Movie Review - Ghostbusters: Afterlife
I am a big fan of the Ghostbusters franchise—yes, even the women-led one from 2016—and Ghostbusters: Afterlife was no exception.
This time around, the setting is 2021, aka modern day, and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard, Stranger Things) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace, Young Sheldon) move with their mom Callie (Carrie Coon) to a random town in the middle of nowhere. The reason: they're broke, and she's just inherited her father's creaky old house, even though he left her family when she was a kid. Her father was known as the crazy person in town, but Trevor and Phoebe soon find that things aren't always what they seem.
As a Ghostbusters fan, I loved this movie—and as a fan of movies in general, this one was a LOT of fun. I attended a critics' screening which was held in the EMAX theater at Emagine Royal Oak, and it was definitely a treat—there are a lot of action scenes in this film, and to see it on a screen that big was fantastic. Ghostbusters fans who did not like the 2016 remake will probably like this movie, as it definitely caters to fans—there are a ton of cameos, one of which you might have figured out from the trailer (and if you want to spoil it for yourself, check out the film's IMDb cast page). There's also a fun mid-credits scene as well, so make sure to stay for that ... there's also apparently a post-credits scene too, which I missed.
Yes, see this movie, and try to see it in the theater if possible, as a lot of scenes were clearly designed to be seen on the big screen. Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Carrie Coon, and the rest of the cast were great here; I'd be remiss if I didn't mention newcomers Logan Kim as "Podcast," a friend of Phoebe's, and Celeste O'Connor as Lucky, another teen whom Trevor is trying to woo. Also keep your eye out for a VERY small cameo by J.K. Simmons—I was actually surprised that they didn't use him more because, well, it's J.K. Simmons.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife will be in theaters this Friday, November 19th, and is rated PG-13 with a runtime of 124 minutes. 4.5 stars out of 5.