First Impressions Review | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

Above photo from Ghostbusters News.

To say I’ve been waiting for this film with anticipation would be an understatement. The day they released the first teaser trailer back in November, I was already looking forward to it, as you could tell from my Teaser Reaction piece.

I even re-watched Ghostbusters: Afterlife just last week, in an effort to refresh my memory (I had only watched it once, when it first hit home video). I didn’t think it would have the same effect as it did the first time as I now knew the big punch it packs (I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t yet seen it), but I must admit that it still hit me just as hard as it did the first time I watched it, if not harder. It’s just such a great love letter to the original Ghostbusters film, and I encourage anyone who hasn’t seen it to give it a chance.

Now, in the week leading up to Frozen Empire, I kept hearing about how critics were giving the new film unfavorable reviews, and how it was getting a low score on the Rotten Tomatoes website (a site I’ve never bothered with, and most likely never will). I’ve made it a point to purposely avoid these reviews, and for several reasons:

1. I didn’t want any spoilers whatsoever.
2. I want to form my own opinion of the film once I see it.
3. I usually don’t agree with snobby film critics in the first place.

I seem to recall critics being not so kind when Afterlife came out in late 2021, claiming it wasn’t original enough and relied too heavily on nostalgia. Well, this just shows the difference between critics and fans; critics don’t possess that sentimental attachment to the product that we fans do, because all of the fans I’ve spoken to loved Afterlife because of the nostalgia. You get the fun, familiar references to the original films (with easter eggs scattered throughout), all while being introduced to interesting new characters.

Now, back to Frozen Empire – Having now seen the film on opening night, here are my first impressions of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, 100% spoiler-free.

From the opening scene, I was invested in this film. It was already apparent that the same love and care that was put into Afterlife was put into this film as well. The Spengler family – Mother Callie (Carrie Coon) and children Trevor and Phoebe (Finn Wolfhard & Mckenna Grace), alongside Callie’s boyfriend Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) – are now continuing the family business and are the new faces of the Ghostbusters, as we see them cruising through downtown New-York in the iconic Ecto-1, in hot pursuit of a giant eel-looking ghost. As a longtime fan, seeing the car driving at high speed, hearing that siren, not to mention seeing newly-added gadgets to the car (drone trap, anyone?), well it all made me very happy.

It was great seeing all of these new characters again, and how they had changed since the predecessor. Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and Podcast (Logan Kim) showed the most change, as they were still just kids/pre-teens in Afterlife, and now they’re well into their teens (Podcast especially looked and sounded completely different!).

That was an interesting aspect of the film for me. In Afterlife, we followed this young, innocent, socially awkward 12-year-old Phoebe Spengler as she is discovering a big part of her family’s past. In this installment, we find Phoebe in her “teenage angst” phase, which I found to be an interesting study on her character.

Big brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) is now 18 years old and wants to be treated like an adult. I will say, that I feel like the filmmakers didn’t know what to do with Trevor in this film. He has a few memorable scenes (The attic. That’s all I’m going to say), but thinking back at the film, it seems to me like he’s inexplicably absent for quite a lengthy period of time, in the middle of the movie, only to pop up again for the climax.

In addition to these characters introduced in Afterlife, we’re of course graced with the presence of the original Ghostbusters (not a spoiler, as they are prominently displayed on posters for the film).

Image from IMP Awards.

Of all the veteran Ghostbusters, Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz gets the most screentime here as he serves as mentor to the new Ghostbusters. I loved this approach, and Aykroyd genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself.

The plot is simple: After a man (Kumail Nanjiani) sells an old ancient artifact to the Ray’s Occult Books store, it is quickly discovered that it is inhabited by an evil force, and “Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second ice age.” (IMDb).

I need to take a moment and talk about Kumail Nanjiani as Nadeem, the young man who sells the ancient artifact to Ray, because he absolutely steals the show, here. Every line that came out of his mouth had me in stitches! His comedic timing was impeccable. The humor is definitely amped up in this installment, and I found myself laughing out loud at several gags in the film

As per its predecessor, easter eggs and nods to previous installments are scattered throughout and it almost becomes a game of I Spy. My friend Marty and I kept turning to each other in a way to say “Did you spot that?“. Once again, the filmmakers have the fans in mind and they make this a fun experience for all audiences.

The creature effects were well done, and I must say that the main antagonist was quite eerie, and made me glad I didn’t bring my young sons to see it. I know for a fact it would have given ME nightmares at their age, so I’ll definitely wait another few years before showing it to them.

As I’m writing this, over 24-hours after seeing the film, I’m still trying to figure out which is the better film: Afterlife or Frozen Empire, and let me tell ya: It’s not an easy call. Both films are different in terms of tone. While Afterlife is slower and serves as the establishing film that introduces us to these new characters, Frozen Empire has a quicker, action-packed pace with amped-up humor. It’s rather fitting really, as we go from the quiet, smalltown Oklahoma setting of Afterlife, to the fast-paced hustle and bustle of New-York City in Frozen Empire.

I *think* I prefer Afterlife a bit more as it did an excellent job at introducing this new generation of characters to us, while keeping the style and feel of the original Ghostbusters films. However, Frozen Empire is not far behind, because now that the introductions were over, it allowed more room for action, not to mention more inclusion of the veteran characters we know and love.

If I had to point out one weakness in the film, and it’s a small one, it would be a subplot centering around Phoebe befriending the ghost of a teenage girl named Melody (Emily Alyn Lind). I didn’t care for the character of Melody, and found her quite boring and uninteresting, BUT this subplot definitely wasn’t enough to ruin any of the enjoyment for me. There was, however, a weird flirtatious chemistry between the two girls, which has some people labeling the film as “woke”, but I won’t get into that…

Overall, if you enjoyed the nostalgic feel of Afterlife and want more, then I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with Frozen Empire. If you have seen the film, I would love to hear your thoughts. Did you enjoy it? Should they have stopped the franchise at Afterlife? Let’s discuss!

MY SCORE: 4/5

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

Directed By Gil Kenan

Written By Jason Reitman & Gil Kenan

Starring Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt

I now leave you with some photographs of my experience with my good friend Marty at the opening night of Frozen Empire at our local Cineplex…

Got to meet and chat with a few cosplayers after the screening.