Ghostbusters: Afterlife — A Review

15th February, 2022.

Right … It’s a Tuesday night: vegetables are boiling, and potatoes roasting.

They’ll be accompanying stew.

Beef stew.   So you know.

At any rate … ?   I’ll be watching a movie, tonight: and will have this written review — the one you’re reading now — up tomorrow night.

Along with its video equivalent.

I have to admit: I’ve got a very good idea of what I’m going to watch: the recent death of Ivan Reitman, director of the two original films?

Got me thinking that Ghostbusters: Afterlife would be just the thing.

More, tomorrow night …

~≈👻≈~

16th February, 2022.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife opens with a shadowy figure, escaping from the Shandor Mine: and being killed in an isolated farmhouse.

By a ghostly figure that vanishes in a puff of smoke.

The scene shifts: showing us Callie (Carrie Coon) being evicted from her flat: along side her son, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and daughter, Phoebe (McKenna Grace).

The only place they can stay?

Is her father’s old house: hers, because of his recent, unexplained, death.

It’s only as Phoebe explores their new home, and finds a ton of very strange equipment?

And chess pieces that move on their own?

That she realises Grandpa was odder than the local gossip knows.

That’s only confirmed?   When her brother finds … 

The car … !

Ever get the feeling someone’s going to make a phone call … ?

~≈👻≈~

Now … what did I make of Ghostbusters: Afterlife?

Is it groovy?   Melodious?   Harmonically vibrating in ways only know to heavenly hosts in tune with their own inner mellifluousness?

I think we can say ‘No!’

Can we say it’s a good movie, though … ?

I’d have to give you a qualified ‘Yes.’

The effects?   Superb!

The writing?   Great.

The cast — Carrie Coon, McKenna Grace, and Finn Wolfhard — are all superb as their respective characters, the supporting cast, great … and the cameos from the original film’s cast — Ackroyd, Murray and Hudson as Ray, Pete and Winston — worked well.

The reason I say qualified?

Is that I’m not totally convinced they were needed.

Or complete: as — given the sad death of Harold Ramis in 2014 — the ghost of Egon was played by producer, Ivan Reitman: who died earlier this month.

Additionally … ?

We could argue that the plot — the return of Gozer the Traveller — is a re-run of the original film: a re-run with hints of The Goonies thrown in.

Saying that … ?

Saying that, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a very entertaining film.

The writing and plotting are generally good, it moves at a good pace … and, by the end of it … ?

You end up giving a damn about the characters.

Yes: it’s not perfect.

But yes: Ghostbusters: Afterlife is enjoyable.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

★★☆☆