***Credit: Jaap Buitendijk / CTMG, Inc. / Sony Pictures Entertainment***

**PG13:** Supernatural action/violence, language and suggestive references.
**Runtime:** 1 Hr and 55 Minutes
**Production Companies:** Columbia Pictures, Ghost Corps, Right of Way Films
**Distributor:** Sony Pictures
**Director:** Gil Kenan
**Writer:** Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman
**Cast:** Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Celeste O'Connor, Logan Kim, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts
**Release Date:** March 22, 2024
***Exclusively in Theaters***

Remember when Ghostbusters was a simple supernatural 1984 ensemble comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and his friends, long before Sony made it into one of their marquee franchises, sucking the life out of the concept with each reboot? It seems so novel compared to what it is today. I'm still startled by it becoming a shell of a franchise, and its most recent reboot was so giddy to play into its nostalgia rather than offer anything refreshing to the series. In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the follow-up to Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters: Afterlife, busting never looked as forced as this.

Set two years after Afterlife, the Spengler family – Callie (Carrie Coon), her son Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), genius daughter Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) – and charming science teacher/Callie’s boyfriend Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) move from Summerville, Oklahoma to NYC, in the Ghostbusters firehouse funded by Dr. Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), right in time for summer. Following a little ghost-hunting incident, Mayor Walter Peck (William Atherton) scolds the Ghostbusters and benches Phoebe because she is a minor. Frustrated and misunderstood, Phoebe goes out for a walk and encounters a 16-year-old ghost named Melody (Emily Alyn Lind). The two instantly form a friendship. Meanwhile, Phoebe's friend Podcast (Logan Kim) spends his summer as Ray Stantz's (Dan Aykroyd) assistant at his supernatural antique shop. One day, an awkward salesman, Nadeem Razmaadi (Kumail Nanjiani), comes in and pawns off his ancient orb, which holds an evil supernatural entity. When the spirit is released, it's up to the Ghostbusters of past and present to stop the apparition that harnesses icy abilities from bringing about the second ice age.

It was shocking how many references to the original movie they shoveled into Afterlife while ripping off the Duffer Bros's entire flow, even down to casting Finn Wolfhard. I am still recovering from the time Sony made me and all the other film critics attend New York Comic Con and had us watch Afterlife amongst a bunch of Ghostbuster sheep who bleated at all the lazy references and called it a screening. It was one of the worst moviegoing experiences I've ever endured. Frozen Empire sees Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman finally getting most of their nostalgia out of their system. Don't get me wrong, this is still proton-packed with as many forceful callbacks, but it doesn't make the whole movie.

Kumail Nanjiani steals the show, much like he did in Men In Black: International. He once again effortlessly injects life and humor into the film as a supporting character, integral to the plot, while acting as comedic relief in a movie that should all be comedic relief.

New York City is a land of opportunity where you can do almost anything. Yet without little nostalgia to milk out of Jason Reitman's late daddy's original flick, Gil Kenan and mini Reitman can't seem to pen a functional, focused story or take the series into new routes. They stray further from the spirit of the original, going broader and duller with each entry. This time, with Kenan tag-teaming Reitman to take the director's ring, Kenan's filmmaking is painfully rote, which sucks because he's the guy who directed Monster House. Frozen Empire is similar to your generic CGI-heavy studio flick with minimal supervision for animation work and excessive use of medium shots galore. Say what you will about 2016's Ghostbusters, but at least Feig's direction was mindful of integrating his ensemble cast with VFX aspects, often within the same shot. I bring that up because both films take place in NYC, and Frozen Empire doesn’t take advantage of the location outside of a few Manhattan spots.

Frozen Empire transports the spooky, Stranger Things-wannabe aesthetic to NYC and does nothing interesting with the setting or the excessive amount of old and new Ghostbusters characters. That's saying a lot because there are about ten Ghostbusters overall, and they’re all wasted on a made-for-streaming, episodically-paced story that bears potential but no rhythm. Frozen Empire's nearly two-hour runtime actively opens threads, introducing many inventive potential concepts based on new trap inventions and ghosts that lend themselves to nothing but the most predictable climax.

Once again, leave it to Mckenna "Saving" Grace to hold this series together. Her Phoebe Spengler remains the sole character with something of an arc. She finds a new friend in Melody, a cool, goth-like ghost that makes little Phoebe go from Spengler to Bridgers, questioning if all ghosts are worth busting. While it's the only intriguing thread proposed in the film, with room for LGBTQ inclusion in the franchise, it's squandered entirely with non-committal cowardice. I don't know whether it's the writers or Sony who decided to go full Disney with its queerbaiting, but it's appalling nonetheless.

The remaining cast has nothing to do, ranging from the original cast – Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts – appearing as a contractual obligation to the new Spengler & Co. actors. I genuinely forgot that Celeste O'Connor starred in this franchise, given how forgettable her character was in the predecessor, and she adds absolutely nothing.

Poor Paul Rudd has to exude all his allure for his weak character, Gary, who has a weird, thankless arc involving Callie convincing him to start being a parental figure for her kids (though she didn't put a ring on it). So, he wants Phoebe to see him as a father figure, but in a literal sense, he wants her to call him dad. It goes nowhere, and many of its beats are unearned.

Jesus, Sony. Isn't the purpose of Ghostbusters to celebrate the most notable comedy performers of today doing supernatural shenanigans, not this bleak, broad product that can't find an original bone to save its ghoulish skin? How are you not embarrassed dumping garbage like this and Madame Web? And on Columbia Pictures' 100th anniversary, no less. Wow, this movie’s taking Dune: Part Two's IMAX screens, wasting my time with a season's worth of TV material blown up to a 2-hour nothing-burger of a movie.

So far off course from its original identity, playing as less of a film and more of a mandated task by Sony, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is an unfocused, soulless studio product that deserves to be either pried from the studio's cold, calculated hands or laid to rest in a proton pack.