Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Rating 12a
Length 2h04
Release 18.11.2021
Director GJason Reitman
About When a single mother and her two children move to a new town, they soon discover they have a connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: Cinemas
Trailer:

The Good

• This is a legacy film for so many reasons. It returns us to the 0 universe in which Ray, Egon, Winston and Peter established the Ghostbusters. Not only that, it’s directed by the son of the original director. This is as much a love letter to Ivan Reitman as it is to us, the fans.
• There is fan service a plenty, but it’s not the nod and wink effort of the 2016 incarnation. It’s nostalgia. It is that bittersweet feeling you have when you find something you’d almost forgotten.
• Mckenna Grace gives us Egon reincarnated as the beautifully geeky Phoebe. She’s a little at odds with the world, but she is an absolute genius.
  I adore everything about this character and I am beyond happy with Grace’s performance.
• The mixing of visual and practical effects really does work for the film. It certainly would seem, on the most part, the production made the right choices about what to use and when.
• Paul Rudd providing some of the information and filling in the gaps for the new generation was beautiful. It felt almost like he was one of the many dad’s in the viewing I went to explaining to their children the legacy they were about to watch.

The Bad

• It’s not often I don’t like the score… and it’s not that I didn’t like it, per say. It was that the original score was relied upon a little too much, and too often without giving something that gave this film its own sound.
  Maybe I’ve been too spoilt with the blended scores of Star Trek and Jurassic World, but for me the music used is so embedded into scenes of the first, and second, movie that it distracts from what I’m watching on the screen… mainly because the music has triggered that hop Venkman does after seeing Dana after leaving work.
• There is an argument for it pulling a ‘Force Awakens’ or a ‘Jurassic World’, in that the film retraces steps. Yes, it does at certain parts however, I do believe it is justified in order to have that connective thread linking the characters. Besides, Ghostbusters Answer the Call (2016) gave audiences something new and you all said it was shit, so… suck it!

The Ugly

• Be prepared for tears. This is an emotional story, not only for people who grew up on the original films not seeing their childhood being nuked like Indiana Jones did 13 years ago, but in terms of how the film deals with Harold Ramis’ absence.
• I said the CGI worked, on the most part. There is one part that just didn’t work and I really wish they’d cut it; the damn overhead jump shot of Eco1. It looks cartoonish and really stands out.

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Final Thoughts

Have you ever heard a young kid in a cinema shout “They’re going to use the trap daddy!”? Oh my god, the screening I went to was full of chuffed dad’s seeing their kids enjoy a beloved franchise from their own childhood. Fuck me, it was beautiful to watch.
Actually, so was watching the 13/14 year old lads belt out the theme song when it came to the credits.

It’s a film that gives charm, comedy and joy, sets up a potential sequel (not holding my breath, so did 2016 and that got shut down fast) and reminds us … geeks are fucking awesome and always have the best toys!