Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2020)

[thecolorsblend]

Presently, Afterlife has 67% on Rotten Tomatoes. So, the review bombing the critics have been doing hasn't been completely successful. Hasn't been a complete failure either. But not completely successful.

The knives have been out for Afterlife from the jump. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the critics have an axe to grind with the movie following 2016's failure.

Between ZSJL and Afterlife, it would be fair to say that the woker critics have had it rough lately. Turns out, catering to fans has a better success rate than smearing them as istophobes. Who knew?

[The Dark Knight]

Presently, Afterlife has 67% on Rotten Tomatoes. So, the review bombing the critics have been doing hasn't been completely successful. Hasn't been a complete failure either. But not completely successful.

I think it will be a good movie, but individual mileage will vary as to how good it is. At the very least they went with the right concept, and the original cast members appearing automatically makes it worthwhile. The reason why the woke patrol are trashing nostalgia here is because Afterlife ignores their pet project that bombed and never should have been made. The bedrock of Ghostbusters is the first two films and nothing will ever change that fact.

[The Joker]

So, according to RT, something like "Cuties" has a higher critic rating than "Ghostbusters: Afterlife".

Fascinating.

[The Joker]

Checked out Ghostbusters Afterlife last night, and although I would like to give a more proper review (given I don't end up working a bunch of double shifts coming up), I'll say that SPOILER if your thing was wanting to see all four of the original Ghostbusters busting side by side for one last time? You actually get it with this.

[The Dark Knight]

Checked out Ghostbusters Afterlife last night, and although I would like to give a more proper review (given I don't end up working a bunch of double shifts coming up), I'll say that SPOILER if your thing was wanting to see all four of the original Ghostbusters busting side by side for one last time? You actually get it with this.

Congratulations on seeing the movie and I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts. I hope the busting made you feel good. I'm not entirely sure if The Game is still official canon (I'm sure it could be twisted somehow even if not), but it'll always be my canonical third movie. The fact it has the original cast members makes it an automatic inclusion, in my book. Afterlife is a nice bonus.

[The Joker]

Review. Including some SPOILERS.

Alright, Ghostbusters Afterlife was one of those movies where I had a lot of anticipation for, and felt very satisfied upon walking out of the theater. Is it good? It's good. Actually, it's very good. I've had time to digest the film, and it's very evident, when watching the movie, and well after, that the people involved with this genuinely cared about Ghostbusters, and want nothing more than to put out a product that is truly exceptional. Actually, I would say it's definitely one of the more memorable experiences I've ever had at the movies. As the crowd I watched this with was VERY into the movie, which just heightened the experience.

Now, is this the Ghostbusters 3 I wanted? No. Absolutely not. I was never super high into the idea of the OG crew training the next generation of Ghostbusters (which was always the idea ever since even the 1990's), MAINLY because I wanted a GB3 to focus on the OG crew, just like GB1 and GB2, but that was NEVER going to happen. Too much time has passed, and we're one man down. However, like Cobra Kai, I think Afterlife is about as best as we could get given the circumstances that a "true" Ghostbusters 3, was unfortunately no longer possible anymore. Like Cobra Kai, this movie does a amazing job in honoring the past, and characters, while introducing new characters that you could actually care about. There's no agenda and identity politics with this one folks. Just a desire to make a actual GOOD Ghostbusters movie, which I think they marvelously pulled off.

Ghostbusters Afterlife isn't a perfect movie by any means. I felt the pacing, especially in the 1st half has it's issues, and the OG Ghostbusters aren't in it as much as I would have hoped for (would have loved to have seen more of Ray, as for the B section of the film, getting back in contact with Winston and Peter), and there's some stuff I would change, but again, like Cobra Kai, this is a movie that desperately needed, especially considering all the circumstances, to be made NOW. It's a movie that is, to be honest, what it needed to be, and that's all I could really ask for. In a lot of ways, it's essentially a movie that is made for any kid who loved the Ghostbusters movies, and wanted to be a Ghostbuster when they growed up. Is it fan servicy? Yes. Is it nostalgic? You bet. Is there numerous call backs to the 1984 original. Absolutely, and you know what? I LOVED every minute of it!

