Nerdly » ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Review

25th Mar2024

‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Review

by Matthew Turner

Stars: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Celeste O’Connor, Logan Kim, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, William Atherton, James Acaster | Written by Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman | Directed by Gil Kenan

The Ghostbusters are back in New York for the second instalment of the sequel-slash-reboot series, following 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife. This time round, it’s directed by Gil Kenan, who co-wrote both Afterlife and Frozen Empire with Jason Reitman. Effectively energised by the New York setting, the sequel has evidently learned from the disastrous mistakes of the previous film and emerges as an entertaining adventure in its own right, though it’s not entirely without problems.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire jumps right into the Ghostbusting action, with the new team – former science teacher Gary Groobersom (Paul Rudd), Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) and her two teenage children Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) – pursuing a glowing blue ghost through the streets of New York in the Ectomobile, which has a few new tweaks, like ghost containment units attached to remote controlled drones.

It quickly emerges that the team are back in the original headquarters, the Tribeca Firehouse, and that old-time Ghostbusters Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) are both around in various capacities, Winston as the owner of the building and founder of a paranormal research lab, and Ray as the owner of an antique shop with an interest in haunted objects.

Almost as soon as the movie starts, the Ghostbusters are in trouble with a familiar nemesis in the shape of William Atherton’s Mayor Walter Peck, but their problems really begin when thirty-something slacker Nadeem (Kumail Nanjiani) sells Ray an ancient orb that belonged to his grandmother, and it turns out to be a containment unit for evil, ice-powered entity Garraka, who intends to mount a ghost army and destroy the world or something. Meanwhile, Phoebe bonds with tragic young female ghost Melody (Emily Alyn Lind), but isn’t quite prepared for where their burgeoning relationship takes her.

The biggest problem with the previous film (aside from the Oklahoma setting not really working and that awful thing they did with CGI Egon Spengler) was the way the legacy characters were wheeled on to save the day at the end, effectively elbowing aside all the new characters in the process. This time round, the original characters and the new characters are properly integrated into the story, working alongside each other, so their inclusion doesn’t feel like cheap fan service.

On a similar note, the previous film resurrected the main ghosts from the original movies, which made it feel painfully derivative, whereas here, at least some effort has gone into the creation of Garraka and it feels original, even if the climax does end up with that most over-used of supernatural blockbuster clichés, the glowing beam of light shooting into the sky, opening some portal or other.

The performances are a lot of fun, particularly Mckenna Grace, who emerges as the key character this time round – her vaguely queer-tinged coming-of-age friendship / attraction with Lind’s Melody is sensitively handled and genuinely moving. Similarly, Paul Rudd is as goofily adorable as always, but he also really sells his smaller emotional moments, such as his hope that the kids will eventually acknowledge him as their stepdad.

As for the older characters, the chemistry between Aykroyd, Hudson and Annie Potts (as former receptionist Janine) is very sweet, although anyone expecting Bill Murray to be in the movie for more than the bare minimum of scenes is destined for disappointment. Of the new additions, Nanjiani is very funny as Nadeem (especially when realising his destiny), and there’s strong comic support from James Acaster (as paranormal science boffin Lars Pinfield) and from Patton Oswalt, who’s clearly enjoying himself as New York librarian Dr Wartzki, in his small handful of exposition scenes.

It is fair to say that Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire isn’t entirely without flaws. There are ultimately too many characters and certain returnees either get short shrift altogether – Celeste O’Connor’s Lucky, Logan Kim’s Podcast – or are off-screen for too long (most notably Wolfhard’s Trevor). It’s also fair to say that not all of the jokes land, but that was true of the original film too.

In the end, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire succeeds through a combination of emotionally engaging character interaction, entertaining ghost shenanigans (including the return of a certain green fan favourite), an original monster and an infectious sense of fun, courtesy of Kenan’s breezy direction. They still should have included cameos from the all-female 2016 version though.