Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Written and directed by: Gil Kenan

Written by: Jason Reitman

Back in New York the Spengler’s (Carrie Coon, Fin Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace) along with Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) are now full time Ghostbusters, living in the firehouse, driving the car, busting Ghosts. But when Nadeem Razmaadi (Kumail Nanijani) turns up at Ray’s (Dan Akroyd) store with a mysterious orb, the team find themselves with a new threat in the shape of Garraka, an ancient and powerful spirit who is keen to free himself from the orb and unleash the ghosts held in Ghostbuster containment, to freeze the world and destroy humanity. The Spengler’s join forces with the original Ghostbuster team to tackle this new foe and save the day.

This film has taken a bit of a critical pounding. But to be honest, I had a good time with it. There’s still a warm fun feeling to be had from the familiar sites and sounds, including that music, of Ghostbusters. This film leans heavily on that, with Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts joining Akroyd to bring the team back together alongside the newbies.

But it’s in that need to hang on to much of the original films, including it’s cast, the problem lies. Because there isn’t really much new here. The story treads familiar ground and ultimately is all about underwhelming. There are attempts at new bits especially Mckenna Grace’s, Phoebe, trying to find her place in the world through her friendship with the ghostly Melody (Emily Alyn Lind).

The films biggest issue is it tries to do too much, it has a huge cast but without much of a plan for it, with lots of characters struggling for a plot. The story is also never quite sure where to focus, flirting between promising storylines but never really carrying any of them through.

Frozen Empire has had some tough reviews. It does have its problems, such as a big cast with little to do and lack of originality. But personally I enjoyed it. There’s still fun in revisiting the familiar world of Ghostbusting. But as a franchise it needs something new. Maybe time for the Ghostbusters to hang up their photon packs.