‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ not exactly ‘War & Peace’ but then did you really expect to be?

I don’t quite mind the new Ghostbusters movie, subtitled ‘Frozen Empire’. Did it have to be made? Certainly not. There’s nothing epic about the film, not even the ‘climactic’ ending in which the world literally freezes over. In fact, while all has gone to frost in the outside world, our heroes – the Ghostbusters – seem content to operate from within the confines of their headquarters, where they face the villain, Garraka, a towering, skinny, diabolic creature of sorts with horns almost as wide as his lanky body.

While the title of the film might allude to it being set in a frozen earth, there’s more hype and less ice, save for the very end. Even the trailers for the movie over-hype the ice factor.

It’s nice to see many of the original Ghostbusters (1984) cast members returning, including Annie Potts as the sweet but sarcastic Janine, Bill Murray as the dry-humoured Venkman, Dan Aykroyd as geeky Stantz, and Ernie Hudson as the sensible Zeddemore.

These familiar faces are definitely needed since all the new characters are kind of beige in comparison (including Carrie Coon’s Callie Spengler, her science-whiz daughter Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), and her perpetually emo son Trevor (Finn Wolfhard).

Paul Rudd could have had more fun in his role as an ex-science teacher of one of the kids, now a surrogate father of sorts – yet you’re never quite sure what relationship he has with Carrie since the subplots in this film are so asexual, erring on the safe side.

To be honest, my favourite characters were the Mini Pufts, a population of baby Stay Puft mascots whom our main cast seem to find annoying but who I feel the film couldn’t do without.

Director Gil Kenan does a good enough job of keeping the Ghostbusters jokes and puns going, with references to several of the franchise’s previous movies. Plus, there are horror film references aplenty, with It, Saw, Pan’s Labyrinth and a few others spotted throughout.

As a student of semiotics, I prefer this film to its predecessor Ghostbusters: Afterlife, mainly because this one involves a bit of semiotic decoding, and even sees some ancient hieroglyphics come to life, such as the character of Garraka himself.

The film does look like it’s unsure of its resolution, though, with an ending that is kind of left up in the air (along with our main villain, apparently).

If you’re a Ghostbusters fan you’ll appreciate this flick. If you haven’t seen anything beyond the original movie, you probably needn’t part with your well-earned dollars.

Antonino Tati

‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ is in cinemas now.

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