I don't understand the umbrage some have expressed over Afterlife being more of a drama. The prior movies were never spooky on adult terms, but they reached back into a primal, childlike curiosity and anxiousness over the unknown that made them creepy when they wanted to be. This is, by far, the most dramatic of the Ghostbusters movies, a series that has existed in the realm of comedy. I can understand many chaffing at this, but I feel that Afterlife does enough to justify its own creative existence even in facsimile rather than as some insular, facile, fan-stroking cash-grab. Afterlife is similar to The Force Awakens in that it uses familiar plot beats to mirror events of its predecessors to ease back fans and new members to the fanclub, most especially in Act Three where Gozer's demonic pooches are unleashed. I didn't need the gratuitous Easter eggs of passing shots of a twinkie or Crunch bar, but they're blink-and-you'll-miss-them moments that don't really relate to anything of consequence, so I can excuse them. However, just because something is outwardly nostalgic, or taps into fan service, does not mean it is destined to be an exclusive retread that only satisfies the hardcore base. If Afterlife had been a completely original story set in a Ghostbusters universe, I would have happily accepted that. If you're a fan of the franchise, this adoring approach will likely be more favorable, not that the 2016 film is wrong for eschewing the established canon of the franchise and trying something new. Whereas the 2016 reboot shrugged at past convention and went completely comedic, this edition takes the opposite approach, hugging onto the lore and past of Ghostbusters with heartfelt affection. It's going to be reverent but that's not an automatic bad thing. The director and co-writer, Jason Reitman, is the son of the original films' director, Ivan. This movie is intended at its very DNA to live within the shadow of the original films. I can understand the charges of Afterlife being too nostalgic, but I don't understand the charges of it being so enamored with its past that it poses a disservice to the movie standing on its own. It appears that Gozer the Gozerian was not fully defeated on top of that New York City skyscraper in 1984, and Phoebe and her family must learn about the past in order to make sure we all have a future. A presence seems to be reaching out and trying to get the family to understand their real legacy. Phoebe starts discovering weird pieces of technology hidden in the old house of her grandfather's. They don't know much about their grandfather and the kids are not exactly excited about relocating to a secluded mining town. His estranged adult daughter, Callie (Carrie Coon), and her two teen children, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mackenna Grace), are shocked to learn of his death and their unexpected inheritance: a dirt farm in small-town nowheresville Oklahoma. Ghostbusters: Afterlife is reverent to a fault, and while it has been met with mixed reviews and complaints of overdosing on slavish fan nostalgia, I found it to be a charming and fun family adventure that left me laughing, cheering, and even crying.Įgon Spangler (Harold Ramis, R.I.P.), original Ghostbuster, is dead, killed by a malevolent spirit. Now the 2021 Ghostbusters, delayed over a year and a half from COVID, goes completely in the other direction. While replicating some of the same plot beats, the 2016 movie was not reverent to its source material. The 2016 movie was fine, I wasn't enraged by it in the slightest, but it didn't scratch that itch. I've been waiting for more Ghostbusters movies for my adult life. I think about the hours I spent playing in this world and my imagination and my own stories illustrated with marker and crayon, and it makes me extremely happy as well as reminds me how I fell in love with weird storytelling and macabre, ironic humor. I fell in love with the 1984 original movie, slept below the poster for most of my childhood, and obsessively collected all of the action figures and toys, watched with glee the animated TV series, and hold the world and its characters in a special personal place." This franchise means something to me. Joe, or He-Man, but I was a Ghostbusters kid. As I stated in my review for the 2016 Ghostbusters, allow me to wax nostalgic and explain my own private history with the franchise: "Growing up in the 80s, other kids had Transformers, or G.I.
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