After being delayed for more than a year because of the ‘pandemic’, Ghostbusters: Afterlife finally hit theaters this week.
The big thing to do with movies nowadays seems to be reviving older movies/franchises and giving the older audience the nostalgic feels while introducing the movies to the younger audiences. For me personally, I love these type of movies because I can sit down with my son and watch Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 and tell him my ‘back in the day’ stories and then go see this. Ghostbusters was the 2nd movie I ever saw in the theater (the 1st was Annie and the 3rd was Back To The Future lol). I had a Ghostbusters lunchbox. I watched the cartoon later. Ecto-1 was right there with the DeLorean, KITT, General Lee, A-Team’s Vandura van, and the Bandit’s Pontiac for me). My son has become quite the cinephile as well and he is especially hooked on movies from the ’80s right now, and him enjoying them makes them more enjoyable for me too.
I have found myself enjoying movies a little more these days by not watching all the trailers and definitely avoiding a lot of the speculation articles that pop up almost daily for a year or so before movies come out. There was one particular thing that happened that surprised me because something I did read a year or so ago, made it seem like it wasn’t going to happen, but it made me happy… and looks like it will play into future installments if they come. With so many movies being delayed over the past year, I admit I kind of forgot Ghostbusters was still coming out. I went in without much expectation, but I had a feeling it would be decent enough to go to the theater for… and I was right, at least in my opinion.
The movie is a sequel to the original Ghostbusters movies that were released over 30 years ago. It was directed by Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman, who directed the original 1984 and 1989 movies. He was also slated to direct a third installment but it went a different direction with Paul Feig that eventually led to the all-female cast movie. We won’t talk about that one.
It is mostly tied to the first movie and there is a ton of nostalgia and callbacks to the original, while giving a modern Stranger Things vibe, probably because of Finn Wolfhard playing the son Trevor. A lot of the movie is pretty predictable, at least for us older ‘Buster fans. Paul Rudd is always enjoyable, and somehow the same age or younger than he was in Clueless. McKenna Grace was enjoyable as the daughter/grandaughter Phoebe… and pulls off the look of her character very well…. just seeing her, you will put the pieces together of her bloodline.
It is a good time, good for laughs, better special effects, teenage angst, a lot of nostalgia, and you might/will tear up… even my son did. I don’t want to spoil anything so I will leave it at that. The nostalgia outweighs the story, but it is entertaining and funny enough to be successful, and even continue on with future installments. It’s definitely worth seeing in the theater and was worth the wait. Stick around for TWO post-credit scenes.
Now we’re waiting for Top Gun 2, my son absolutely loved Top Gun… one of my all-time favorite movies, and pretty much the recruiting video to get me to join the Navy.
