace is able to build a lot of sympathy. This left the mother's redeeming moments feeling a bit forced and not meshing with a reasonable trajectory of their relationship. Not an original problem at all, but do love interests/crushes always bypass the transition between may be interested to fully invested in this crazy, unexplainable thing that should not be happening? This pertains to Lucky the most, but Gary was guilty of it as well.

As someone who is as casual of a “Ghostbusters” fan as anyone, there was a lot of fun and heart to be had throughout “Afterlife”. The nostalgia dumps seemed to pull a bit of focus from the main narrative, leaving avbit of dissatisfaction with character arcs, especially with the focus of the mid- and post-credits scene (oh yeah, there were two). Even though the narrative appeared to drop off at the end, it did not pull away from the satisfying action/dramatic sequences of the final battle with Gozer. There was a lot to keep me excited about a potential sequel, but I would hope there would be more focus on expanding the universe as it is rather than by what it was. Not to come off as a bigger McKenna Grace fan than I actually am, was anyone else really feeling the song “Haunted House” that played throughout the credits? Yeah, that was her too.

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RATING: 🚫 🚫 🚫.75 / 5

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