McKenna Grace

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

23/03/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Back in 2021, Ghostbusters: Afterlife felt like a sizeable step in the right direction. Director Jason Reitman (son of Ivan Reitman, who created the original Ghostbusters) had somehow managed to pull off an effective reboot, introducing a new cast of players and putting two of the youngest members at the helm. This sequel, written and directed by Gil Kenan, wants to have its cake and eat it, employing the new cohort, and bringing in some fresh faces, whilst handing large dollops of screen time to the veteran cast from the first two films. The inevitable result is that Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire feels overstuffed as too many characters slug it out to get their stories across.

There’s a creepy prologue set back in 1904 and then we’re brought bang up-to-date as we join the Spengler family – Phoebe (McKenna Grace), Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), their mum, Callie (Carrie Coon), and ‘step-teacher’ Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) as they pursue the Hell’s Kitchen Sewer Dragon through the streets of New York. The Spenglers now operate from the iconic fire station where the franchise began, but the team have been so industrious that they are in serious danger of running out of storage space for ghouls. Then Phoebe (who is only 15) is banned from working with the team by old adversary, Mayor Peck (William Atherton) and has to watch in frustration as the others head off on their ghost-busting duties without her.

Things take a sinister turn when new arrival, Nadeem (Kumail Nanjiani), wanders into the second-hand shop run by Ray Stantz (Dan Akroyd) and sells him a mysterious sphere which used to belong to his late Grandma. It turns out that said sphere is cursed and is the key to releasing an evil spirit called Garakka, who has laid dormant for thousands of years – and is capable of unleashing a second ice age that will turn the world into a frozen wasteland…

This plot-line seems to belong more in the realms of cosmic horror than fun-filled family entertainment. It feels unnecessarily complex and convoluted – and I’m disappointed to report that some of the main characters from Afterlife – Trevor (Wolfhard), Podcast (Logan Kim) and Lucky (Celeste O’ Connor) – have hardly anything to do here other than draw breath. Meanwhile, every actor who enjoyed as much as a walk-on part in the first film is afforded the opportunity to return and strut their respective stuff.

Comedian James Acaster as scientist Dr Lars Pinfield shows some promise as an actor but Nanjiani gets the few funny lines on offer. A promising link-up between Phoebe and teenage ghost, Melody (Emily Alyn Lind), really doesn’t have enough space to fully develop. Time and again, we find ourselves back with the original cast, who really don’t have a valid reason to be there. Bill Murray as Peter Venkman and Ernie Hudson as Dr Winston Zeddermore look like they’re acting in their sleep and, in one scene during the climactic punch up with Garakka, I count thirteen characters, which significantly dilutes the impact.

Most damning of all is the fact that long stretches of the film are just plain dull, spending far too long on exposition, striving to tell us things rather than show them.

This is a shame, because Afterlife rescued a tired formula and gave it the kiss of life. Frozen Empire makes me suspect that this franchise has now flatlined.

2.8 stars

Philip Caveney

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

18/11/21

Cineworld

The original Ghostbusters movies were undemanding fun, I suppose, but I’m often astonished by the reverence with which they’re regarded, as though they are some kind of cinematic holy relics. The 2016 reboot, which featured female protagonists, may not have been wonderful, but it certainly didn’t deserve the levels of derision that were piled upon it from all quarters, with some observers complaining that their childhoods had been ‘destroyed.’ Really? At any rate, the events of that film have been brushed under the carpet and, for the purposes of this story, all has been quiet on the haunting front since the mid 1980s.

A lot of careful thought has clearly been put into Afterlife well before the cameras rolled. Directed by Jason Reitman (son of Ivan Reitman, who helmed the first two movies), this clever reboot places teenage protagonists at the heart of the story and it makes for such a perfect fit, I find myself thinking that this would have been a much more sensible approach back in the day. After all, the Ghostbusters films were clearly aimed at young audiences in the first place and that’s where they found their success. So why not make kids the driving force behind this new iteration?

