THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Ghostbusters is one of those franchises where it knows when to regain momentum at times people least expect it. By the time the reboot split the crowd in half, Afterlife rejuvenating its popularity for almost matching the heart that was done the first time around. And from there, we still wanted more.
PLOT
Frozen Empire takes place three years after the final defeat of Gozer that went down in Summerville. Since then, the Ghostbusters have re-established through Callie Spengler (daughter of the late Egon), her boyfriend and her children Trevor & Phoebe, as well as their friends Lucky Domingo & Podcast (Celeste O’Connor & Logan Kim), who relocated in New York to help Ray Stentz & Winston Zeddemore bust more ghosts. Despite a new era of making a difference, longtime rival Mayor Walter Peck, threatens to close them down due to all the property damage they make pursuing ghosts. To appease him, Callie removes Phoebe from the team due to being underage. Feeling isolated, she bonds with a ghost named Melody who died in a fire. In the meantime, Ray & Podcast have been collecting cursed objects for examination. One day, Nadeem Razmaadi sells them a brass orb with Arabic markings inherited from his grandmother. Ray determines to be a supernatural apotropaic trap made in the Bronze Age and when evaluating its PKE levels, the orb emits broad-spectrum psionic energy. A cold wave would then travel from the orb to the firehouse headquarters which damages the echo containment unit that is almost at full capacity. When that happens, Winston takes the orb to his privately owned paranormal research center (formerly an aquarium) ran by Dr. Lars Pinfield (James Acaster), to try extracting any spiritual energy only for it to sabotage another ecto-confinement and allow another ghost to escape. Wanting to learn more of the orb, Lars joins Trevor & Lucky to confront Nadeem of it. He admits that his grandma kept it hidden in a brass lined chamber. With the help of Peter Venkman, they discover Nadeem has latent pyrokinetic powers. Phoebe later joins Ray & Podcast to meet librarian Hubert Wartzki (Patton Oswalt) to explain the orb’s origin. It is confirmed to be over 4,000 years old and was built by a group of sorcerers called the ‘Firemasters’, who imprisoned the phantom god known as Garraka that wanted to conquer the world with an undead army by summoning ‘Kusharit Umonti’ where he can kill all in his sight with cytokinesis. Nadeem’s grandma was one of the firemasters and was able to trap him in 1904 after a mock ritual conducted by the Manhattan Adventurers’ Society. With Garraka being vulnerable to fire & brass, as well as being separated from his horns, he’s remained trapped ever since. When they hear a wax cylinder of the Society reciting a chant that temporarily freed Garraka in ‘04, the escaped ghost Possessor tries taking the chant to free the phantom. When it leads to more property damage and the cylinder being inadvertently destroyed, Peck exploits Phoebe’s involvement to shut down Ghostbusters for good. With her family continuing to ignore how she feels, she takes Melody to the new facility and uses an extraction unit to temporarily project herself as a ghost to bond with her. Little did she know Melody was in cahoots with Garraka who offered her passage in the afterlife if she can give him a disembodied spirit he can use to recite his chant. Using Phoebe, he escapes the orb, regains his horns and starts freezing New York. Knowing Garraka will free all ghosts from the containment unit in the firehouse, all Ghostbusters gather to defend it. To better the odds, Phoebe electroplates her grandpa’s proton pack with brass to strengthen whereas Nadeem dons his grandma’s Firemmaster brass armor and try to master his powers in time. With Garraka not keeping his word, Melody helps Nadeem utilize his powers to weaken the phantom. With the help of Venkman & Janine Melnitz help Ray & Winston turn the ruptured containment unit to a giant ghost trap. With that working, Melody reconciles with Phoebe before departing to the afterlife. With the public praising the Ghostbusters for their success, Peck has no choice but to support them again. The film ends in a hilarious mid credit scene where the Mini-Pufts from Summerville (that were smuggled by Ray) hijack a Stay Puft Marshmallow truck from a trucker.
