Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

The ‘sequel to the reboot’ has become it’s own bonafide subgenre in recent times and is an unfortunate example of studio apprehension and diminishing returns for franchise blockbuster filming.

There’s been a few decent examples but quite often these are cynical cash grabs trying to push more nostalgia and familiarity onto families who’ve got to fork out a fair amount to venture into the cinema.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is the most recent entrant into this most peculiar of modern film phenomenons and it’s an easy film to like and is a good example of how this sort of thing should be done. However, you just can’t get away from wondering what the point of it is.

Seemingly deciding that the Melissa McCarthy-led female reboot never existed for some reason, Frozen Empire continues with the new team and family dynamic set out in Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

That was a particularly good reboot, retaining the ‘80’s feel’ of the original, bringing back the original cast in a way that made sense and didn’t distract from the newbies, and grounding everything in a realistic and likeable family dynamic.

That latter element is very much still present in the sequel, and easily the best part of the film, but beyond that it doesn’t quite have enough story to tell in its two hour runtime.

A new, mysterious ancient threat is revealed, discussed and expositioned at length and then finally materialises way too late with next to zero actual threat, even less character motivation and not even a cursory scare to raises pulses. It’s a proper let down.

Instead, what works is just spending time with these likable characters with some good new additions (James Acaster and Kumail Nanjiani who both know exactly what film they’re in are particularly good) and the game original cast who all look genuinely happy to be there.

A decent weekend watch but an unnecessary continuation containing the expected diminishing returns. Who can we call to bust the Ghostbusters before that star rating gets any lower?

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