After the breakup of her marriage, Callie (Carrie Coon) finds herself in dire financial straits, unable to pay the rent on the apartment she shares with her two kids, Phoebe (McKenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard, still able to pass for a fifteen-year-old at the grand old age of eighteen). Providence seems to provide an answer when Callie’s estranged grandfather dies, leaving her an old farmhouse in Summerville, Oklahoma. Soon, the three of them are attempting to settle in to the near derelict property, which is still stocked with familiar-looking equipment and, which Phoebe quickly discovers, seems to be haunted by a ghostly presence.

Phoebe enrols at the local summer school, where she encounters the affable ‘Podcast’ (Logan Kim), named because of… well, his obsession with recording podcasts. She also impresses likeable science teacher, Mr Grooberson (Paul Rudd), who has a proclivity for showing his classes highly inappropriate movies on VHS, while he gets on with his own singular obsession, that of studying the strange seismic activity that’s currently afflicting the area.

But of course, we all know that these are no ordinary earthquakes – and that, deep in an abandoned mine, supernatural forces are steadily gathering power…

The witty script (co-written by the director) effortlessly captures the nerdy humour of today’s teenagers and I like the fact that the film takes its time introducing the young leads before heading off into more spooktacular territory. The original films are suitably homaged (The Stay Puft Marshallow Man? Check! The Ectomobile? All present and correct!) and while there are inevitable guest appearances in the film’s final furlongs, this is never allowed to be ‘old-guys-coming-to-the-rescue-of-the-kids.’ No, Phoebe, Trevor and Podcast are running this operation, ably assisted by Sheriff’s daughter, Lucky (Celeste O’ Connor).

The film’s emotional conclusion could so easily have been mishandled but, like pretty much everything else here, it’s astutely done, managing to steer clear of mawkish pitfalls and just feeling warmly appropriate. When that familiar theme music kicks in, don’t be in too much of a hurry to leave the theatre. There’s a charming post-credit scene you won’t want to miss.

I like Ghostbusters: Afterlife a lot – in fact, at the risk of destroying a few more childhoods, I’d go so far as to say that, for my money, this might just be the best film of the franchise.

4.4 stars

Philip Caveney

Gifted

Mckenna Grace as “Mary” in the film GIFTED. Photo by Wilson Webb. © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved.

18/06/17

In this enjoyable tearjerker, Chris Evans hangs up his Captain America outfit in order to play something a little more down to earth – an ordinary joe. He’s Frank Adler, a freelance ‘boat-builder’ who has appointed himself guardian of his young niece, Mary (an extraordinarily accomplished performance from McKenna Grace) after her mother’s suicide. The two of them live together in a Florida trailer park with one-eyed ginger cat, Fred. Next-door neighbour, Roberta (Octavia Spencer) pitches in to help out with babysitting duties when Frank needs to hit the local bar. But problems occur when he decides he needs to enroll Mary in elementary school – up to now he’s been tutoring her at home. There’s a reason why Frank has been holding off on this. Mary’s mother, Diane, was a mathematical genius who devoted her life to trying to solve one of the infamous Millennium Prize Equations – and it soon becomes apparent that her daughter has inherited her skills, when Mary finds her school maths lessons laughably easy and treats them with contempt.

Her teacher, Bonnie (Jenny Slate) recognises her new student’s potential and informs the school’s principal. Before anyone has time to think about the implications of this, Mary’s Grandmother, Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan, playing a solid gold, pole-up-the-ass Brit) appears on the scene with plans to whisk Mary off to a special school where she can devote her life to  completing Diane’s unfinished project. Frank’s view is that Mary deserves to have an ordinary childhood and wants to keep her suitably grounded. Inevitably, he and Evelyn end up in court, fighting for custody of Mary.

This is undeniably emotionally manipulative stuff – and I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t have me in tears at a couple of key points. But there’s plenty here to admire, not least Tom Flynn’s witty and acerbic script, which knows just when to lift the tension with a well-placed zinger. Director, Marc Webb (best known for the 2012 Spiderman reboot) handles the subject with skill, managing to stay just the right side of mawkishness and always ensuring that his characters are believable – even Evelyn (herself a gifted mathematician who sacrificed her own career to have a family) has reasons for acting the way she does.

But ultimately it’s McKenna Grace who makes this fly. I’ve no doubt that she has a huge future ahead of her. Meanwhile, this is well worth catching if only for the novelty of seeing Evans wearing blue jeans instead of spandex.

4.2 stars

Philip Caveney