Round two, back at it again. Auckland lockdown v2 is over and I can do what I love: that is, going into cold air-conditioned rooms to get out of the awful humidity that is an Auckland Summer. Also, there are movie screenings and ice creams so I am excited. The first screening is Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
The original Ghostbusters from 1984 was a huge success. There was a less well-received sequel in 1989 and then a huge gap for the release of the complicatedly received Ghostbusters 2016, the all-female remake that made a few men very uncomfortable.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (dir. Jason Reitman) basically ignores the sequel and the 2016 movie and we follow the nerdy Phoebe (Mckeen Grace) as her mum Callier (Carrie Coon) and brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhand) find out that her estranged Grandfather has died and that they are evicted from their apartment. They set off to see if there is anything of value in their Grandfather’s affairs but end up walking into a supernatural nightmare.
The story suffers from The Force Awakens-itis. It substitutes nostalgia for the story. Every moment is crammed with – hey look at this thing, remember this thing from the first movie you liked, well it’s right here, don’t you feel all warm and fuzzy because you recognise something you remember.
The film actually starts off focusing on the mother then shifts to Phoebe as the main character after they get to the Grandfather’s house. This creates a strange feeling around the characters’ motivations and whose story is it. Grace is great as Phoebe. She really dives into the role and feels like a full character but is lacking clear wants and stakes.
There are many great performances; Paul Rudd is Paul Rudding it as Mr Grooberson; always charming and likeable. Logan Kim provides some laughs as Podcast (yes, you read that right, that is his name). Unfortunately, the performances were let down by the inconsistent world and story.
The film takes a position that the first movie happened. The world knows that ghosts are real and they nearly destroyed New York City, but no one cares. It is as if it is a non-event in human history. Mt Grooberson had to look it up on Youtube to show the kids that it happened.
Afterlife tried to repeat the same story elements and plot beats as the original, but without the charm, care, and curiosity of the first. It used the universe of the first movie but unfortunately didn’t add to it, expand on it, or make it more full and interesting. Let’s hope that the end of this lockdown doesn’t do the same thing.
8 December 2021
By Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe