Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

[henzINNIT]

I saw it. It's a film, that I saw. I think it's not as bad as you fear, but absolutely not as good as you'd hope. A mess of many threads that individually have promise but never get a look in. It amounts to not very much, but I didn't mind it. My two biggest issues are: 1.) It's not funny enough. and 2.) There are way too many characters.

Afterlfe had its own tone with a sprinkling of humour here and there, but focused more on being a sentimental family drama. Frozen Empire settles in to more familiar comedy territory which I think is good but - it's not very funny. The wit isn't sharp enough, and a talented ensemble don't have enough to work with. Paul Rudd is putting in over-time trying to charm some life into this but he is just one man. The cast for this film is stupidly large and absolutely bogs the whole thing down. You've got the entire Afterlife cast, several OG cast members, and new key characters all fighting for screen-time, slowing things down, and literally clogging the frame. I got JW: Dominion vibes at times. That said, this film was never bad. This is a solid cast of likable characters. The nostalgia-bait is annoying but mostly background noise and not the off-putting worship that swallowed Afterlife, plus this has its own villain and lore which is nice.

There's some spoilery stuff I ought to discuss but I will let it settle for a bit first.

 

[blueharvest]

 

[BatLobster]

Yeah…I don’t know. This is one of those situations where I don’t really get the consensus. I thought this was quite solid, and pretty much exactly what the trailers sold me. I’ll have to think about it, but my gut reaction is I actually liked this more than Afterlife. And as far as not funny enough..I mean that part is always going to be subjective, but my packed theater was laughing a lot, especially at everything Kumail’s character said and did. I can understand the criticisms that the movie is a little overstuffed with characters, but I actually thought the movie did an admirable job balancing them and I never lost track of the main plot threads or anything. I didn’t need every single one of them to have an arc. I thought the OGs were smoothly integrated, it never felt like the movie grinded to a halt for them, they were just a part of this world as they should be. Ray I thought was especially great in this. Aykroyd was actually given good material in this and I just will always love the sincerity he brings to that role, which I’ve always felt was the secret sauce of Ghostbusters. I dunno, I just kind of found this movie effortlessly fun and charming. I dug the Garraka lore, and the ways it paid off. It’s bit breezy and ‘case of the week’, but I didn’t think that was a bad thing at all.

Really, this gave me a lot of everything I wanted in a Ghostbusters sequel. An expansion of the world/concept of Ghostbusting, a balance of new/old characters- the overall feeling of it being like a live action/big budget episode of The Real Ghostbusters. I can understand that maybe the general appetite for all of that maybe isn’t there (we’ll see where the box office ultimately lands), for my money this scratched an itch for the Ghostbusters kid in me. Was it life-changing, no. But I think it was a natural progression from Afterlife, it dialed back the sentimentality that a lot of people took issue with big time, and I definitely am still invested enough to want to see the conclusion of Phoebe’s arc. I hope they get to make another.

 

[JoshB1980]

I don't know if I'll be seeing "Frozen Empire" at least in theaters. I was a bit of a "Ghostbusters" fan as a kid, mostly for the cartoons, but never a diehard follower. I thought the first film was mostly okay, but the second sucked, and I avoided the 2016 remake. "Afterlife" had its moments, but on the whole I felt it relied too much on the first. I know they were trying to honor Harold Ramis, but it still felt a little too "in your face" for me.

 

[Gothamsknight]

I do wonder if my feelings towards this film has a lot to do with the fact that I never watched the cartoon as a kid and am more of a casual fan. Very interesting to see such different reactions to this across the board. Some love it, and others (like myself) were let down.

 

[Spider-Fan]

If I were to rate this movie, it would be a 3/5 for me. Not everything works in it, but it's at least somewhat entertaining on a mindless level and the nostalgia bits are not as annoyingly dominate as they were in Afterlife, which derailed for me when Paul Rudd goes to the Walmart. So, probably 2nd best Ghostbusters film for me, but that isn't saying much. Ghostbusters is a 5/5 classic, and the rest of the series has fumbled in some form or another in trying to build off it. I think this one had the best ideas in doing it, but it needed to be more focused. Too much spaghetti on the wall and not all of it sticks cause it's undercooked.

