Who You Gonna Call: a review of Ghostbusters Afterlife

Ghostbusters Afterlife

Directed by Jason Reitman

Written by Gil Kenan & Jason Reitman

Based on Ghostbusters by Dan Aykroyd & Harold Ramis

Produced by Ivan Reitman

Cinematography Eric Steelberg

Production companies

Columbia Pictures

Bron Creative

Ghost Corps

The Montecito Picture Company

Right of Way Films

Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing

Carrie Coon as Callie (née Spengler)

Finn Wolfhard as Trevor

Mckenna Grace as Phoebe

Paul Rudd as Gary Grooberson

Logan Kim as Podcast

Celeste O’Connor as Lucky Domingo

Bill Murray as Peter Venkman

Dan Aykroyd as Raymond “Ray” Stantz

Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore

Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz

Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett

Ghostbusters Afterlife is the fourth film on the series that began in 1984, and usually, when you get to the fourth in a series of any sort, the results can be pretty dismal. After all, you have the same plot, the same characters, and the same theme, and on a fourth iteration, even the most inspired and original becomes predictable and somewhat shop-warn.

Afterlife managed to avoid this trap. For starters, it’s a bit unusual for a sequel to come out 37 years after the original (even Cobra Kai was only 34 years). Also, it followed a bit of a different track. Ghostbusters II (1989) was an evident sequel, but plans for a second sequel collapsed when Bill Murray and some of the other stars balked for various reasons. Murray disliked sequels, with generally good reasons. Twenty seven years later, a Ghostbusters movie came out (2016) with an all female cast, and while it didn’t deserve the pounding it took from critics, it was a commercial flop.

Aykroyd wrote a script for a third sequel movie that was a parallel universe thing, taking place in Manhellton. Perhaps mercifully, that died in early production.

Along came Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman, the producer of the first two movies and interested in producing a third. Jason, along with Gil Kenan, co-authored a Cobra Kai-style reboot in which the passage of time is acknowledged. The original Ghostbusters are legends, and perhaps inevitably, people are starting to question if Manhattan was really attacked by a hundred foot tall Stay Puft marshmallow monster. Sure it was. And people really walked on the Moon, right?

This allowed the Reitmans, et al, to take the franchise in an entirely new direction whilst maintaining continuity with the original. Much of the original cast put in appearances, except for the late Harold Ramis, who is filled in for by Ivan Reitman (and in a somewhat chilling coincidence, Reitman passed away the same day I watched the movie, and I learned of his death the following day.)

They moved the locale to rural Oklahoma (played by the Province of Alberta, which also does not greatly resemble Manhattan) and a small town of Sunnyvale, where neon lights are still considered novelties.

So. Is it funny? Is it exciting? Could they figure out a way to recreate Murray’s incredible deadpan humor?

Yes, yes, and Murray is in it, and did just fine.

Watching it, you’re going to be reminded of Stranger Things. And not just because the older brother, Trevor, is played by Finn Wolfhard, who is Mike in the Netflix series. Podcast will remind you of Dustin—nerdy, a tech freak, emotive, although not the irresponsible jerk that Dustin is. Carrie Coon (beleagured mother Callie) will remind you of the Winona Ryder character of Joyce. And Phoebe (played by Mckenna Grace, who steals the show) will remind you of Eleven: reserved, other-directed, intelligent, but at least Eleven doesn’t believe she has a sense of humor. Phoebe does, with horrifying results. (A standard Phoebe joke: “How is a cigarette like a hamster?” “Both are harmless until you light them on fire and put them in your mouth.”)

But these characters aren’t retreads. They may be typal, but they aren’t copies. Refreshingly, there isn’t a Princess Buttercup or Mister Limpit in the bunch—all are intelligent, capable, and adaptable, thus avoiding the more irritating tropes found in most horror or comedy movies. Even the secondary characters such as the demoralized science teacher or the carhop resigning herself to life in a dead-end town rise to the occasion.

And yes, the original Ghostbusters do show up, along with much of their gear (including the legendary Cadillac Hearse), and many of the ectoplasmic manifestations that populated the original movie.

Some people hate it because it’s too much like the original, and some people are going to hate it because it’s so different from the original. Toss a coin and then ignore it, and go watch the movie yourself. I think Reitman has made a fine reboot, one with a story line that may produce its own line of sequels and scary marshmallows. And cats and dogs, living together!