Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire – Movie Reviews by Ry!

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire – Who You Going to Call … Nostalgia!!!

Looking towards the endless horizon, the unknown speaks of intrigue.  Within a simple glance, the wonderous appeal brings about a sense of a new beginning.  Within that glance, you hope the adventure can be more than another trip down memory lane.  In this review, I look at the latest chapter of a popular IP.  In a place where new meets old, we head into an adventure of familiar sensations.  For all that could be, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is just an otherworldly nostalgic trip of lost potential.

When an otherworldly artifact threatens the world, Ghostbusters (new and old) must unite to stop evil once again.  When it comes to sequels to famous IPs, filmmakers stand at a crossroads of continual growth vs. fandom.  Within a wavering of potential, trying to capture the hearts of individuals leads to the question … how to spring new within an established world.  When it comes to Ghostbusters, this is a popular franchise that reaches across generations.  From the original film to the recent sequel (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), there is hope that the next chapter will push the story forward.  We come into this latest chapter through the drop-in method, proceeding through an ominous prologue and fun ‘ghostbusting’ action sequence.  After this, we learn that the Spengler’s have moved to New York to continue the family tradition as ghostbusters, getting help from previous members as well as familiar characters from the previous film (for actor listing – refer to the film’s IMDb page).  After each element settles in position, we move through a series of sequences (second act) that leads to the team coming into possession of an unknown artifact.  Through more conversational moments, the team learns about the mysterious ‘being’ that is housed in the object, alluding to a future conflict.  From this point, the adventure slowly begins to devolve into a charade of comical hijinks and convoluted subplots within the journey.  As the new ghostbusters are trying to find their purpose, this alluring factor leads to character depth and hopeful evolution to the franchise.  This complexion is quickly drowned out by forced nostalgic elements, fragmenting the storytelling to become a rehashing of obvious nods to previous films.  As each scene progresses to the next, the ideal notion of trying to build out depth within the ‘ghostbusters’ lore is hampered by fandom.  From a creative crossroads, the safe play (of storytelling) kills the experience of the ghostbusters appeal. 

As convenient devices bring the convoluted web together, it leads to an evil being set loose upon New York.  With the forced conflict in play, the directive veers away from potential growth into the typical ‘good vs. evil’ motif.  This furthers the nostalgic trip, creating a hollowness in character dynamic and world building.  With everything on the line, we head into a third act of overblown CGI and predictable action sequences in a fight against a one-dimensional villain.  Within obvious stakes, it leads to the typical heroic climax and epilogue.  Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a film that succumbs to nostalgic fandom.  If you are fan of the franchise or adventure like films, this might be worth a big screen watch.  For everyone else, it’s a Friday night at home.    

Full Score – 2.5 out of 5 (Friday Night Rental)