GHOSTBUSTERS: ICE NINE?
I’ll never forget the day in the not-so-distant 2021 when I went to the theater to see Ghostbusters: Afterlife. I took my Mom to see it and I got a chance to catch some of the same essence that I felt seeing the first Ghostbusters movie in 1984 with my parents. Enough time has passed that the new film is full of necessary new characters and evolved cinematic production. Having loved Afterlife, I was not sure how a sequel would hold up. I am often attached to the character development that takes place before a sequel and I am sometimes caught off guard with too many new characters and complicated plots. This was not the case with Frozen Empire.
While much of Afterlife was spent establishing these new characters, Frozen Empire goes right into blockbuster mode putting them to work, interacting with the original Ghostbusters, and doing what they do best, hunting ghosts. The Ghostbusters have set up shop in NYC and grown into their role of policing the ghosts who reap havoc there. Of course, they face criticism from the populist Mayor, Walter Peck, who deems them a public nuisance and threatens to shut them down. When damage to public property occurs in pursuit of a ghost, it is brought to light that the young Ghostbuster, Pheobie is a minor and therefore must be benched until she turns 18. The film uses her character’s situation to touch on themes of isolation, coming of age, and gender.
While there are many serious themes in this film, there is plenty of comic relief with Paul Rudd, Bill Murray, and familiar ghosts like Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Men. The film has a few laugh-out-loud moments but feels more like a Marvel movie than the quirky science fiction comedy from its 1984 predecessor. While I am a huge fan of low-budget science fiction, I understand that a popular franchise like Ghostbusters can never go back to its roots to that extreme. This is why we must see it for what it is and go to the theater and enjoy the big-budget Ghostbusters films of the present.
About Nathan Conrad:
He’s best known as the Nashville-based Hip Hop/Indie Pop emcee Spoken Nerd, but this isn’t your typical rap project. He rhymes playfully at times, singing and/or rapping, juxtaposing his style with real-life situations and subject matter. Occasionally Spoken Nerd will find inspiration in films and will put it into song. With eight full-length albums into his career, the rapper has built a healthy catalog of music, which doesn’t include the number of EPs and singles released. His most recent release is Magical Powers.
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