Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Many years after Ghostbusters 2, Egon Spengler had abandoned his family, dying alone on his farm in Oklahoma. His daughter Carrie Coon travels to the town with her two kids Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace to put his affairs in order when they discover the truth of his past and what brought him to the middle of Oklahoma in the first place. It’s not an awful movie by any means, but it feels like less a part of the franchise than the abomination from 2016. There’s very little humor and way too much overreliance on CGI effects that don’t look much better than what was offered 20 years ago. There’s a lot of fan service in the film, but it all gets a bit muddied as to how it fits into the universe. Some people remember the original ghostbusters; while others have never heard of them and don’t believe ghosts exist. The new cast mostly consists of inconsequential additions, except for Grace. Her portrayal comes across believably as a descendent of Spengler and also as someone who gets ghostbusting. I’m sure the old cast weren’t interested in portraying much more than gratified cameos, but it could have been a blast seeing her just join as a member of the quartet. I’m torn on the ethics of casting dead people in films, but even if I were totally okay with it, there is too much ‘Harold Ramis’ in this film.