THOUGHTS
It’s an impressive feat when realizing after 40 years of writing this, this franchise will still live on long after the passing of Ivan Reitman (director of both 80s films) due to the joy each entry has brought to any kind of fan. With this one, his son Jason Reitman with director Gil Kenan to make another unique entry. I’m not mad that we get to go back to New York because it’s basically the hotspot for ghosts to capture which leads to another batch of fun insanity. It was a delight to see the likes of Slimer and the librarian ghost, and yes we had our smiles with the Mini-Pufts, but the stakes do feel high when seeing a new villain that Garraka, voiced by Kenan himself. I think that this is a runner-up villain when it comes to being as intimidating as Gozer because he’s a cunning one who is hungry enough to be the most powerful being in the world and almost succeeded in making a modern ice age had the Ghostbusters not pulled off the odds. When I try looking beyond the sci fi elements, I think this movie has my respect for its way to tell us to not show restraint of limits whether it’s yours or someone else’s. Just because you gotta know your limits doesn’t mean you can’t push them and I understood this through the colorful ensemble. McKenna Grace is again a strong lead as Phoebe because she’s someone who finally found her calling, but can’t stand how everyone around her is overprotective due to still being young while mature from the brain alone. She’s got Egon’s brain and wants to embrace her intelligence, which irritates her that her mom has to keep her in check for the sake of keeping Egon’s legacy alive. She doesn’t want to tarnish that at all, but neither does she want her efforts and her voice to be the cost. With no one giving her a chance to say how she feels, it was easy for her to find comfort of a ghost of all people and make a reckless decision afterwards. Emily Alyn Lind was arguably fascinating as Melody because she was someone who felt lost in her own way thus bonding with Phoebe so fluently. With her own set of regret on that she couldn’t forgive herself for such a horrific accident, she felt like she’ll never deserve entering the afterlife thus her business was never finished by the time she met Phoebe. She was also in the wrong for using her for her own gain, but you can’t deny she earned her redemption when help was needed most. The fact it took a ghost to save the world the way Egon’s ghost helped last time proved there is such thing as guardian angels. Although Phoebe never liked being held back, she does come around to understand means well. Carrie Coon & Paul Rudd are indeed a dynamic duo as Callie & Gary because they want their children’s trust, but also have to necessarily put their foot down to prove there are consequences when taking risks. Coon reminds us Callie is the pro at parenting compared to Gary because she knows how disappointed her kids will be with reality checks and eventually come to terms each time. What Rudd brings to the table as Gary is wanting to still give comfort and help Phoebe understand their decisions come from the right place. Despite the bicker, they are still a family that have each other’s back when necessary. The fact Phoebe ends up accepting him as a father figure by the end of it proves it was all worth it. Finn Wolfhard is arguably the only one who doesn’t have an official arc yet still fits into the mold as Trevor. He’s in a relatable position where he wants to build maturity when trying to capture Slimer and learn to drive. Each chance he has, he accepts adulthood is one step at a time. This movie would not be watchable without the original team and due to returning to NY, we get that opportunity to see them once more. Dan Aykroyd & Ernie Hudson easily make the most of it because their different levels of passion in researching the paranormal lead to their own realization that youth doesn’t go away no matter how old you get. Dan shows Ray still eager to keep pursuing the unknown and too proud to stop, whereas Ernie shows Winston as one who is self aware he can’t do it forever but is humble enough to still help when necessary, thus making a second center. It did suck for Bill Murray & Annie Potts to not have enough to do as Venkman & Melnitz, but then being there in the family did show how strong the loyalty they have with their friends has had since. I don’t feel like exaggerating when saying their bond is what inspired Lucky & Podcast to come to NY because their help makes a difference in their own way. Of all legacy characters, I did not expect seeing Dickless again. William Atherton still nails it in making Peck one who’s so jealous of the ghostbusters getting the job done that he can’t even dare to respect what he can’t do. That paves the way for him to go so low as in bet on Phoebe’s recklessness to try shutting down the team. Thankfully, popular demand by the public ensures he can’t ever destroy a revolution that they are. Kumal Nanjiani was another surprise to the cast for making Nadeem an aimless one who ignored his potential until push come to shove. It’s definitely one in a million to be the descendant of a sorcerer, which makes it surprising he never got interested until it mattered most. It may have felt late for him to learn his inner abilities, but the fact his involvement helped defeat Garraka only proves it’s never too late to unlock your potential and it’s a no brainer he’ll continue to find new ways embracing it. This movie was hella fun, but fun couldn't excuse the many things that bothered me upon re-watching. From the top, am I the only one wondering how Nadeem's grandma avoided a prison sentence when she was the sole survivor of the 1904 incident? It's not like I want that to happen since her presence paves the way for Nadeem to get involved later, but in an era where lack of evidence leads to an open and shut case, it's a surprise she didn't. I would only find that more surprising than the fact she had the horns of Garraka when in fact it was the servants of Samudari. Immediately into the opening chase, we're already getting into continuity errors I loathe I notice how the Spengler family went past Cole Haan and Rome Pizza twice between takes. I don't know if that was product placement or not, but they could've spliced to another store if they wanted to show how far they were chasing the ghost. Not even the timing of the crashed electric bikes looks accurate by the time they land. I then wonder why the hell is the family busting ghosts for free? The original team charged for their services, so Winston should've helped them out in being financially stable if he had already bought the firehouse. If I'm gonna pick on anything about the firehouse, it has to be why the washer & dryer are next to the containment unit. If that thing needs so much power, I would've placed it near the kitchen. It was a funny gag for Podcast to smash the old lady's watch as it's part of the show he made Ray "Repossessed", but why doesn't he tell customers about it? That's definitely a business mistake because the customers in line were surprised just like the old lady was. It was even nice to know Winston made a new ghost compactor, but he should've installed at least by the time he bought the firehouse so that the Spenglers wouldn't freak out about it. I don't know about you, but I feel like Podcast should've just set up the trap when Phoebe was surprised to see Melody again. For a guy so eager to be part of the team, I do not imagine waiting for someone else to make a move. And honestly if Nadeem was so immature to listen, why didn't his grandma pass the Firemaster knowledge to his brother instead who was described to be more responsible? I don't want to be picky, but I ain't gonna there was a whole uncut pizza left in the kitchen and uneaten by the Spengler family being possessed by Possessor only to get eaten by Slimer. Also, why didn't Phoebe have time to mix the other proton packs with brass and she did it for her own? Had she done that, the rest of the team would've had a fighting chance before inevitably trapping Garraka. Lastly, I respect Melody redeeming herself by lighting a match for Nadeem, but it's a big surprise he didn't try looking for one after the lighter ran out of fluid. Ignore this, then you'll still have a good time like I did. In short, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a sequel stellar enough to be enjoyable from start to finish. Whatever kind of fan you are, this is worth the time.
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