Given the passing of Harold Ramis, you mght be a little bit surprised to know that Afterlife is, without a shadow of a doubt, a Egon Spengler centric Ghostbusters movie, but it is, and the way the movie achieves this is just excellent. Egon is always present in your mind, even when he's not there. Actually, Afterlife goes even beyond what I initially expected in that respect. It's one of those cases where Ivan Reitman and crew didn't want to half ass anything. They went big in honoring the memory of both Harold and Egon, and the movie succeeded as a consequence. My Gozer, seeing all four OG Ghostbusters together again, doing what they do best, hit me right in the feels to be perfectly honest.

As far as TDK's inquiry about Ghostbusters Afterlife's placement in the Ghostbusters timeline. Well, Afterlife, for all intents and purposes, absolutely replaces the 2009 video game.

For me, I personally view Ghostbusters in 2 different main timelines:

The "original/prime" timeline is: GB1 - GB2 - GB 2009 Video Game (about as close to GB3 we're ever going to get).

The "Current/New" timeline is: GB1 - GB2 - GB Afterlife (very optional placement there with GB2 if we're basing the timeline solely on what's going on in Afterlife, as Ray's "Occult Book Store" is pretty much the ONLY reference to GB2, but apparently Ivan has stated that GB2 is still canon).

There are a lot differences between the 2009 Video Game and Ghostbusters Afterlife, but I found both satisfying in their own ways. In the video game, Ivo Shandor is the de facto villain, where in Afterlife, it's very much Gozer reasserting itself as the major baddie for the Ghostbusters to face off against once again. Actually, Ivo in this, for what little he actually appears, completely gets wrecked by Gozer for even merely suggesting that he's somehow on even ground with the God he so desperately seeked to bring forth in the world. Essentially a victim of his own vanity. It was also very cool seeing Vinz Clortho, and Zuul again, and Afterlife actually paid attention to detail by having Vinz be just as clumsy and publicly overt as ever, and Zuul being the incognito beast as she ever was. That's one of the things I loved about this movie, is that the original 1984 movie is literally ALL over this movie, and in some clever ways too. Stuff like having Peter f***ing Venkman being just as sarcastic and dismissive of Gozer, or Gozer asking the, "Are you a God?" question again ... pure gold. As a Ghostbusters fan that ADORES the original, all the deliberate stylistic symmetry was not gone unappreciated.

As far as omissions go, I wasn't really surprised about the lack of Rick Moranis, but I was surprised that there isn't any Slimer cameo to speak of. Course there are actually two different end credit scenes, one with Peter and Dana, and the last one with Winston's goal to open the Ghostbusters business back up, so there is definitely some thought in going for a sequel. Perhaps the Reitman's can convince Moranis back, and we'll see that Slimer has been hanging around Louis Tully these days?

All and all, I had fun with this. It's not a perfect movie, but it's well made, it's painfully clear that the intentions were good, and the film does a excellent job in honoring Harold Ramis. This movie achieved that in spades. It has heart. When something is made by people who actually GIVE A DAMN, you can really tell the difference.

That's what I have to say about Ghostbusters Afterlife.

9 out of 10.

[The Dark Knight]

I've seen the movie. It's okay, but I have issues. There's a lot of build up with a very rushed ending. It needed another half an hour. There's limited ghosts and basically what you see in the trailers is it. Not believing Egon didn't make sense and left a bad taste. Egon became a hermit, leaving his wife and kids penniless. They have a nice ending at the end for him, but treat him like trash for the rest. They needed a reason to have him exiled but this could have been so much better. At the core I see this as Ghostbusters for kids with a little too much retreading going on. Especially in that case I'm keeping the first two films and that's it. Good to have the original cast back temporarily though.

6/10.

[The Joker]

Not believing Egon didn't make sense and left a bad taste. Egon became a hermit, leaving his wife and kids penniless. They have a nice ending at the end for him, but treat him like trash for the rest. They needed a reason to have him exiled but this could have been so much better.

