Ghostbusters: Afterlife Review

 

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a supernatural comedy film, a sequel to Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II, and the fourth film in the Ghostbusters franchise. The movie is produced by Columbia Pictures, Bron Creative, Ghost Corps, The Montecito Picture Company, and Right of Way Films and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. Ghostbusters: Afterlife is written by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan and directed by Jason Reitman.

The story is a mother and her two kids named Phoebe and Trevor have been evicted from their previous home and have no choice but to live in an old farmhouse in Summerville, Oklahoma, which was left to them by their grandfather. The kids soon discover mysterious earthquakes along with a mystery of why Egon came here. Now this new team of Ghostbusters must figure out this decades old mystery.

Initial Reaction

After I saw the 2016 film I was very disappointed. I thought that was the direction the franchise was going and I wasn't looking forward to the next one. Then the news broke out that Jason Reitman was going to be working on and I was slightly interested. Not fully just yet, because like I said that 2016 film was awful. Then I saw trailers and I was fully on board for this one. Yes, there were sadly Covid delays, but thankfully we finally got a release date that was set in stone, with no changes happening.

Cons

One major downside is the villains. We've got an old one but we don't get anything new. Then we got a new bad guy, but we barely get any new information on him, then he's gone.

Middle Ground

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

Pros

One thing that took me by surprise was Jason Reitman's directing. Usually he directs much smaller movies such as Juno or my personal favorite of his filmography, Thank You for Smoking. Here he really showed that directing a more big budget movie isn't an issue for him. What I also liked about the film was the humor. Sometimes it doesn't work, but for the most part I found myself laughing quite a lot. Then we have the special effects. They were good. I had no issues with the CGI, and even though it was only for a few seconds it was just a tiny bit refreshing to see a more practical effect. Another thing that was good about Ghostbusters: Afterlife was the performances. Especially from McKenna Grace as Phoebe. She really made this character very likable and funny. What also work in the movie's favor is how it was able to blend the new and the old. This really did feel like a passing of the torch movie, but it's done in a way that I think many fans of this franchise will be pleased about. Because even though it's a passing of the torch, the writers still paid a lot of respect to the 1984 film. The last thing I'll give credit for is this was a great tribute to the late Harold Ramis. Especially at the end, that was an absolute perfect send off for the character of Egon.

I really enjoyed Ghostbusters: Afterlife. It had great directing from Jason Reitman, the humor was pretty good, the special effects were great, the performances were also great especially from McKenna Grace, a good blend of old and new, and a very loving tribute to Harold Ramis. The only bad thing was the villains.

My final rating is Good.

So yeah, if you like Ghostbusters give Afterlife a try. Anyhow, that's going to do it for me. Come back on Monday, Nov 22nd for the finale of Looking Back at the Films of 2020. The movies for that one will be Freaky and The Croods: A New Age. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.