Ghostbusters Afterlife

Does it still make sense to make a new Ghostbusters movie in 2021? This question, director Jason Reitman (Juno, Tully) and his team had to ask themselves, especially after the artistic and commercial failure of the 2016 reboot, despite being directed by Paul Feig. And what if it was precisely this failure that had sown the seeds of Ghostbusters Legacy? And that this project had taken life thanks to a desire to find the spirit of the original films much more than to relaunch yet another franchise? In this context, Jason Reitman seemed logically the best placed to take up the torch left by his father Ivan who was in charge of the first two films. Who else but him could fully understand this vintage cinema in which he has been immersed since his childhood?

From the very first scene, the codes of the genre impose themselves. A mixture of mystery, magic and comic sense sets the film ablaze. Then comes the exposition, an essential premise for any good story, whose main ambition is to establish the characters. In modern blockbusters, these passages are often sacrificed on the altar of the sacrosanct action. The executives in Hollywood surely think that the audience has the concentration level of a goldfish by now. In Ghostbusters Legacy, the introductions of Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), their mom (Carrie Coon) and Mr. Gooberson (Paul Rudd) take their time. What a good idea to leave the lack of incarnation to the only real returnees of the feature film!

But beyond its vintage management of the making of a film, Ghostbusters succeeds in declining its main theme, the heritage, in all its components: in the voluntarily old school special effects, in the malignant reintroduction of the creatures of the film (in particular the marshmallow Michelin Man resurrected in a sequence voluntarily recalling Joe Dante's Gremlins) but especially in its way of weaving a narrative weave mixing the new and the old, but also reality and fiction. It is undoubtedly in this meta intertwining that all the richness of the scenario lies. It is difficult to hold back tears at the moving conclusion of the film. For once the French subtitle, l'héritage, has more resonance than the Afterlife of the original version.

However, there is no question of simply playing the nostalgia card. To avoid repetition, Jason Reitman has the good idea to move the action from the city to the countryside, where there is already a rich imagination around the haunted house. The filmmaker does not forget that this ode to the past must also be anchored in the present and transmitted to a new generation. The young spectators must appropriate these myths in their turn. How can they do this? By offering them some recent references to put under the retina. The shadow of Stranger Things hovers consciously over Ghostbusters, like a fair return of things. The dilapidated building looks like the mansion of the series Locke and Key, adapted from the work of Joe Hill, himself son of Stephen King...

The question remains that everyone is asking, does a sequel appear to be possible? It's hard to say, but if a new franchise was born, it could be established on new bases. Ghostbusters: Legacy brought a perfect conclusion to a story that started in 1984.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Directed by Jason Reitman
Written by Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman
Based on Ghostbusters by Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ivan Reitman
Produced by Ivan Reitman
Starring Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd
Cinematography : Eric Steelberg
Edited by Dana E. Glauberman, Nathan Orloff
Music by Rob Simonsen
Production companies : Columbia Pictures, Bron Creative, Ghost Corps, The Montecito Picture Company, Right of Way Films
Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date : August 23, 2021 (CinemaCon), November 19, 2021 (United States), December 1, 2021 (France)
Running time : 125 minutes

Seen on November 16, 2021 at the Club Lincoln

Marianne Velma's Mark:

"Ghostbusters!
If there's something strange
In your neighborhood
Who you gonna call?
Ghostbusters! "Ghostbusters, Ray Parker Jr

Some films have acquired the level of cult works over time not only by redefining the American blockbuster but especially by showing the importance and impact that cinema could have on a whole generation of spectators. Certainly the film Ghostbusters (1984) directed and produced by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis was not only a worldwide phenomenon but allowed its main actors Bill Murray (Peter Venkman), Dan Aykroyd (Ray Stantz), Ernie Hudson (Winston Zeddemore), Harold Ramis (Egon Spengler) and Sigourney Weaver (Dana Barrett) to impose themselves as actors to win the heart of the public and a colossal and international popularity. 

