Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - Review

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

THE Ghostbusters franchise doesn't seem to have much luck with sequels. Where Ghostbusters II was a lacklustre follow-up to the revered 1984 original, then so Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire arrives as a similarly disappointing return for the new generation, following the halfway decent job that Afterlife did in continuing the legacy of the first films.

Directed by Gil Kenan, from a script co-written by himself and Jason Reitman, the film isn't so much bad as average; the type of experience that feels designed more with franchise building in mind, yet which underwhelms in the same way that Jurassic Park: Dominion did in attempting to unite two legacies for that series.

It goes through the motions, yet feels uninspired and way too self-aware in the process.

The plot involves the usual discovery of an another evil force, this time contained within a newly discovered artefact containing a phantom intent on unleashing another ice age upon the world. The artefact in question begins in the possession of a man named Nadeem (Kumail Nanjiani), who attempts to sell it to one of the original ghostbusters, thereby igniting his interest.

The rise of this evil force is played out against the backdrop of the lives of the new-look cast as a whole, with the next generation - single mom Callie (Carrie Coon), her kids Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (McKenna Grace) and her new partner Gary (Paul Rudd) - attempting to continue fighting ghosts in New York City and stave off a bid to close their beloved fire station.

This leaves the older generation to flit in and out of proceedings as the screenplay sees fit, with Winston (Ernie Hudson) also doing everything he can to maintain the fire station as its current owner, Ray (Dan Aykroyd) attempting to maintain his own YouTube channel, and Dr Venkman (Bill Murray), well, just being his usual smart-mouthed self.

To be fair, much of what works about Frozen Empire is down to the enduring likeability of the main cast itself, with Grace's Phoebe taking most of the plaudits, and doing the bulk of the dramatic work, this time around - her 15-year-old intellectual striving to navigate the challenges of continually being put down for being too young (as deemed by the city's officials), while finding her own place in the world. Her friendship with a chess-playing ghost is particularly endearing, in the brief moments it's allowed to develop, and paves the way for the latter part of the film (and its inevitable unleashing of the big bad) to unfold.

Elsewhere, the likes of Rudd, Aykroyd and Murray are content to coast on their familiar (yet likeable) routines, without bringng any real character development to the fold, while Coon is suitably sympathetic and feisty as both mother and ghost fighter... and there's a decent cameo from the ever reliable Oswalt Patton, as a feisty scholar of the netherworld, who delivers a huge chunk of the movie's exposition.

Kenan, for his part, delivers some decent set piece moments, including a suitably chilling cold open that establishes the new baddie, and another amusing cameo from the mini-Marshmellow men.

But once the film establishes its ground rules, and the fact that its mostly content to trade on the familiar without taking any real risks, the path towards the effects-heavy finale feels increasingly laboured and predictable, even with a few more cameos and returning characters.

The finale is also big yet bland - the film's main villain struggling to make much of an impact after a LOT of foreshadowing, and dealt with relatively easily. And that's another of the movie's failings: no sense of peril.

And that's something that you could never have levelled at the unfairly maligned all-female reboot of Paul Feig's, which continues to stand as one of the better entries in this franchise.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is therefore an unadventurous sequel that could - and should - have been a great deal more rewarding. If a third film does find its way into production, then there is much room for improvement.