Ghostbusters Frozen Empire Review: Busting Makes Me Feel Good
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Ghostbusters Frozen Empire
Director: Gil Kenan
9
Where to Watch Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire?
For those of you who have followed the website for a while, you may have heard me talk about my favourite movies of all time list. Now I have never tried to claim they are the best movies of all time just my personal favourites and maybe one day I’ll even release it. In this list, there is a little film called Ghostbusters.
If you have read my review of Ghostbusters you will know that I consider that movie to be my Halloween film since I don’t like horror that much and I have it as an all-time great. To me, I consider the original Ghostbusters to be my most quoted movie of all time. The movie worked due to a mixture between outlandish scenarios and visuals mixed with a very dry and more adult sense of humour. So believe me when I tell you that Ghostbusters Frozen Empire was my second most anticipated film of 2024 only behind Deadpool and Wolverine.
Now to this point, I have only seen the film once but I will boldly claim that after this initial viewing, I consider Ghostbusters Frozen Empire to be the best sequel to the original film.
In my opinion, the best thing about Ghostbusters Frozen Empire is that it allows the Ghostbusters to be in business busting ghosts at the beginning of the film. Now I will be honest and say I saw someone online mention this but it was something that I thought of as well. In all the previous Ghostbusters films we see them either start the business or have to restart the business.
However, in this film, we get to see them be in business from the beginning. After we get a pretty chilling (pun intended) opening flashback, we then get to see the Ghostbusters in a chase in the Ecto-1 using some cool new gadgets and I thought that was pretty cool.
One of the main criticisms that I have seen about the film is that it relies way too heavily on nostalgia and shoving references in the faces of the audience. When I saw these criticisms I was honestly shocked. Like, did you guys see Ghostbusters Afterlife? That movie probably has double the references that Frozen Empire has. Don’t get me wrong I love Afterlife and think it was a great reintroduction to the franchise but it is chock-full of easter eggs.
I think the reason people think Frozen Empire is more easter egg heavy is because it’s back in New York and due to that fact it feels like there are way more callbacks. You know they are back at the firehouse, using the equipment, plus the return of many older characters. The only easter egg where I can see this argument being somewhat correct is with the library ghost but that is only because she doesn’t add anything to the plot.
This movie is super fast-paced and I love that. I feel that the movie doesn’t drag on and there is always a lot happening. It honestly felt like a Ghostbuster adventure that probably happens weekly for these guys.
Like this is their lives now they bust ghosts and live at the firehouse and I find that so cool. They are the Ghostbusters and this is their job. The return of Walter Peck was a brilliant move. In the first film, he felt like an ambitious guy so I could see him climbing the ranks to mayor of New York. Now I thought he was humbled in the first movie or in the 2009 video game ( the unofficial Ghostbusters 3) but here once again he must be shown why New York needs the Ghostbusters. He does set up an arc for one of my favourite characters in the movie, Phoebe.
Phoebe in this film gets an interesting arc that kind of reminds me of Spider-Man Homecoming in some ways. In the movie, she is a kid genius, with emphasis on kid, as she is only 15 and therefore is not allowed to bust ghosts after being caught by Peck. The way in which it reminds me of Homecoming is that Peter Parker in that movie didn’t really fit in with the regular people his age due to him also being able to do these extraordinary things and he didn’t really care about living the life someone his age should.
Phoebe, in this movie, feels the same as she doesn’t fit in with the typical teenage crowd. She’s awkward and weird and just wants to be a Ghostbuster. Paul Rudd as Gary is great, he really is the Ray of the new generation bringing excitement and energy to all of his scenes. He does get an arc here as well trying to navigate being a step-parent.
All of the original Ghostbusters do return with Venkman getting some fun scenes but it’s Ray and Winston who get the bulk of the scenes for the OGs. Ray gets to play the role of the retired adventurer who longs for the days of action. He misses being a Ghostbuster and wants to help the best he can. Winston is now the man funding the Ghostbusters and he is trying to expand the business. I love that Winston finally is getting more of the spotlight giving the team the tools while they provide the talent.
Finally, I will touch on the villain Garraka. Similar to Gozer, he is not in the film for long but when he is he presents a genuine threat to the Ghostbusters and to humanity. I think he has a cool design and is probably the scariest villain the Ghostbusters have had.
So overall, I think this was a worthy sequel that does a good job showing us the Ghostbusters in action throughout the runtime. With some cool scares, funny dialogue, and memorable characters this film is definitely worth checking out if you are a fan. The only thing left to say is that bustin makes me feel good!