Hate to read that TDK thought "GB Afterlife" was mediocre, but If going off the narrative, the group not believing Egon's plea came across like a case of bad circumstance, and sometimes, timing is everything. The OG Ghostbusters were already starting to drift apart, and pursue other occupations of income by the time Egon realized what was going on with Gozer. Like with how Ray quoted Peter to Egon's youngest grandchild Phoebe, "They did their job a little too well." Ghost sightings and reports literally dried up, with Ray (who probably was more personally tied into the Ghostbusting business, other than Egon) continuing his book store, Peter going into advertising (i think), and Winston going into what sounds like finance (although it's not explicitly stated what kind of business he has, it's evidently extremely successful). If GB2 is canon, like Ivan Reitman has said, then this was actually the second time the team had literally hit rock bottom. They were just ready to move on, and I'm sure emotions were already running high when Egon left, further aliening him from the team (again, probably more so with Ray than Peter/Winston, who were probably more passive). Egon was, after all, well established as the most eccentric Ghostbuster out of the group (remember the bit about Peter stopping Egon from drilling a hole in his head, and Egon was still convinced whatever experiment that was would have worked if Peter hadn't stopped him?), which, kinda goes without saying, wouldn't have helped his case with convincing the other OG Ghostbusters about a Gozer return. The climate just wasn't there, and thus no traction.

Yeah, I don't see the film trashing Egon at all. Actually, his daughter, Callie, is the one, the biggest one, that seems to have the most negative feelings towards Egon throughout the film than really any other character. Sure, Ray's initial opinion on Egon, when Ray was first seen, wasn't exactly positive due to Egon taking everything and disappearing, but you could see the remorse in his face once he's told Egon passed away during the phone conversation with Egon's grandchild. Any resentment Ray might have had at that moment, was completely washed away. In addition, there is that confrontational scene where Phoebe gets visibility and emotionally angry at her mother for constantly being a negative nancy when it came to anything about her grandfather. Stating that Egon was "Special, and that he loved science just like she does." Which actually calms Callie down with the continued negativity. Hell, you even get the idea that Callie has isolated from her own children, especially with her own daughter from the movie if you want to really get down to it.

That's one of the things that the film does a pretty good job in, rather than just positively gush over Egon from start to finish, the film slowly peels back the onion on Egon, one layer at a time, giving us information little by little, until you find out that yeah, Egon was eccentric, yes he was socially awkward, yes he was definitely emotionally detached, but deep down, he cared. That much is certain. Going purely off the film's plot, my sense was that Egon wanted to spare his family from becoming potential targets of both Vinz Clortho, and Zuul in their goal to reinstate Gozer. Which, going off the opening sequence of Afterlife, assuredly could and would have been a very real possibility. Thus, explaining his reasoning for self exiling himself to the farm house, and being resigned as that strange dirt farmer. According to the town folk.

For a genius like Egon, I'm sure he would have been incredibly successful post-Ghostbusters career in his own right (probably the most successful given his genius), but in his estimation, this resignation to isolation just simply wasn't a matter of choice.

In any event, I'm happy to see that the film is getting high praise from most general audiences and fans alike (yeah, Girlbuster fans, you lose). Again, it's certainly not a perfect film, but I think Ivan (well both Reitman's really) did more right than wrong. Especially in the understanding that the GB3 we all wanted wasn't possible any longer. The game filled that void. Afterlife really had to be a different beast.

Evidently, another easter egg was the toaster from GB2. I totally missed that, and will have to pay more attention the next time I see this. Hell, I just found out a few days ago that Olivia Wilde was Gozer in this! I thought I recognized that body somewhere (especially in the film, "Vinyl" ... *whistles*). 

[The Joker]

Recently, the film surpassed the North American box office total of the Feig abomination.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottme...h=4d3fd9c9147a

[The Joker]

GB4 has been green lighted.

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/venom-3-ghostbusters-afterlife-sequel-sony-1235240650/

The studio also announced plans for another "Ghostbusters" installment, which will serve as a follow-up to 2021's reboot "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" ($200 million globally). Sony revealed its plans for both sequels during its Monday evening presentation at CinemaCon, the annual trade show for theater owners. Though the studio did not share any details about either movie, it revealed that new chapters were on the way.