GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE

 

Mckenna Grace in GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE Year: 2024 Rates: **

Jason Reitman's GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE set up a rural family to become the new Ghostbusters, a cross between the original, created by his father Ivan Reitman along with main-idea-man Dan Aykroyd and the late Harold Ramis, and STRANGER THINGS... centered on a group of small town Middle-American teens more inspired by Steven Spielberg's classic cinema than anything by the patriarch Reitman...

While AFTERMATH had moments, the same primary problem exists in this sequel, Frozen Empire... there's simply no real flow between the now New York City-set character-development and their job busting ghosts...

Emily Alyn Lind in GHOSTBUSTERS

It simply doesn't seem like THESE characters are part of anything to do with paranormal activity, which is why real-life ghost-freak Dan Aykroyd is more part of the story, as a kind of cool uncle, than the original's glib everyman Bill Murray, who phones in a few brief scenes that aren't one bit funny...

The central figure again is Ramis's Egon's granddaughter, Phoebe, a kind of science-goth tomboy who, like Wynona Ryder in BEETLEJUICE, befriends ghosts: herein a beautiful young lady, and there's a more than noticeable lesbian influenced attraction, which should have been either delved into further or not touched at all... And that's the problem... scenes between the dead and living young ladies, or with Paul Rudd (who was the Rick Moranis of AFTERLIFE) trying to become a new stepdad, amounts to very little in a bland adventure/comedy that goes in one nostalgic ear and out the other.

MIRACLE OF THE ORIGINAL 'GHOSTBUSTERS'

Dan Aykroyd wrote a totally farfetched film that would not have worked had Bill Murray not dissembled all the serious attributes along the way. His dry wit in not believing the things that happen right in front of his face made the original movie great, and made Dan Aykroyd funny despite playing the straightest of straight man roles. In that, any sequel (including THE HORRIBLE second movie) doesn't work because Murray's character is no longer a cynical and hilarious non-believer of the story itself. And Murray is the kind of presence that just cannot be replaced… not by female SNL stars (the infamous reboot) and not by children either (AFTERLIFE). Not even by Murray himself, who was completely lost in the second movie… and who never wanted to be in a third movie BECAUSE OF how bad the second movie was... 

Basically, the original GHOSTBUSTERS was a shocking success that no one saw coming (including all those who were THERE on opening night). Had John Belushi starred alongside Akyroyd as intended, it probably would have not worked since Belushi, as great as he was and always the craziest guy in the proverbial crazy train, didn't have the subtle skill of undoing all the work done by others. Murray was there all along to say, "This story is silly and I don't know why I'm here" which was needed given the insane premise and, without him OR Harold Ramis to make Dan's character that much more serious-minded about all the mind-boggling, fantastical science, there's simply no use of trying to trap the same lighting in the same bottle… which, as noted several times, wasn't even possible in 1989 for an unnecessary sequel attempting to tread the same ground that was miraculously successful to begin with.

THE RAZOR'S EDGE

year: 1984

cast: Bill Murray, Brian-Doyle Murray, Theresa Russell

rating: *1/2

Years before Bill Murray got "Lost in Translation" with an Oscar nod, thus being taken seriously as a serious actor, he was at the peak of his comedic talents in the early eighties, and he forced the studio into allowing him to star in "The Razor's Edge", the story (based on a novel by M. Somerset Maugham) about a turn-of-the-century slacker who winds up - after a stint as an ambulance driver in war overseas (ala Ernest Hemingway) - getting tired of high society and seeks wisdom in the mountains of Tibet. What you just read was a run-on sentence, and this is a run-on movie. The rich people are self-absorbed and unlikeable, and the working-class are nice and snuggly. The only decent part of the film has Bill's brother Brian-Doyle, who proves worthy of a character-actor who can act dramatically with ease, playing a rough-and-tumble sergeant during the war segment. Murray wouldn't do "Ghostbusters" unless the studio funded this for him... so at least we got to enjoy that film. This one's a dreadful bore with no enlightenment in sight.

GHOSTBUSTERS 2

title: GHOSTBUSTERS 2

year: 1989

cast: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Sigourney Weaver

grade: *1/2

Pointless action and some decent special effects backing up a convoluted storyline about a river of ghostly ooze running in the New York sewers created by an evil dictator in a painting who wants to kidnap a baby so that it can be reborn with his soul. Rick Moranis' character returns, but is subdued, and the new hyperactive dweeb-turned-demon is played by Peter MacNichol, providing one of the most annoying accents - and performances - that I've yet to witness. But the main problem is Bill Murray, who made the original with his glib mannerisms, countered by Akroyd's hyper persistence. Too much is centered on Dan's scientific terminology, and Murray seems bored throughout and herein grounds nothing. And the Ray Parker theme song is an actual song in the movie, which Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson dance to - and sing along with - entertaining a children's party who'd rather watch He-Man. Isn't this called breaking the fourth wall? So, then... a great theme song is not only trashed but replaced by a standard rap/R&B Bobby Brown tune... but then again, since this movie is such a dud... if the shoe fits.