Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a direct sequel to the 1984 classic Ghostbusters, directed by Jason Reitman, son of OG Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman. Staring Carrie Coon, Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard and newcomer Logan Kim, it’s set thirty-two years after the events of the second film: a single mother and her two children move to a small town in Oklahoma, where they discover their connection to an original Ghostbuster. Full of nostalgia, great humor, and scares, Ghostbuster: Afterlife is a terrific movie and a wonderful installment in the Ghostbusters franchise.
Jason Reitman directs and co-writes a praiseworthy film. It takes what you know from the Ghostbusters films and gives it new life and some new twists, but stays true to what made the movie such a phenomenon for the last 30 years. Jason breathes life into a franchise that wasn’t sure what to do with itself. They tried in 2016 with the soft reboot, which was a mixed bag with fans and critics. 2016 isn’t a bad movie, it just has major script issues. The cast isn’t the problem with that movie.
But I digress, this new film is absolutely amazing. This is the Ghostbusters movie I have personally been waiting 30 years for.
The story is centered around Callie and her two children, Trevor and Phoebe. They are broke and with nowhere else to go, they must travel to Oklahoma to deal with Callie’s estranged father’s estate. Once there they begin to unravel what her father was doing in town and why he left her and her mother so many years ago. They soon discover the town is plagued with mysteries and earthquakes without any cause. Phoebe, being a young scientist, has concluded that she must solve this mystery of her grandfather. Teaming up with her newfound friend, Podcast, they embark on an adventure to save the world and save her grandfather’s legacy.
Finding old Ghostbuster tech, the kids use it to figure out what Phoebe’s granddad was trying to do. He moved to this town specifically because he found the town was built and founded by Ivo Shando, the same man that built The Shandor Building or “Spook Central”, the building in New York where Dana Barrett lived in the 1984 film. Shando moved to this town to make sure that Gozer the Gozerian would come back to the world and destroy it, you know, that whole thing that Gozer tried to do in the first movie. Phoebe’s grandfather figured out what was happening but died before he could put his plan into motion. And of course, his family just happens to be right there when all this begins. Due to plot and spoilers, I will say no more, but man is it good!
Joining the cast is Paul Rudd as Gary Grooberson, a Ghostbusters fan and science teacher. He helps Phoebe understand a little more who her grandfather was, but also slowly liking Callie along the way.
The best newcomer to the cast is Logan Kim in his first major role. He plays Podcast, Phoebe’s new friend. This kid is amazing, by far one of the best young actors seen: funny, great comic and physical timing for someone so young. This kid steals every scene he’s in, which is super hard to do with such talented people cast already.
Some critics have said the movie has way too much fan service and lacks depth of character. Who can say? They may be right, but honestly, they can blow it out their $$$. This movie is amazing. Yes, it is totally full of fan service, but it’s the right kind, done for the right reasons, whereas other movies do it and don’t know what they’re doing with the fan service. Looking at you, Rise of Skywalker.
The vibe of this movie is very much what The Force Awakens was for Star Wars a few years back. There’s a lot of nostalgia, which is super powerful these days, but here its warranted and used the right way. With music cues, shots, camera angles, feelings, and effects, this movie is giving you all the love to the OG flick but bringing so many new and different things to the world of the Ghostbusters.
Some of the best special effects seen this year for sure. The ghosts look amazing, and the final fight is nothing but an eye-candy spectacular. Detail and care were given to the designs of the ghosts. They even went as far as to bring in some ghost designs only used in the cartoon and toy line. Such a nice nod to the fans who would get that joke or reference. The Ecto-1 looks amazing. It’s seen better days due to the plot, but seeing it used again on screen was a sheer delight. The best part of the effects is that actual puppets were used for scenes, and they looked amazing! Yet again proving you can still use puppets and CGI together to make a perfect effect, vs a full CGI mess.
Ghostbusters is the best Spielberg film not made by him. But his influence is all over it. The movie had such an 80 nostalgia feel that it is pure joy. This movie is better than you think it’s going to be, and is quite possibly the best sequel we could have hoped for. Coming in right at the end of the year, this is the best movie of 2021.