Game:

Afterlife (1996)

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Review

Duration: 13:22

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"Ghostbusters: Afterlife" (2021) directed by Jason Reitman is highly enjoyable but way too reliant on fan service. The occasional reference is nice but this entire film is one big greatest hits reel when I can just go watch the original film if I wanted to see that.

Phoebe Spengler (Mckenna Grace) is a nerdy scientist just like her grandfather Egon, who has passed away. She discovers the Ghostbuster equipment which Egon stole in preparation for a prophesized attack from Hell. Phoebe's brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) has a difficult time adjusting to their new town. Phoebe's teacher Mr. Grooberson (Paul Rudd) takes an interest in her mother who is struggling to keep finances together, Callie (Carrie Coon).

Afterlife has plenty of great jokes and is overall a very entertaining experience. I became a fan of Mckenna Grace after seeing her in "Annabelle Comes Home" (2019), and she is just as excellent here as she was in that. Paul Rudd is always entertaining no matter what so he was another strength of the film. While the fan service did eventually get on my nerves, I'm no Grinch and I will admit many of the Member Berry scenes did get to me.

Finn Wolfhard's character has absolutely nothing to do and has no business being in the film unfortunately. The plot is practically identical to the original film to the point where it feels like a Walmart version of the original (Which is extra true since there is a literal Walmart sequence in this). I was actually way more invested in the regular day to day lives of this struggling family and their drama with one another than the actual Ghostbusting stuff, because it was just a retread borderline scene for scene copy of the original climax as well as all it's creatures and ghosts. I think Mckenna Grace is a very talented individual but I will mention that she was way too stereotypically nerdy, which extra hurt because one of the themes of the original (which this one is so desperately copying) was that nerds can be cool too.

Afterlife is a casual fan pleaser and a critic piss offer, at least that's how I would describe it. I still recommend seeing it and I wouldn't be sad or annoyed if someone wanted me to watch it with them in the future because it's very funny and has great actors in it.

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