8 out of 10. Gathering my thoughts before dumping them all out here.
I reeeeally liked the movie. People were like “it’s all callbacks!” or “it was exactly like the first movie even then going to jail”…but nahh. It all get so organic and natural. I really liked the characters except lucky trevor and especially podcast.
I really liked that they made it obvious to Phoebe that Egon was there. No subtle hint BS. And cgi Egon looked super realistic.
It felt like a lot was left on the cutting room floor. Phoebe with a bowl of popcorn? I’m pretty sure Reitman shot the scene he’s discussed before about seeing their girl with a proton pack letting loose in a corn field and making popcorn. JK Simmons being in there for a “split” second (solid pun, timeware!)? There was definitely more to that we didn’t see. In general, I expected more about the mystery of the town, whether not not the cult of Gozer was still active, and what Shandor was there for. Now I really REALLY want to see what was trimmed from the film.
Loved the bit with Peter and Dana. Ghost Corps seems to want Winston to be the GBCU’s Nick Fury by having vast resources and pulling a team together. Excellent cast. Mckenna and Logan are superb. I would have loved to have seen Carrie given more room to riff, because her energy is so great in interviews but not showcased here. Solid first two acts.
The complaints about lingering on equipment too long were overblown (as I’ve stated before, having the camera hang on a nuclear accelerator strapped to a kids back underscores the danger I felt as a young kid being handed power tools and construction implements). I also now feel that some of the critics complaining about this film treating the original with reverence while being too similar to it are incongruent, given how reverently the same people view the original film and how much the majority of this entry differs from it.
The easter eggs here work like they do in the IDW comics. If you recognize the “MAID please have this room made up as soon as possible” hanger from Columbia University in Egon’s underground lab, you’ll be delighted. But I doubt most people even noticed it.
I need to digest the film more. I’ve got sort of a Reichenbach Fall thing going on—meaning there was so much time to ideate and imagine what this film would be that I think I need to see it once, process it, and then see it again to really see it as it as instead of how I fanfic’ed it in my head.
Just realized who Olivia Wilde was in the movie. I knew she looked familiar.
As I have mentioned earlier in the spoiler thread, I loved it. However I freely admit to the movie being far from perfect and having weaknesses.
The Bernstein score: wow, it felt like I was playing the video game again! It was VERY dominant.
Phoebe’s call with Ray: All the Ray dialogue there felt like it was an emergency exposition in case Jason had to cut out all the OGB stuff before the finale due to runtime. Just cram all what happened since in three to four sentences. Ouch.
Sentinel terror dog: Uhm…it…exists? But it’s never made clear why this is a special one.
Gozer: so I was hoping for another big baddie to replace Gozer, but getting it again was fine. However, it doesn’t really do anything when it returns? It listens endlessly to Phoebe just showing up on her temple and cracking jokes…why would it do that?
The release of the ghosts in town: nothing really happens here? Looks like alot of it ended up on the cutting floor too?
Mini Pufts: sadly, all of their scenes could be seen in some trailer or spot before. Really, all of them. They should have been saved up. Also, they don’t really do anything? And why they just plop up at the finale to sabotage Ecto is not explained.
Lack of GB2: No Ecto-1A, no slime blowers, no giga meter-except I missed all of that. That was one down for me personally as GB2 was my favorite back when I discovered Ghostbusters.
The OG busters in the finale: I hoped Jason would not just pull the trick of them showing up out of nowhere just in time. Fully suited up. Yeah, and their dialogue was a bit of lackluster. Some more wit please!
So, some nitpicks, but the pros totally outweigh the cons. Podcast was hilarious, Phoebe amazing. It’s a loveletter to Ghostbusters AND it’s a loveletter to Harold Ramis’ work and his Egon Spengler. sobs
If I get to jump in on the Hasbro proton pack i’m sure as hell going to try, but did I call the Mini Puft messing with the packs or did I call it? I really hope Hasbro has plans to launch the remote control trap but not so soon after the proton pack. My wallett can only handle so much. I hope our talented 3d artists here have plans on creating 3D files for the pack minis.
I loved the new. I thought McKenna Grace was fantastic and she was definitely the best thing about the film. I wanted more story beats around Phoebe (accepting ghosts felt too quick, using the fire pole without hesitation felt too quick - I just needed a bit more… mystery?) but I thought the character was a brilliant addition to the franchise. I have the same sense that everyone does that the finale was rushed and a rehash, but this one is clearly made for kids, and that’s ok.
I hated how Bernstein the score was. If I can see the original scene the music plays over in my head, I can’t concentrate on the new one! I think I’m probably in a minority on that one, mind.