 

[BatLobster]

I do wonder if my feelings towards this film has a lot to do with the fact that I never watched the cartoon as a kid and am more of a casual fan. Very interesting to see such different reactions to this across the board. Some love it, and others (like myself) were let down.

I could totally understand finding it a little underwhelming or even a tad boring for more of a casual fan. I think what I enjoyed about this film that no previous Ghostbusters sequel has done is it just kinda felt like “a day in the life of being a Ghostbuster”, which naturally makes me think of the show or even just the kinds of Ghostbusters stories I’d imagine as a kid playing with the toys, etc. Even Ghostbusters II skipped ahead to the “they have to come out of retirement” trope, so you have to spend the first act setting the stage for everything. This was the first time a sequel was able to just hit the ground running and start expanding the world/lore from the opening scene onward. I personally really enjoyed that aspect.

I guess for me, I try to meet a movie where it is and judge it by how well it succeeds at what it’s going for. Afterlife was very much going for a Goonies/80s Spielberg riff meets Ghostbusters thing, and I think it succeeded at that. Frozen Empire, to me, seemed like it was going for a Ghostbusters “episode of the week” plot that still progressed the characters from Afterlife while fully merging them with the world of the originals, and I think it succeeded at that. I guess if I could be critical, I’d say that it’s doing a few too many things to have a strong identity of its own, but I still feel like it was doing a lot of the things it was attempting well, so I had a good time. And I think it took a few chances with some new elements that worked.

But then again, I still am one of the few that absolutely loves Ghostbusters II so maybe I’m just an easy mark when it comes to Ghostbusters movies. I just really enjoy spending time in that world.

 

[Spider-Fan83]

question...

Spoiler

what was the deal with the Mom and Mr. Grooberson ? unless I missed something they didn't really clearly defined their relationship... but, he made reference to being a step-father fugue to the kids... an that line an the end when she called him "Dad" out of nowhere... so, were they just still dating at this point or were they suppose to be marred/engaged? that whole dynamic seemed inconsistent

 

[henzINNIT]

A ton of trailer moments did not appear in this film. I wonder if this is a deleted scenes thing or a trailer lying thing.

Definitely thinking about a 2in1 mashup of Afterlife and Frozen Empire. 'Ghostbusters: Family Business'

 

[blueharvest]

 

[Spider-Fan]

We will see what weekend drops look like. So far that's in line with Afterlife, which is okay but this was more expensive, so not an amazing result

 

[BatLobster]

I have to wonder if they spent less on marketing this time though. It just feels like there was not as big of a push with this as there was with Afterlife, for whatever reason.

100 million budget, while not exactly cheap, is still closer to that "mid size" blockbuster compared to today's 200 million+ behemoths.

 

[sueb1863]

Wonder why this wasn't a summer film?

 

[Cap2024]

A ton of trailer moments did not appear in this film. I wonder if this is a deleted scenes thing or a trailer lying thing.

Definitely thinking about a 2in1 mashup of Afterlife and Frozen Empire. 'Ghostbusters: Family Business'

What were these deleted parts?

I only noticed alternate lines which is common for most comedy films.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I have to wonder if they spent less on marketing this time though. It just feels like there was not as big of a push with this as there was with Afterlife, for whatever reason.

100 million budget, while not exactly cheap, is still closer to that "mid size" blockbuster compared to today's 200 million+ behemoths.

Was Frozen Empire a 100 million budget? As in today’s terms that’s not huge and makes this movie making money more likely.

 

[BatLobster]

Was Frozen Empire a 100 million budget? As in today’s terms that’s not huge and makes this movie making money more likely.

Yep. A bit up from Afterlife's $75 million budget, but not so drastic that it puts profitability far out of reach. We'll see how next weekend goes.

