Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Review – Bustin’ Still Makes Me Feel Good!
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a surprisingly dark and delightful addition to the Ghostbusters franchise that will thrill both fans of the original series and newcomers alike.
The Spengler family returns to the iconic New York City firehouse where the original Ghostbusters have taken ghost-busting to the next level. When the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must unite to protect their home and save the world from a second ice age.
Ghsotbusters: Afterlife brought back the Ghostbusters which rich aplomb. Frozen Empire manages to move the story of the new era of ‘Bustin on confortably and devlops it naturally, without the OG’s taking over proceedings. Dan Akroyd in particular seemlessly intergrates into the story allowing for all the mystical exposition to come from him and get us to the next set piece but not cycle around Ray Stanz. All of the main Afterlife newcomers led by Paul Rudd, McKenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard grow into their blossoming charcter development with various sub plots, which at times are in danger of bogging down the run-time, but ultimately put together the pieces of a curious puzzle.
More newcomers in the shape of Patton Oswalt, Kumial Nanjiani and James Acaster are all terrific, Acaster in particular should most definetly be a huge part of anymore future sequels. The films big bad, Garraka, who does intially sound like a DLC character from Mortal Kombat, is a worthy adversary. Freezing the whole of New York to the core on his mission to get to the firehouse and unleahes the legions of ghosts in the containment unit back go take over the world. After watching Frozen Empire you can see why the working title was Firehouse and actually would have made a lot of sense to keep that.
The special effects in Frozen Empire are chillingly brilliant, bringing the frozen ghostly entities to life in a way that is both believable and mesmerizing. The Q-Branch like ghost research centre sequences are excellent and allow for lots of fun interactions with various ghosts, James Acaster (Along with McKenna Grace the filsm stand out) and those pesky Mini-Pufts. The big action sequences are thrilling and well-executed, keeping you on the edge of your seat as the Ghostbusters face off against their icy foes. There’s some real jeopardy involved and you on more than one occassion will wonder if the entire cast will make it through.
What truly sets Frozen Empire apart, however, is its willingness, to try anything new and not just retread the old tropes once again. Some of it works and when it does, it really works. Some of it misses, but it doesn’t hamper the overall story. One of the many sub plots features McKenna’s Phoebe and a ghost that she plays chess with in central park. It does feel like that there’s a section of this missing and it would be interesting to see the deleted scenes to see what’s missing.
William Atherton’s Peck is back attempting to lock down the Ghostbusters once again, you yearn for Murray to get in those scenes and spa with his public nemesis once again, but you get a great payoff at the end, but not from Murray, but from the heckling from the crowd. Make sure you listen out for it! The only character we still yearn for is Rick Moranis Louis Tully. Here’s hoping in the next one he at least gives us a cameo, we’ve got his old pal Slimer back in this one.
Once again though it’s McKenna Grace who is the breakout star of the movie, as we mentioned with Afterlife, Grace has a huge future ahead of her. As Phoebe she embodies everything good about Ghostbusters and also manages to embody the spirit of Harold Ramis Egon too. As previously mentioned Acaster as Lars Pinfield is placed neatly to join the crew and take the stories forward if box office reciepts permit.
Overall, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a must-see for fans of the Ghostbusters franchise and anyone looking for a fun and exciting movie experience. Sure at times the run time feels like its dragging but with its trademark blend of humor, suspense, and inventive storytelling, this film is sure to leave you wanting more. It’s like a extended episode of The Real Ghostbusters which is no bad thing at all. ‘Bustin Still Makes Me Feel Good!