It’s a shame Paul Rudd was taken out of commision in the third act, as the comedy slipped at his loss. Logan Kim and McKenna Grace did great work, but everyone else seemed to have missed the comedy memo.
The OGBs showing up… Well, it’s what it was always going to be, wasn’t it? A bit phoned in and more for nostalgia’s sake than real narrative necessity. (That said, I LOVED Bill and Sigourney’s scene. I guess because Bill loves Sigourney and actually wanted to be there for that shot, but that bit really worked and made me laugh.) The issues with the rules of crossing the streams are irritating and the providence of the proton packs required a lot of mental gymnastics - to whit, they must arrive in Summerville, go to the mine, find the three remaining packs, remove them, make them wearable again and only THEN head to the farm (Ray is explicit on the phone that Egon took all the equipment when he left). What’s really frustrating about that is that sequence of events describes a race against time that would have added tension if it was actually on the screen!
Oh, and editors, if you’re going to add a stinger, make sure you edit out dialogue that directly contradicts it earlier in the film. There is no way on earth Ray Stantz or Egon Spengler left a loaded containment unit in the basement of a Starbucks! I guess you can say it was concreted away or something, but that still requires mental gymnastics that just editing that line out would remove.
And don’t put literally every ghost in the trailer! Honestly!
BUT BUT BUT I did really enjoy watching it, and I think my son is going to adore it, which is half the point of this one. I wish there’d been more plot and less plot holes, but it’s a film released in 2021 so I’m fairly used to that kind of thing. McKenna Grace’s comedy wink is one of the comic highlights of the whole series and she stands equally with Harold Ramis and Kate McKinnon in the breakout strange scientist GB world.
I can live with the niggles, and on balance I truly liked it. It’s the least of the four movies for me, but then I was always there for the laughs primarily, and that isn’t so much this one’s business, and that’s ok. I’d love to have some more that do something new, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed it does the business.
Just next time, someone get Erik Burnham in, yeah?
[quote=Ecto24601 post_id=4960447 time=1637308953 user_id=54061]* Lack of GB2: No Ecto-1A, no slime blowers, no giga meter-except I missed all of that. That was one down for me personally as GB2 was my favorite back when I discovered Ghostbusters.
[/quote]
The Gigameter makes a quick appearance right after Egons ghost shines the lamp on his degrees. The gigameter is right below the degrees
The weird thing about that is Sony’s next name title is next week with that Resident Evil movie then in December with Spider-Man. Idk, I would guess they keep Afterlife in theaters until Christmas?
Sorry for hijacking the thread, but could anyone who is friends with Richardless contact me ASAP?
I just got a PM from his sister wanting to get in contact with his friends on here.
No apologies necessary Alpha, I was just about to post this the same moment you did:
I know this is off-topic, but as he was an avid participant in the discussion of Ghostbusters: Afterlife I wanted to point to an update on how RichardLess is doing: LINK
If you can spare a moment to visit that topic, I’m sure he and his sister would appreciate it.
Shit man, hope everything’s okay.
First impressions / thoughts:
The positive:
McKenna Grace’s performance was perfect
Cinematography was top notch
Muncher and the chase sequence in general was a solid action set piece
The Mini Pufts
The opening sequences with Egon
Phoebe’s confrontation with Gozer
Logan Kim & Celeste O’Connor also nailed the humour and tone
What little Paul Rudd there is in the movie was, well… Paul Rudd!
SFX were great
J Reitman’s direction as bankable as ever with great shots and sequences.
When it all came together it did feel like a modern Amblin flick. A lot of the quips landed. McKenna Grace was exceptional and carries the movie. Unfortunately the extent to which she carries the movie I’ll talk about in a moment. Logan Kim is one to watch but the name Podcast was not justified by a punchline or explanation, other than being a Goonies reference once-removed. Celeste O’Connor wasn’t given much to do, and I thought her performance hinted at a lot of comic potential. Rudd was phoning it in a little, but that’s fine given his role.
The main positive is the concept behind the movie was solid, the location move felt fresh and the character of Phoebe is perfect with a ton of potential in the future, same for “Podcast” (I don’t wanna call him that - was waiting for a scene near the end where he drops the name and introduces his real name)
Now on to the negative (oh boy!):
The script. This is important.
The OG Ghostbusters
Carrie ■■■■ & Finn Wolfhard
The overlaboured call backs (Who you gonna call? Twinkie / Crunch)
The score is intrusive during the early part of the movie. Partially due to too much dead air in the script.
The final twenty minutes
So… after the excellent Egon tease, the opening introduction to the Spenglers fumbles out of the gate. Carrie ■■■■ is a tremendous actress and her monologue at the end of The Leftovers made me well-up and was the pinnacle of the entire series. Here, at least in this cut, she is given nothing to work with and her character is so joyless it drains the life from every scene and from Paul Rudd who is inexplicably smitten with this boring alcoholic. The early exchange between Callie and her landlord is this unnatural expository dump (#1) and for the first fifteen minutes the dialogue is discordant and did not land.