Even if the second part realized by the same director and having the same writers disappointed many fans, the Ghostbusters saga remained one of the most appreciated with notably a disappointing reboot Ghostbusters (2016) (female version of the team of the first film), many video games (Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1990), New Ghostbusters 2 (1990), Ghostbusters, the video game (2009) and Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime (2011)) two animated series and many comics. It is therefore easy to understand the will of Columbia Pictures to relaunch this cinematographic saga and thus propose an honorable conclusion to the original saga which has become a real trilogy, but also to start creating solid bases for a whole new generation of ghost hunters.  Nobody else than the director of the first two films (Ivan Reitman), Jason Reitman, was the best person to accomplish this perilous mission successfully. 

This new chapter to the Ghostbusters saga had to be based on a mastered scenario and find a way to relaunch the saga by introducing new characters. While we would have liked to find the original team at the center of the story (except Harold Ramis who died in February 2014), the screenwriters Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman preferred to opt for an approach featuring a new generation of ghost hunters by putting at the center of the story, the little kids of Egon Spengler, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe Splengler (Mckenna Grace) by introducing as the main character the school teacher Gary Grooberso (Paul Rudd). Kicked out of their apartment because they can't pay their rent, Callie Spengler and her two children Trevor and Phoebe move to a new town, Summerville, Oklahoma, and soon discover that they have a connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy left by their grandfather.

Far from wanting to make a typical fantasy action-comedy of the current ones with their multitude of special effects and spectacular action scenes, director Jason Reitman prefers to find all the charm of the post-Spielberg blockbusters of the 80's and thus remain faithful to the style of the first film. As the main characters are introduced and things of the past are discovered like a PKE meter and the Ecto-1 vehicle. The film also marks the return of the powerful Gozer that the Ghostbusters team faced in the first film. The result is a film that plays perfectly with the nostalgia of the audience. The nostalgia is in full force when Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore finally arrive towards the end. 

Jason Reitman thus easily fulfills his objective of dusting off the original saga and concluding it by introducing elements conducive to a new cinematic saga. It's not a coincidence to find at the end of the movie two sequences during the credits, either Peter Venkman and Dana Barrett playing with ESP cards and Venkman's shock machine or a sequence showing that Winston, who succeeded in building a real financial empire, hasn't forgotten his past as a ghost hunter and that he used his funds to maintain the famous Ghostbusters barracks. The public success in the United States shows that the Ghostbusters universe still has a bright future on the horizon, provided that it is in good hands and above all that it listens to the public.

Seen on November 21, 2021 at Gaumont Disney Village, Room 7 seat A21

Mulder's Mark:

As its name suggests, Ghostbusters: afterlife is above all a family story, as much in form as in content. Behind the camera, we find Jason Reitman, who is none other than the son of Ivan Reitman, director of the first two Ghostbusters films. Both of them have worked hand in hand for this film. And you can feel it. Full of nostalgia and modernity, this third episode will speak to everyone; both to the fans of the first time, as well as to their children and grandchildren.

When her father dies, Callie (Carrie Coon) inherits his rickety house in the middle of nowhere. Burdened with debt, she has no choice but to move in with her children, Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard). The two teenagers, reluctant at first, end up enjoying the change of environment. Phoebe, a budding genius, takes over the strange inventions that are piling up in the old shack. An accomplished scientist, she is the worthy heir of her grandfather. Trevor, on the other hand, quickly falls in love with the charming waitress at the drive-in and decides to work there for the summer. Callie, on the other hand, struggles to find her place. And for good reason, this place reminds her every day that her father abandoned her. She finds it hard to accept her daughter's sudden interest in him. Only Mr. Grooberson (Paul Rudd) is able to bring a smile to her face.

All the interest of the film lies in the paradox of the family heritage. Sometimes heavy to bear for some, it allows others to better understand where they come from and therefore who they are. This subject evoked all along makes this new Ghostbusters a deeper film than it seems. But fans can rest assured that it also manages to pay tribute to the whole saga with brio. There is no shortage of easter eggs and emotional surprises! Just like the incredible adventures. Phoebe and Trevor will have to face the ghosts of their grandfather's past. Fortunately, they have inherited his courage and some of his most famous inventions. Let the ghost hunt begin!

Seen on November 16, 2021 at the Club Lincoln

Juliette's Mark: