Review by Jon Donnis
As someone who grew up in the 1980s, Ghostbusters had a big influence on my life, it was an all-time great film, and I have been putting off watching Ghostbusters Afterlife, because I didn't want to be disappointed. The all-female lead reboot that was released in 2016 was awful, one of the worst things to ever happen in film. Of course, the media was desperate for it to be a success and when it flopped massively, they blamed everything expect that the fact the film was terrible. It must be racists who refused to go see it as there was a black woman in it, completely forgetting the character of Winston Zeddemore from Ghostbusters 2, a much-loved character in the franchise. Then they said it must be because it was all female lead parts, so it must be those horrible misogynists who refused to go see it, again totally forgetting the lovefest we all had with Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett in the original films. History has now largely forgotten that terrible reboot, in the same way it has forgotten some of the Terminator films after the third film.
Looking at the Metacritic scores, I also noticed that the critics hated this film but the general public loved it. Almost as if they are still pissed off that no one liked their beloved 2016 reboot.
So, with all that said, I had major reservations about Ghostbusters Afterlife, I didn't really just want a rehash of old jokes with the original cast, as that would come across as desperate, I also didn't want to see the original cast replaced by some woke wet dream of the Hollywood elite, so I put my trust in the franchise, and luckily they did something very clever, they looked at the success of Stranger Things and realised that you could have young kids with older teenagers, and throw in a bit of nostalgia, a few easter eggs, and create a brand new film, that is part of the canon, and doesn't destroy the legacy at all.
The basic story of Afterlife is a single mom and her two kids move to a small town, they soon find out that their recently deceased grandfather was one of the original Ghostbusters, and as they explore the house he left for them, they start to realise that there was a secret legacy he left behind.
I don't want to spoil things, but it is no secret that Harold Ramis who played Dr. Egon Spengler died in 2014, and I will say that this film pays a really nice tribute to him and his memory. I will say no more than that.
The film is really slick, way slicker than the original films, as I mentioned earlier, it reminded me of Stranger Things, and that is a good thing.
As a true third film in the franchise, it hit on everything I wanted just about right, it didn't spoil things, and I would like to think new fans and fans of the original will leave happy. You had a strong female lead, you had a black character, and still the film has done really well considering the whole real world is falling apart thing. So, I guess those silly far left critics really didn't know what they were talking about.
The Good
A really well-made sequel, that furthers the storylines of all the original characters, as well as allowing the potential of more films. I loved the incidental music that instantly took me back to the original films.
The Bad
Since the original films were about 1h45 and this is 2h04, I feel like it didn't need to be that long, but I never felt like it was dragging either. My only real complaint was the lack of a big song in the film. The original had the Ghostbusters song, the sequel had Higher and Higher, when the Statue of Liberty came to life.
Overall
As a true fan of the original, I was so happy that this film was decent. Some great moments, plenty of Easter Eggs, and a lovely ending.
I score Ghostbusters Afterlife a strong 8/10