The script settles itself and raises a handful of laughs mainly thanks to Phoebe, and makes reference to it’s own lack of comedy, but it needed another pass or several, and it needed a comedy writer to give it a once over. Like how Phoebe Waller-Bridger was brought in to spice up the No Time To Die script. Similarly, Finn Wolfhard was hilarious in IT, but doesn’t deliver here and it’s a shame, he’s either miscast or having an off-day or just can’t make his lines funny.
So the movie is this Amblin-esque spooky adventure with an uneven script, and had it followed through, I could forgive it’s shortcomings would rate it warmly as a 3/5 and great springboard for sequels.
Unfortunately, the movie derails itself, starting with that phone call to Dan Aykroyd for exposition dump #2. Firstly, hearing Ray say “Egon Spengler can go to hell” tonally, hurt the movie in the same way Callie’s character brought the movie down. It did not sit well with me and it was too much of a downer. It was not given enough explanation to work. These exposition dumps reminded me of Raimi’s Spider-man 3, where the intention or ideas were solid, but the execution was rushed rather than fleshed out. It also makes ZERO sense that Ray’s character would doubt and resent Egon. None. That isn’t respecting the characters. I understand the motivation for this thematically with the idea of generational rift, bitterness and forgiveness, the parallels with Murray & Ramis… but these topics are such huge downers that you can’t shortcut your way through them in what is otherwise a light film aimed at a younger audience, but even moreso when the characters needed to tell that story arc, the OG Ghostbusters, simply aren’t available for your movie… it’s amazing to me this wasn’t picked up at test screenings and Aykroyd’s dialogue re-written and shot.
The final twenty minutes lose all integrity or semblance of an Amblin flick and it becomes some sort of meta fan-service, the OG’s inclusion being no different from their cameos in the previous movie. This does a disservice to the performances of McKenna Grace and Logan Kim. I would rather the film haven no cameos and focus on Phoebe with hints of Egon’s ghost, or feature Winston or Ray alone, but as a member of the central cast, than the extended cameos we get here.
Gozer was also a mistake, with little worthwhile material derived from the re-hash. The fan rumour of the containment equipment failing, and Egon having stored it out on in the middle of nowhere, would’ve served a much better smaller scale MacGuffin for Phoebe to overcome and connect with Egon’s ghost. Everything to do with OG Ghostbusters was handled badly outside of Winston re-opening the firehouse in the post-credits.
Unanswered questions:
Was the firehouse a Starbucks or not?
Where do they store the ghosts?
How do they get back out of Egon’s lab once they’ve slid down the pole?
How did Trevor fail 3 driving tests at 15?
What was the pay-off for Grooberson’s seismology expedition to Summerville?
Why was Ivo Shandor even there?
What is Podcast’s real name?
Where did the Mini Pufts come from?
What was Trevor’s story arc?
Did Callie overcome her alcoholism?
There is a glimmer of hope an extended cut can smooth over some of the scripts rougher moments, but I don’t see how it can redeem the finale.
Final Summary
I came out of this feeling similar to '16, but oddly having enjoyed it slightly less. It’s just as non-canon to me. It’s especially frustrating because they got so many elements right, eg. the Phoebe obtuse joke is SOLID GOLD, but then they fluffed the ending. A sequel retaining Phoebe and Podcast, Winston and Janine - which moves the action to New York… that could work, but NO MORE CALLBACKS PLEASE.
So… this is a 2/5 from me, hoping there is an extended cut which boosts it to a 3/5.
I finally understand why Ray is so angry, because that mad ■■■■■■■ even took the pole.
It made sense. In the GB2 script Egon said his grandparents were from eastern Poland making him Pole-ish.
Switched the polarity to reverse.
This movie was an 11/10 for me.
Leaving the fan service to one side. Just how thought out Afterlife is. It is everything that GB1 was but dialed up to modern standards.
-It is funnier. I cried actual tears of laughter at some of the scenes
-You genuinely believe Phoebe is as smart as Egon was
-How her mother is such a great contrast to her
-The fact that Egon’s Ghost is made obnoxious and funny as opposed to what you’d expect from a human ghost in movies (creepy, vague, subtle, etc.) It was the perfect choice.
-Grooberson is portrayed as “every GB fan on the planet.” Look carefully at his character. He is Ray, Egon, Venkman and Winston rolled up into one. He is as childlike as Ray “whoa killer replica”, smart like Egon and has Venkmans wit and mannerisms as well as Winston’s common sense. That character was very thought out.
