Review of Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) by Imthenoob — 15 Feb 2022

Afterlife is the kind of movie that leans heavily into the nostalgia factor and does little to really open the door to the next stage of adventures. I think fans view it more positively than they would have if the 2016 film never existed because when you have such a negative film that preceded it, You can only go up from there. And while Afterlife is by no means a bad movie, especially in comparison to the 2016 film or even GB2, It certainly isn't a memorable one.

The characters are underdeveloped to a fault. The mother is given no backstory at all, There is a character called Podcast because he has a podcast, and Trevor is your typical male teenage character. The story is painfully slow at times and the CGI looks dated even for a film from 2021, specifically, I'd like to point out the god-awful Walmart scene so heavily featured in the trailers.

The only two redeemable things about this movie are Paul Rudd and Mckenna Grace. Rudd perfectly captures the few attempts at humor in the film, which is more often missed than hit, but he is frustratingly absent in the second half. Grace is the true star of the film and really helped make it tolerable as this was very much her journey.

All in all, Fans are gonna enjoy it for the nostalgia factor but I feel over time it would be received as highly. It's tolerable but forgettable. There isn't a single stand-out moment in this film and it runs for at least a good 20 minutes too long IMO.