Films and Fiction

Creating a brand new franchise is hard work, and it’s always going to be simpler to just take an existing one and reboot it. You have a fanbase already established, a world to throw your characters and story into, and hopefully enough recognition to make a hit. It’s a simple strategy, but not always an easy one, which brings me to Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

Back in 1984, the Ghostbusters hit the big screen for the first time, with comedy legends like Bill Murray and Harold Ramis helping to make it a big success. People liked its unique premise, sense of humour, and horror elements, so naturally a sequel was made five years later which was much less popular and closed down the franchise for a quarter century. It wasn’t until 2016 that another movie was made, the hugely unpopular Ghostbusters: Answer the Call, which really divided fans.

It seemed natural that the studio would want to forget that film ever existed and to try and make a return to form with a much more traditional movie, which led to 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

You get the feeling Sony was really treading carefully with this movie after the disaster of 2016. It doesn’t do much that’s new or different, and relies heavily on nostalgia, dropping in lots of references to the other films. “Look, here’s a proton pack, a Slimer-like ghost, Ecto 1, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Men, Gozer, etc.”

It’s really the nostalgia that sells it. The location of Summerville is a small town stuck in the past. There’s poor internet coverage, so things like smartphones are generally little used, and it could almost be set in the ’80s. Fortunately, all the original Ghostbusters are treated with respect, and not made to look outdated like so many other popular heroes.

When the movie does branch out into new territory, it’s generally quite gentle and well-handled. All the new cast are good in their roles. Paul Rudd knows how to do easy comedy, McKenna Grace’s character is clearly a nod to Egon, Finn Wolfhard plays a similar character to Mike from Stranger Things, while Logan Kim portrays a quirky, likeable character who’s obsessed with recording content for his podcast. It’s clear they’re being set up to be the main characters going forward, and they all have enough personality to pull it off, while clearly hoping to catch a younger generation of fans while they’re at it.

For the most part, it’s like the dusty old Ecto 1 being rolled out of the barn in the movie after years of neglect. It might not look as good as it once did, and there’s some work needs to be done, but it still fires up and drives away to bust some ghosts when it’s needed.

It’s really as careful as a movie can be, doing everything it can to avoid upsetting fans of the original movies while trying to make it a soft reboot that other movies can be sprung off of, and in most ways that works. Yes, it’s heavy on the nostalgia and callbacks, but at least there’s enough new stuff to make it an original story, and perhaps most importantly, it’s pretty harmless, and doesn’t do anything to damage the franchise. It’s nowhere near as slick or smart as the original, but if you want some new Ghostbusting action, there’s probably something to be found in Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

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