-The attention to detail to make even the props look more realistic than in GB1. The PKE having lost the yellow light bulbs but featuring a variety of whitebalanced lights in the wings. It adds nuance to the prop that wasn’t there in GB1.
-The RTV trap is something typical what GB1 would have done. Especially how it’s so frenetic and always on this side of going out of control and smashing into something.
-How the movie positions Egon as the leading / main Ghostbuster now. Instead of Bill Murray. Harold Ramis being deceased, the character of Egon can be used whenever needed instead of trying to convince Murray do do anything. That was very strategic of the studio.
The only thing I didn’t like in the movie was muncher. It looked a bit dumb.
And for some reason I genuinely didn’t understand who the old guy in the beginning scene was. I thought it was Grooberson from the future or something. It didn’t really look like Egon.
It is a strange, chopped up mess. After the muncher bust, it starts skipping so abruptly from scene to scene that I have to assume there is a huge amount of cuts made. The OG’s showing up randomly, while the kid inside of me loved every bit of it, made zero sense within the story as presented.
As much as Jason was saying this was a “love letter” to the fans - I don’t think he got it. It did not feel like a natural continuation of the original story. Heck, there were, what - 2 ghosts besides Muncher, Gozer and the Terror dogs? Isn’t this a story about GHOSTS?
Egon going rouge, stealing all of the equipment and Ecto-1 and screwing the rest of the guys (who now, suddenly, don’t believe anything he is saying??) seems more out of character than him being a deadbeat dad.
I know he’ll never publicly disparage the film or his son - but I’d love to know if Ivan was actually happy with this story.
Whatever we might think of this movie, I’m sure Ivan is proud what Jason did here.
I’ll be posting my review when it’s done, but I think the delay and studio trying to add things during the delay is responsible for some of the mess in the last act. He probably had to cut a lot of stuff for time.
The Reitmans made this movie together, for them it was a labor of love, and it feels unfair to blame Jason while somehow elevating Ivan, especially as we don’t know the decision making to fit this story in the allotted timeframe.
We made it! I’m still in shock that I finally got to see a third Ghostbusters movie.
Knowing full well this was going to be a very different type of movie than 1 and 2, I had a great time, even if I didn’t quite love it in the end. I’m extremely grateful it wasn’t released straight to streaming during the pandemic. The things nagging me the most as I left:
-
I found bringing back all of the Gozer stuff was overkill - I think they could have easily had Egon investigating some type of new threat before his untimely passing, and then still have the rest of the movie play out in a similar way, but without a third act that felt like a sped-up remix of the original’s third act. With a different actress Gozer didn’t look the same which was just distracting, and going from battling Gozer on a NYC rooftop (with a huge crowd cheering them on) to…quietly battling Gozer behind a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere…it just felt odd to me. And what was with Shandor? Did I miss something there, or was his presence completely pointless? And seeing how Egon had been down there rigging the packs, did he just leave Shandor laying there? (Though his head turning and Podcast freaking out was a great moment.)
-
The Ray/Phoebe conversation just felt odd and rubbed me the wrong way. The “Egon Spengler can go to hell” line had a whiff of Luke tossing the lightsaber in The Last Jedi, like it was there just to jolt the fans. Ray dives into their history without even asking who he’s talking to. He mentions the firehouse is gone, which is clearly not true in the end. And we’re to take it that his friendship with Egon completely evaporated because Egon became obsessed with the end of the world happening - this coming from Ray who was always a believer and has a tattoo from Revelation on his arm?
-
I can’t help but laugh at all the time we spent debating certain logistics around the OGs (mainly what they’ve been doing and how they physically arrive in Summerville) when apparently Jason & co. didn’t worry about that stuff at all - they basically materialized out of thin air right at the last second. How did they get there? And they had their equipment with them - didn’t Ray make it seem over the phone that Egon had taken everything? I hope we’re not supposed to believe they got the packs from the mine in the 3 minutes between the kids leaving there and when they show up at the house. I’ll need at least another viewing or two to digest that scene, but I thought Venkman had a few good lines. (And the two credit scenes, amazing)
-
And lastly, Egon - even knowing about the opening scene and his reappearance at the end, I was not prepared for how heavy-handed they would be with all that stuff. A chess piece moving overnight, cool. The pieces moving and floating right in front of Phoebe, lamps and furniture moving, just not subtle at all.
After a year and a half of delays I feel like we’ll be digesting and nitpicking this one for at least that long afterward, but as a fan I’m just thrilled to finally have a new movie to do that with.
robbritton - agreed about the score, it sounded great in places but way too heavy on recycling cues from the first movie. I’ve seen a lot of people trash the GB2 score over the years, but I appreciated that it was different and helped set it apart from the first one.