James M's review of Ghostbusters Afterlife (2021)

 

Welcome back, everyone! Its time we dive back into the Ghostbusters universe... with the long-awaited Ghostbusters III known as Ghostbusters Afterlife, released in November of 2021 and starring Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckeena Grace, Bokeem Woodbine and Paul Rudd of Marvel Cinematic Universe fame.

Original Ghostbusters actors Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver (post-credits) and Harold Ramis (posthumously) also appear in the film, reprising their roles from the original two films with J.K Simmons of Spider-Man and Terminator Genisys fame playing none other than Ivo Shandor, who was mentioned in the first movie and played a major role in the 2009 video game.

Set over three decades after the events of the first two films, Egon Spengler's grandkids visit a house left behind by him after his death and find themselves taking up the Ghostbusters mantle when the threat of a supernatural apocalypse with Gozer's return becomes apparent. In the end, after quite the struggle, the young heroes (with help from Peter Venkmen, Winston, Ray and the ghost of Egon) defeat the returning and seemingly powerful Gozer and save humanity.

With the story out of the way, what do I think of this film and is it good?

Honestly, despite some of the criticism it got, Afterlife is a decent movie and a well-deserved Ghostbusters sequel even if it picks up some plot beats from the first movie such as the threat of Gozer. But thankfully, it handles the Gozer plot in a way that doesn't feel like a retread of the first film. Even the late Harold Ramis is given an honorable tribute with his character getting a well-deserved send-off, rest in peace, Harold, you were amazing.

And you know what, we even have the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot to thank for this. If it weren't for that film, we wouldn't have gotten this. In case you don't know, after Ghostbusters II, the creatives tried to get Ghostbusters III off the ground but had so much issue, they ended up making the 2016 film. When that failed, that's when this film came to be. So in a way, trying to reboot Ghostbusters, only for it to fail, helped ensure that the third installment in the original movie series came to be.

There were quite a lot of Easter Eggs and callbacks to the original movie in many ways, especially when the original Ghostbusters face off against Gozer at the end. Remember that scene in the first film where Gozer asks Ray if he's a god, unlike in the first film, Ray says "yes" this time around. Had he, Peter and Winston forgotten what had happened last time, they would've been in some deep sh*t.

Seeing J.K Simmons as Ivo Shandor was quite welcome, even though Shandor's role was very minor, since we finally got to see the very man who planted the seeds for Gozer's coming years prior to the events of the first film in live action. Better late than never, am I right?

Ghostbusters Afterlife is not only a worthy sequel to Ghostbusters II (and the original movie), its got some of the best cinematography, music and remarkable special effects, especially during the end battle when the heroes are beating Gozer with Egon's ghost joining in. And in regards to how Harold Ramis' character is handled and how Ramis' legacy is treated, it is beautiful, the actor using his likeness knew what he was doing and those final scenes with his ghost is something you're never going to forget.

Well, I don't have much to say at this point. All I can do is give Ghostbusters III aka Ghostbusters Afterlife a solid 9.5 out of 10, what an amazing movie that potentially serves as the finale to the original film series' story. Would we love to see more Ghostbusters' adventures in the future? Of course, if they don't take three decades to do another one like with the third film. God, don't you just hate it when movies go through development hell for decades?

Anyways, I bid to you a happy life and have many good days to come. Sayonara, everyone!

-James. M