Just came out.
I liked it. I notice much of the problems that have been mentioned in reviews, but the truth is I was never bored... I just wanted more of some of all the different stuff they focused on. The movie spent too much time on side characters when it could've been showing us many other moments.
The movie did find some great GB moments for a sequel though. Some cool ideas, new equipment, new lore, character pairings and much more that left me wanting more. The movie felt long and short at the same time, if that makes any sense.

What's with all the scenes and moments and stuff that were in the trailers but not in the final movie?? I call false advertisement on that.

Yeah, I'm definitely wondering if Sony chopped this thing down. For me, I thought the movie had an enjoyable brisk pace, but I also wouldn't have minded a little extra time to let everything breathe a bit more. I suspect a longer movie would not have won over any of the people more critical of it, so I understand the decision to keep it tight. But I think people who liked it would potentially enjoy an extended cut even more. I wonder if that's in the cards. 2016 got one.

 

[Spider-Fan]

The $45 mil result is a decent result and this movie is in no way in bomb territory at this point. But given the raise in budget, I do think the studio was probably hoping for a higher increase from last movie's OW. Hence why I wouldn't call this a smashing success, but not an outright failure either

 

[blueharvest]

Worldwide box office so far, it's up to $61 million.

 

[Verbal21]

Wonder why this wasn't a summer film?

I think this will do more favorably now than it would've in the summer. Movie did not feel "summer blockbuster" in any way, if I'm gonna be honest. Glad it looks like it'll be enough to at least get the greenlight from the studio and give us another one to tie up this Spengler family trilogy.

 

[kguillou]

Worldwide box office so far, it's up to $61 million.

Thats not good….is it? The hudget for this was over $100 million.

 

[legendkillin]

Just saw it, but I feel like a whole bunch of nothing happened. Akroyd was good though

Spoiler

I was a bit sleepy early on but was the interaction with Melody at the park playing chess, Phoebe's first encounter? I feel like nothing major happened after for her to put so much trust. The whole movie felt like how can we screw up and let this thing out of the orb. I get they are scientist or love supernatural but they did a lot of dumb things. The movie had some nice jokes, my main issue felt like the characters were just there. The mom did nothing, Rudd wasn't as good as the last one, the son was there, the flame wielder I didn't care for. It was nice seeing the old ones but Murray was 5 min and Mel suited up to do nothing.

 

[TheVileOne]

This movie suffered from having too many subplots and too many characters.

They brought back Lucky and Podcast for nothing. Trevor didn't have anything to do. Venkman barely did anything.

 

[BatLobster]

Call me crazy, but I kind of enjoyed the ‘overstuffed’ aspect of the movie. It was nice to see this universe populated with fun characters, and I felt like the bouncing between them kept the pace of the movie breezy while still pushing the main story forward.

Could you have cut a few characters and had a tighter movie? Absolutely. Did it ruin the movie for me that it was so crowded? Not at all. Especially when Phoebe, Gary and Ray were clearly the anchors of the movie.

I think from a world-building perspective, I just enjoy that you have so many pieces on the board now to play with. Some characters will inevitably recede more to the background, but some could come more to the forefront. You could have Kumail’s character come back and play a bigger role in a future story for instance. The thing I appreciated about what Afterlife setup was it created this open-ended feel of where this franchise can go. You can’t keep doing the Amblin thing obviously, because the kids will quickly age out of it. This movie was kind of in a bit of an in between. But by the next film, they can pretty much treat Phoebe like a young adult, which can change the whole nature of the story/tone. If there is a next film of course…we shall see.

 

[Gothamsknight]

I honestly wish

Spoiler

The subplot between Phoebe and the gost girl was more of a focus. it had the potential to be interesting.

 

[DyeLorean]

I honestly wish

Spoiler

The subplot between Phoebe and the gost girl was more of a focus. it had the potential to be interesting.

I thought the opposite. The movie went to a halt every time it focused there. It didn't feel Ghostbuster-ish to me.