Ghostbusters: Afterlife Review: A dispirited sequel harboring nostalgia

A still from Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Dir: Jason Reitman
Cast: Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Sigourney Weaver, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Logan Kim
Rating 2.5/5

Director Jason Reitman's supernatural action-comedy is a fairly contemporary addition to the franchise that began with his father's ( Ivan Reitman) 1984 hit movie. This film stars recently voted sexiest man alive Paul Rudd, popular child actor McKenna Grace and Carrie Coon while Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Harold Ramis ( the original Ghostbusting Trio), and Sigourney Weaver have honorable mentions or cameos befitting their on-screen pop-culture legend status - thus helping turn up the nostalgia.

Jason Reitman terms this vanity exercise as a movie "by a family about a family, "so it comes as no surprise to see a struggling-to-make-ends-meet single mom Callie(Carrie Coon), with her two kids 15-year-old Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and 12-year-old Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), arriving in a small town, Summerville, in order to wrap-up an inheritance that slowly unveils itself as the connector to the three films prior pre-digital original that established the Ectomobile, the ghost trap, the Neutrona wand, and portable nuclear particle accelerator as instruments of popular lore.

This fourth issue in the franchise takes a long time to come good as it goes all over the place trying to establish a connection between Ghostbuster Harold Ramis' deceased grandfather character and Coon's estranged daughter who would rather wipe out the past Ghostbuster history - but Callie did not reckon with her children's innate curiosity to learn about their grandfather and is caught unawares by the volcanic reawakening of Ghosts that lay dormant for several years. To spice up the narrative screenwriters Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman have Trevor crushing on the slightly older Lucky (Celeste O'Connor) and science whiz Phoebe bonding with two people namely, a self-assured podcasting kid (Logan Kim), and the other, a teacher, Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) who moonlights as a seismologist and appears to have amicable feelings for Callie.

The long-drawn exposition includes clips from the original film in the form of YouTube videos that Phoebe watches as part of her research on the New York City hauntings of the '80s. Afterlife doesn't appear to have much life going into the climax. The defanged ghosts lack spirit and the dry wit fails to bring on the smiles. The shape-shifting Sumerian deity Gozer, the chief villain of the original tale rises again but we don't get to know why? Logic is suspect and the pseudoscience feels more like nonsense. Even the F/x fails to rouse up affection. But for the able sound design, Rob Simonsen's injective orchestral score, François Audouy's inspiring production design, Eric Steelberg's visually atmospheric cinematography, and the leading actors' charismatic presence, this movie would have been just as forgettable as the earlier reboot.