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| Images courtesy of Sony |
Ghostbusters is a franchise that is simultaneously completely embedded in pop culture and struggles to maintain relevance in modern iterations. The scrappy, everyman, anti-authoritarian vibe of the original 1984 film has never been recaptured in the subsequent sequels, and there is a push-and-pull between the extremely vocal fandom and the direction of the films. This franchise cannot escape the past, and after the poorly received 2016 soft reboot, the studios were afraid to try new things. Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) was the film equivalent of standing on the edge of a pool and cautiously dipping a toe in the water to test the temperature. While a few risks were taken, it was firmly mired in nostalgia and callbacks, which, although familiar, played it way too safe. With Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024), there is a little more experimentation though it brings new issues into play.
The story is a direct continuation of the previous film, with the Spengler family moving into the iconic New York firehouse that has hosted many previous ghostbusting adventures. Phoebe (McKenna Grace), her mother Callie (Carrie Coon), her brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), and her step-teacher Gary (Paul Rudd) have continued the family business, albeit with a lot of collateral damage. After destroying a few city blocks chasing a particularly nasty spirit, former EPA inspector, now mayor Walter Peck (William Atherton) revives his decades-long beef with the Ghostbusters and starts putting pressure on them to clean up their act. One such request puts Phoebe on the sidelines due to her age. Meanwhile, a powerful and ominous entity has begun to enact a plan in the background that could threaten New York and, eventually, the entire world.
One of the main issues is that the story is way too overstuffed with characters and side plots. It introduces new concepts at a breakneck speed without giving them a chance to breathe. There are a lot of cool elements, like an SCP-style containment building where they study the ghosts, a blossoming friendship (possibly tinged with a crush) between Phoebe and a ghost, Gary stepping up to become a father figure, and a man (played by Kumail Nanjiani) discovering his family history and destiny. There is enough here for several more films, but for some reason, they decided to cram it all into a single movie. The original Ghostbusters are more involved in the plot this time around, with Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) stealing the show. It's obvious that Aykroyd was having a blast, and it shines through in his spirited performance. Although the latter half of the film takes on a darker tone, it still embraces its comedy roots, even if some of the jokes fall flat.
Visually, Frozen Empire manages to mix practical effects with mostly good CGI, and the ghosts feel like they are straight out of Real Ghostbusters cartoon. The different spirits are the most entertaining aspect of the film, and although the Ice Demon ends up feeling anticlimactic, he has an intimidating character design. The music still relies heavily on leitmotifs and cues from the original Elmer Bernstein score, and the filler music is generic and forgettable. Although it takes place in New York City, it never fully captures the grit and urban sprawl, or the colorful residents.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has many aspects that sound good on paper but don't work in execution. It is commendable that it tries to branch out into new ideas and let go of the nostalgia-baiting, even if it isn't entirely successful.
--Michelle Kisner