I'm going to begin by saying something that has sadly become controversial online, I enjoyed the 2016 Ghostbusters. It wasn't a perfect movie, I'll grant you that, but it's not bad; and I think it falls into that area of movies that are just okay but enjoyable that even the original two Ghostbusters movies occupy. I grew up with those films, and love them, but they're not amazing movies; they're simply good, silly fun. I'm sure those opening comments have had people ever leave or make a snarky comment, as you're not allowed to like the 2016 movie, but I thought it best to start off with that information in mind.
Ghostbusters Afterlife continues on the story of the original two films, some forty years later, as a shadowed figure that is clearly Egon Spengler rushes out of a mountain, flees to a remote farmhouse, battles some unseen force, and is killed. With Egon dead, his home and its contents are left to his estranged daughter, Callie, who packs up her belongings and moves to the old farm in Summerville with her teenage son Trevor, and daughter Phoebe. Whilst Callie and Trevor are less than happy to be living in this small town, in a run-down old farm, Phoebe finds a lot to interest her scientific mind as she discovers strange devices her grandfather was working on.
One of Phoebe's teachers, Mr Grooberson, recognises the devices as belonging to the Ghostbusters, and tells Phoebe and her friend about the ghost attacks in New York in the 1980's, and the four heroes who stopped them. Looking further into what her grandfather, who she now knows was a Ghostbuster, was doing in Summerville, Phoebe discovers that Egon moved there in order to protect the world from a supernatural apocalypse. With Egon gone, it's down to Phoebe to step up and save the world.
I liked the first half of Ghostbusters Afterlife. I liked Callie, Phoebe, and Trevor, and enjoyed seeing them settle into their new small-town life. I liked some of the friends they all made along the way. I even enjoyed watching Phoebe slowly discover what Egon was doing in Summerville, and the big mystery that was hidden away in the nearby mountain. Sadly, it was once we learned what that mystery was, and the film entered its climax, that the film began to disappoint.
It looked like Ghostbusters Afterlife was going to be setting up the new generation of Ghostbusters, that it would come down to Phoebe, Podcast, Lucky, and Trevor, to save the world and become the heroes that the new generation needed. Each of the four teens had decent personalities that would help to make a good team, and Phoebe was delightful as the scientist and leader. The early scenes where they have to chase a ghost through town trying to capture it using Ecto 1 was a really great scene, and won me over these kids being the next Ghostbusters. But, no, they don't get to save the day.
By the end of the movie the kids have lost, their plan has failed, and it looks like there's no hope to stop the big bad (more on them in a moment). However, help arrives in the form of the three surviving Ghostbusters. These three old men walk in, give some one-liners and banter, and proceed to save the day. But wait, what about the moment when they begin to lose and Phoebe steps into help? Well, it's completely overshadowed by Egon's ghost coming in to help, bringing the four Ghostbusters back together and having them save the day once again. This decision felt wrong to me. The entire film we're following these kids, watching them figuring stuff out, getting better at busting ghosts, and coming up with a way to save the world, and in the end it's the old guys who were probably only on set for a single day who save the day. It was such a let-down to me.
The villain and the plot of the movie did this as well, as the big bad for the move is once again Gozer. Just like the first film, the architect Ivo Shandor created something hidden away that would allow Gozer to rise. Just like the first film there are demon dogs running around. Just like the first film the Gatekeeper and Keymaster are characters we know, who act weird, wear a fancy dress, and have sex. Just like the first film there's a marshmallow man (though many this time, and tiny!). And just like the first film its the four original Ghostbusters who stop Gozer.
I'm all one for fan service (I'm a fan of many things and appreciate when they service me), but there's a difference between nods to the series history and just repeating that history all over again. Why did it need to be Gozer? This story would have worked just as well with a completely different villain, with only a few tweaks and changes needed to make it work that wouldn't effect the plot in a great deal. Instead, it felt like the film was simply constantly trying to go 'hey, remember this? Isn't the original movie great?' instead of being its own thing.
I've seen a lot of criticism of Star Wars: The Force Awakens for being a 'repeat' of the original film because it shares some story elements. But I've not seen that with Ghostbusters Afterlife despite this seeming to do it to such a higher degree. At least The Force Awakens let its new cast of younger characters get to do something rather than pushing them aside in the big finale to showcase the cast from forty years ago. The fact that Winston takes Ecto 1 back at the end of the film makes it seem pretty clear that the original Ghostbusters have no plans to allow this new generation to carry on, and are taking their toys and going home.
There is stuff I liked in this film, the cast were really good, and the humour was nice. I had a lot of fun with the new characters and thought that they were played well and much of the film was really charming. But I can't get over how fumbled it felt towards the end. Ghostbusters Afterlife could have stood on its own as a love-letter to the original movies, a first part in a new series going forward into the future, showing that the Ghostbusters can live on past those first four members. Instead, it felt like a film that just wanted to wallow in it's own love of the past. And now for the bit that I'm sure will get me hate, and ties back to my first point; the 2016 film was a better sequel, a better nod to the series, and a better start of something that could carry on to be a great new series.
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