Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

i’ll be so for real guys this is one of my favorite movies ever. weird cgi aside this is a fantastic movie. 4.5/5 though because they didn’t let them kiss!!!!! i will be thinking about “i’ll see you in the fabric of the universe” until i breathe my last breath on this earth

Honestly, pretty good! It was definitely entertaining, and while the plot wasn’t anything particularly new, I was still somewhat invested. I think I enjoyed this more than Afterlife, actually, but BOY, do I have some complaints. 🌝

First and foremost, why is Finn Wolfhard’s character so… lame? Like, this is not hate to Finn Wolfhard himself, but why is Trevor so useless? Is he meant to be comic relief? Because he’s not really funny; he honestly just be pissing me off. 🌝 And that’s such a shame because I genuinely think there’s potential with his character. I know Phoebe is the main character of this new generation, but that doesn’t mean you should get lazy with the writing for everyone else. Deadass, what was Trevor even doing this movie? NOTHING. They didn’t even bother continuing his romance arc with Lucky! Like, hello??? What was the point of establishing that in the first place if you’re just going to do absolutely nothing with it?

Speaking of Phoebe, I actually really liked the idea of her relationship with Melody, but the execution was so wishy-washy. Phoebe being a lesbian genuinely makes sense to me, and I think the idea of her developing feelings for a ghost was interesting, especially considering how isolated she feels from everyone around her. But the movie seemed so afraid to fully commit to what was happening between them. Were they friends? Were they romantically interested in each other? Were we supposed to interpret it as something more? WHO KNOWS! 😭 Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it honestly felt like the writers wanted to appeal to two different audiences without offending either one, so they refused to fully commit to either interpretation. And that’s frustrating because there was so much potential there, especially with Phoebe’s character and her struggle to figure out where she belongs.

AND THE VILLAIN. Oh my GOD. Garraka looked so damn cool and was genuinely intimidating. The concept was great, the design was creepy, and I was actually getting excited to see what this motherfucker was going to do. Only for them to kill him in, like, fifteen minutes. 😭 HELLO???? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF ALL THAT BUILDUP?! You introduce this ancient, terrifying entity capable of unleashing an ice age, make him look like the biggest threat the Ghostbusters have ever faced, and then barely give him any time to be a villain. The movie had so many characters and plotlines fighting for attention that even the main threat didn’t get the time he deserved. Such a waste of a genuinely cool villain.

And that brings me to another problem: THERE ARE TOO MANY DAMN CHARACTERS. 😭 Between the new generation, the original Ghostbusters, the Spengler family, the supporting characters, and the random fire master guy, there is SO MUCH going on. And for what? Seriously, what was the purpose of introducing Nadeem and his whole fire master lineage if the movie wasn’t going to do more with it? His abilities and family history were interesting, but so much of it felt like setup that never reached its full potential. Everyone is fighting for screen time, and somehow nobody gets enough of it.

Which brings me to the legacy characters. I genuinely don’t mind Ray and Winston returning. Winston is literally running the Ghostbusters corporation, so his involvement makes sense, and Ray is a great source of knowledge and guidance for the new team. I actually LIKE the idea of the original Ghostbusters serving as mentors to the next generation. But why did they need to be so heavily involved in the final battle? No shade, but these men are OLD. 😭 They were literally just running around while Phoebe was the one actually doing most of the work. Like, let the new generation shine!

And Venkman??? BRO. WHY ARE YOU HERE? 💀 Genuinely, was he just brought back to deliver a quippy one-liner before getting his ass beat? I love the original characters, but nostalgia alone is not a reason to put somebody in a movie. If they have a meaningful role in the story, GREAT. Bring them back! But if they’re just going to pop up for a few minutes so the audience can point at the screen and go, “OMG, IT’S HIM!” then what are we doing? I understand that nostalgia is a huge part of why these movies are successful, but I really hope the next movie stops prioritizing the legacy characters so much. They should be part of the story when it makes sense, not shoved into every major moment just because they’re familiar faces. Let the new team establish themselves!

ALSO, can we PLEASE move on from the government constantly having beef with the Ghostbusters? 😭 EVERY. SINGLE. MOVIE. It’s always the same damn thing: the Ghostbusters are doing their jobs, the government decides they’re a problem and tries to shut them down, and then, when shit inevitably hits the fan, suddenly everybody needs the Ghostbusters again. LIKE, DAMN! You would think after DECADES of this happening, somebody would put two and two together and realize that maybe, just MAYBE, these people know what they’re doing! 💀 I could genuinely see our government behaving like this, so the premise itself isn’t unbelievable, but from a storytelling perspective, I’m TIRED. It’s such a repetitive conflict, and I’m begging the next movie to find something else to do with its runtime. WE GET IT. THE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T LIKE THE GHOSTBUSTERS. NOW LET’S FOCUS ON THE DAMN GHOSTS, PLEASE.

ANYWAYS, despite all my complaints, I did enjoy the movie! I think I liked it more than Afterlife, and there’s definitely a lot of fun to be had here. The biggest problem is that it feels like the movie has a bunch of genuinely interesting ideas but doesn’t give any of them enough time to develop. The characters need more attention, the villain deserved WAY more screen time, and the legacy characters need to take a step back so the new generation can actually grow.

Hopefully, the next movie—apparently titled Ghostbusters: Nightmare on 34th Street—takes some of this criticism into account and gives these characters the writing they deserve. There’s a lot of potential here, and I WANT to see where they go with it. I’ll definitely be checking out the next one regardless, so whatever. 😭

Bye ✌️