‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Review — This Franchise Is On Thin Ice
Image via Sony
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire manages to be both better than and worse than its Ghostbusters: Afterlife predecessor—which is impressive, to say the least. If you are a moviegoer who judges movies along the rigid binary of “good” or “bad,” rest assured that Frozen Empire is a very fun movie. One might even say it’s quite good! But if you look beneath the thin layer of ice it's sitting on, you will find a movie filled with half-baked ideas and flimsy plotlines.
Despite bringing out the original Ghostbusters (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson) and their former secretary Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts) for one more world-ending battle, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire doesn’t rely too heavily on nostalgia to prop up the plot. Sure, they’re up against a god who wants to unleash all of their old ghostly fiends, but the focus is still squarely on Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon), her kids (Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace), and their step-teacher Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd). Yes, for some inexplicable reason, two years after their date from hell, demonic possession, countless bust ghosts, and making a home in a derelict fire station, Gary and Callie still haven’t defined what his relationship is with the kids or her.
Why Were the Spenglers Left in the Dark?
Image via Sony
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire introduces a whole new ghostbusting empire via Winston Zeddemore’s enterprising efforts, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when too much thought is given to it. Despite Callie and her family busting ghost butt for the last two years, Winston hasn’t looped them in on his efforts, which has left them at a clear disadvantage. Despite Phoebe and Trevor’s Oklahoma friends Podcast (Logan Kim) and Lucky (Celeste O'Connor) interning for the new-and-improved Ghostbuster operation, no one at the fire station is aware of its existence! This is never actually explained, though it does introduce a few new marketable ghosts, a new Ghostbuster uniform, and a fun Act 2 reveal.
While Podcast and Lucky are welcome returns from Ghostbusters: Afterlife, this new ghostbusting outfit introduces a grating new character who serves very little purpose to the plot. In fact, he is off-screen for the better part of the final act! Sure, his “Did I miss anything?” arrival did garner a few half-hearted chuckles in the auditorium, his omission from the entire film would’ve given room for fleshing out one of the film’s better plot points. Sorry, James Acaster, your stand-up is hilarious, but Lars Pinfield is a complete pinhead.
As I’ve already alluded to, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s plot suffers quite a bit throughout, particularly in the first two acts which—for some reason—seem to drag on for eternity. There are some fun moments dotted throughout the first 90 minutes of laborious exposition, particularly with Kumail Nanjiani’s pitch-perfect dry humor and fish-out-of-water excellence as Nadeem Razmaadi, and the introduction of the sad ghost girl Melody (Emily Alyn Lind) who befriends Phoebe in her hour of need.
Phoebe Has Her Very Own ‘Casper’ Moment
Image via Sony
The Ghostbusters may be who you call when there’s something strange going on in the neighborhood, but there isn’t much of a neighborhood left when they’re done catching Hell’s Kitchen’s resident sewer dragon, or any of the ghostly ghouls they bust. Which quickly gets them on the bad side of the Mayor—who happens to be Walter Peck (William Atherton) an old foe of the Ghostbusters. As Phoebe is the youngest member of the Ghostbusters—an unpaid, danger-prone minor, at that—she gets benched pretty quickly. Much to her chagrin. With teenage angst running high, Phoebe starts brooding, acting out, and running away to play chess in the park in the middle of the night. You know, like all teenage girls do in New York City. Luckily for her, the only danger she runs into is a ghost girl named Melody, who is actually sort of dangerous.
Frozen Empire plays it incredibly safe with the Melody storyline, but the queer subtext is there—to the point that it is very nearly the text. The fact that the movie leaves it open to interpretation actually lessens the impact of Melody’s arc, and it makes Phoebe’s actions quite insane. Who would kill themselves for two minutes just to exist on the same plane of existence as their gal pal? The history books will call them best friends, but the bi lighting says otherwise.
While the family drama playing out for Gary was quite trite and melodramatic, Phoebe and Melody’s story had real potential. A Ghostbuster and a ghost having a thing, even if it was an ambiguous thing? That’s a novel concept. It’s something we haven’t seen before! However, even though Melody was the most compelling new edition to the Ghostbusters universe, her backstory was sadly underdeveloped. We’re given the broad strokes of what happened to her, but something is missing. Perhaps there are scenes on the cutting room floor that help tie together her tragic backstory and her motivations to see her family in the afterlife with Phoebe’s own familial plight.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a perfectly fine film, but it does seem to confirm that Ghostbusters isn’t a franchise that can survive so far past its expiration date. When the spark goes out and the humor doesn’t garner any laughs anymore, it’s time to consider putting this one in the grave.
FINAL VERDICT: B-
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is in theaters on March 22, 2024. Check out the chilly trailer below:
