Why do these new Ghostbusters movies land so unremarkably? Not Paul Feig’s 2016 reboot, which was attacked by pissant trolls. My opening statement is reserved for Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Gil Kenan’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Kenan tackles the third sequel in recognized Ghostbusters continuity, which hardly gives audiences a reason to stay excited about any more franchise continuations. Plotting feels superficially engineered to sell the nostalgia thrills of seeing the original Ghostbusters suit up or so we can relive old scenes anew; a film built around team poses and one-liners that misremember how Ivan Reitman’s predecessors made bustin’ feel so good.
After the events of Afterlife, the Spenglers and Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) move into the iconic New York City firehouse where it all started. Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) sees her romance with Gary flourish, while her kids Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) make spectral entrapment a family business. Dr. Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) bankrolls the operation and his state-of-the-art Ghostbusters research facility, where advancements in proton technology upgrade gadgets with new tech. Everything is on the upswing until Phoebe is banned from active duty due to her age, then the Ghostbusters’ business and the Spengler clan’s relationship trends downward (at the worst possible time).
Kenan and Reitman’s co-written screenplay cycles through recreated versions of memorable Ghostbusters scenes with the subtlety of a burrito fart in a sensory deprivation pod. Dr. Raymond "Ray" Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) encounters his librarian nemesis once again, Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) interrogates a possible possession victim, Trevor gets Slimer’d without any avoidance — Kenan’s playing the hits but it’s expected replication. Frozen Empire’s aging veterans don’t have much to do in the film’s final third despite Annie Potts’ Janine Melnitz wearing a jumpsuit and cocking a one-handed proton blaster. Murray especially feels like he’s fulfilling contractual obligations as Venkman, like the surviving 1980s Ghostbusters crew is on display as window decorations in a storefront’s Halloween display.
The Spengler’s second-generation Ghostbusters fare better because who doesn’t love Paul Rudd reciting the lyrics to Ray Parker Jr.’s theme song? Mckenna Grace strikes an outsider’s friendship with a particularly conversational sorta-ghost (played by Emily Alyn Lind), one of the more rewarding relationships between characters. Kumail Nanjiani earns laughs as regular pawn-shop slacker Nadeem Razmaadi, James Acaster supplies droll British comedy stylings as Winston’s leading developer, Paul Rudd is Paul Rudd, but there’s still an understated quietness to the horror and hilarity of paranormal hunts. Frozen Empire is heavy on familial drama as Gary wrestles with disciplining Callie’s children or Phoebe’s connection to her invisible friend, but there’s nothing impeccably unique about the character dynamics Ghostbusters explore as they seek personal fulfillment.
Ghostbusters action delivers as expected, nothing more or less. The film’s villain entity is a horned demon who freezes its victims to death, literally frozen in fear, but the Possessor is an easy favorite — this wee red energy bolt that possesses anything from folding chairs to NYC’s famous Library Lions. You can sense usages of practical effects as a Cheetos-munching Slimer zooms around the Ghostbuster HQ attic, which makes up for the nearly total animation takeover of the film’s titular “Frozen Empire” (an Ice Age that spikes icicles out of the ground). There’s not much evolution in capturing free-roaming souls except in addition to an RC car trap, there’s now a flying drone trap, and new proton packs have sharper designs. Otherwise, it's more of the same reckless driving of the Ecto-1 down major Manhattan avenues, the same containment unit breakout anxieties, and the same governmental interference from William Atherton as the thorny Walter Peck. Nanjiani’s trajectory isn’t enough to stave off hints of stagnation, which is a rare burst of originality in this recycled franchise.
The problem is that nothing feels genuinely exciting, frightening, or exceptional. The elder Ghostbusters feel like they’re cosplaying iconic roles while the newer bunch struggle to gel (Finn Wolfhard especially feels out of place). Frozen Empire is a snowglobe apocalypse that pushes through motions without much of a latter-half climax because Kenan and Reitman’s script takes no risks. It’s a paint-by-numbers Hallmark family values take on Ghostbusters that leaves no lasting impression, as forgettable as Kenan’s 2015 Poltergeist remake. Despite the efforts of a few comedians in the casts, Kenan can only muster a soulless and factory-made Ghostbusters flick riding the coattails of decades-old reputations.
Frozen Empire is a franchise stuck in an ice block. It’s a cold, walled-off, unenthusiastic continuation, and Kenan’s direction feels like running down a studio-mandated checklist. You’ll smirk and chuckle because that’s the power of Rudd, you’ll question if Mckenna Grace was robbed of a much more interesting romantic subplot, but most of all, you’ll leave whelmed at best. Ghostbusters has been reduced to a marketable franchise stuck in a self-referential loop, unable to go an entire scene without some nostalgia offering. Frozen Empire is an unchallenging case of déjà vu that values fan-servicing over all else, very much to the sequel’s detriment.
Movie Score: 2.5/5
Matt Donato is a Los Angeles-based film critic currently published on SlashFilm, Fangoria, Bloody Disgusting, and anywhere else he’s allowed to spread the gospel of Demon Wind. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association. Definitely don’t feed him after midnight.
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