“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” was a surprise. Both because I had no idea this movie had been released until the day I watched it and because it was actually good. Very watchable. The sequel to a just ok sequel, released 32 years after an also just ok sequel, does not come with high expectations, but “Frozen Empire” exceeded them.
This film brings the new ghostbusters to the original New York City firehouse, where they must save the world from an ancient spirit while battling teen angst and government oversight. The biggest hurdle for these legacy sequels is getting bogged down in nostalgia or references to the original movies. Returning to NYC may seem like a step in the wrong direction, but it worked in “Frozen Empire’s” favor.
It is hard to find a better spot in America to set your ghost exterminator story than New York City. It is an expansive, but tightly packed, heavily populated city, with a landmark or place of historical significance on every block. Its default existence is a perfect setting for both action scenes and a ghost hunt. “Frozen Empire” also differentiates itself by exploring new areas of the city while expanding upon iconic “Ghostbusters” spots. The firehouse is creatively redesigned as a headquarters and family apartment. The New York Public Library gets a deeper exploration. They actually leave Manhattan. New York just provides more opportunities for interesting set pieces than rural Oklahoma, and it isn’t difficult to find a spot still untouched by a “Ghostbusters” scene.
The firehouse redesign is a good example of why this movie succeeds where “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” did not. “Frozen Empire” is a step towards doing its own thing. While “Afterlife” began, in theme and storyline, completely original, it devolved into a remake of “Ghostbusters” third act, including a disturbing usage of Harold Ramis’ likeness to capture all the original ghostbusters back together. “Frozen Empire” never fully becomes a clone of its past iterations.
It brings in original ideas like new technology, new ghost lore and further explorations into other types of supernatural entities. And these ideas totally worked; they were exciting to see. They fleshed out the universe and made the storylines more interesting. The same goes for the new characters introduced. Kumail Nanjiani and James Acaster, two wonderful comic actors and stand-ups, are the funniest parts of the movie while also playing great characters that actually add to the plot. The villain of this movie was also fantastic. It will likely (ideally) be a one-off villain, but for what it was, Garraka, an ancient demon god, provided an exciting third act. Creepy, threatening and hard to defeat.
The third act as a whole, while exciting, was far from perfect. The downfall of this movie was its inability to juggle the old with the new, and this culminated in the final 30 minutes. The two primary storylines are fighting the demon god and Phoebe, the younger of Egon Spengler’s grandchildren, being too young to be a ghostbuster. Add onto that a ghost love story, three more teens with little to do, a new ghostbusting storage facility, the three original ghostbusters plus Janine hanging around, a complicated father/daughter relationship and the begging to be explored concept of the firebringer, you get too much plot. Not even a two-hour movie could give about a dozen main characters, some of whom carry multiple storylines, the screen time and attention they needed. So the culmination of these stories occurs too late and concludes too quick.
The easiest fix for this issue when creating the (heavily implied to be planned) next movie in the series is to cut some of these characters. What continuing character actually affects this movie’s story in a meaningful way? The core family of four, Dan Aykroyd, the aforementioned comic characters and that’s it. Seven people. Maybe six, Dan Aykroyd could be cut, I just enjoyed the scenes of him running his occult bookstore.
The original Ghostbusters have served their purpose and no longer add anything to the movie by being on-screen; they also just aren’t great actors anymore. The same goes for the teen friends, Lucky and Podcast. They had a few things to do in “Afterlife” but feel forced and redundant in “Frozen Empire.”
I like this movie for the things it does that do not require it to have an iconic 80s movie behind it. “Ghostbusters” and “Ghostbusters 2” were straightforward comedies about slightly incompetent but likable shlubs running a business. “Afterlife” and “Frozen Empire” are comedies with strong dramatic themes that center around a family. The newer sequels are trying to achieve something different from the originals, which is completely fine so long as the creators allow these new movies to do their own thing. It has served them well this far. The only thing holding back either sequel is its reliance on a 40-year-old brand that reached its creative limit at two movies.
I am genuinely excited for a third/fifth movie in this series. If it follows the same route that these last two have, it will separate itself even more from the original movies and be all the better for it. On the other hand, “Halloween” (2018) was a fantastic legacy sequel and the following movie was unwatchable trash, so who knows.
