"Ghostbusters” is one of those iconic movies that everyone knows. As a kid I watched it well over 50 times and every time it came on T.V. the family had to watch it. When I saw they were making a new “Ghostbusters" set in the present-day, I was so excited. I was hoping for an amazing new generation “Ghostbuster" movie and I’m still not sure what I got. There will be some spoilers and major plot points discussed in my review so reader beware. Buckle up and get ready to examine "Ghostbusters: Afterlife".
Synopsis
Set 32 years after the original “Ghostbusters" movie, a single mother and her two kids move into a farmhouse in the middle of Oklahoma after her father dies. The kids struggle with figuring out who their grandfather was and fitting into a small town, while their mother grapples with never knowing who her father was.
What I loved
The ghosts in this movie are spectacular! I mean it couldn’t be a “Ghostbusters" movie without the ghosts to bust. Since filmmaking/technology has come so far in the years since the original “Ghostbusters" came out, the ghosts in this movie take it to another level. They look so realistic and they just come straight off the screen. The way they move, their slime effects, everything makes them look like I could just see them on the street and not in a movie.
The plot is a continuation of the original “Ghostbusters". While the plot of this movie is different in various ways the true plot is a continuation of the original. Gozer is a spiritual entity that will bring forth the apocalypse if not stopped. I love that this was the main plot of the movie, it made it tie into the original movie great, but also explained why Gozer comes (and a lot of natural disasters that were the entity in the past). The artifacts and Gozer looked so amazing, especially when comparing it back to the original film.
What I didn’t love
The character building took a long time and I still felt like I didn’t get a lot with the character development. The first hour of the movie felt endless. We were introduced to new characters that in my opinion didn’t feel fully formed. We meet a character called Podcast (I know I cringed at the name the entire time), whose whole personality is doing podcasts; We see in every single shot he is in doing something film-related. I think they thought this would be a funny sidekick character but I truly don’t think his character added much to the movie. Each character had their niche and they weren’t that great.
The script - I enjoyed a lot of things in this movie but the script excelled in some parts and faltered in others. The actors are all good in this film so I know the cringey lines are not coming from them. Paul Rudd is amazing, Ant-Man is one of my favorite movies but in this movie, he just falls flat. I can only blame the comedy and plot of this movie for failing because of the script and not the actors. Most of the jokes fell flat, I knew it was supposed to make me laugh but it didn’t. The character arcs in general were played over, like weird sidekick characters and a teenage lovestruck boy. I personally couldn’t get into most of the characters. Some points of the movie made no sense, it seemed like they needed to put the parts together to make the characters meet and had nothing to do with the plot. Our main character Phoebe is this super smart nerdy girl with no friends but she gets put in summer school while her brother doesn’t. Why would a super-smart girl need summer school, especially when her whole character is her being super smart? This is just one of those examples that make me question the script of this movie.
Verdict
I had high hopes for this movie with the cast and the fact that it’s a “Ghostbusters" movie but I was slightly underwhelmed. If you can get past the first hour, through all of the cringy character development, it truly is a great movie. I just wish the first half of the movie was as great as the last half.
I give “Ghostbusters: Afterlife" a 3.5 out of 5.
