Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel (GB4)

[Wildcat]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

It's a proper continuation and I generally agree between the two movies there is something resembling a Ghostbusters 3 but... c'mon. They bungled this one. They needed another couple of drafts. There isn't any emotional hook to the OGs, there's so many characters, magical Pakistani isn't needed... there's so much chaff and not enough wheat. You look at a script like GB1 and it's just so tightly packed that the adlibbing only gives tons of cherries on top. And there's not even anybody in Frozen Empire that's up to adlibbing except the OGs, and they're just kind of there, drifting about. And I'm by no means happy or glad to say this, it's all rather heartbreaking. Because this is it. This is just more Sony shoving unready and unvetted stuff out there like the Venom movies, Morbius, and Madame Web. With just enough familiarity that it attracts a modicum of attention.

I still think it’s just the pace that’s off. I honestly like everything about the movie but it feels scattered. It’s not Sony or drafts. It’s the editing and trying to do multiple subplots.

So your issue is mainly just the OGB not getting enough too do? I’ll agree on Winston and Peter but Ray gets a significant amount of screen time and actually feels like he has a purpose.

I liked Nadeem (Kumail). He was funnier than I expected. I thought he’d just be a bystander for a few jokes. You really think someone who can manipulate fire is too out of place in this world or you just don’t like character in general?

[CyberCubed]

So the HD rip is up so I watched the movie. It was ok, nothing great, but nothing to make another movie about either. It really felt like all the original Ghostbusters were just there to be there, only the black guy got some decent lines. The red head guy wanting to shut down the ghostbusters the whole movie was dumb and just a pointless callback to the first movie, especially when they know they saved the city.

Was that Indian guy in the previous movie? I don't remember him, he reminds me of those indian guys on all those comedy shows like Big Bang Theory or whatever. I'm not sure if it's the same actor or not, all these Indians look the same to me so I can't tell the difference.

As for the ghost girl, at first I though they were going to do some weird lesbian romance between a ghost and Pheobe, especially when she separated herself from her body and became a ghost herself. They didn't go that way but I got lesbian vibes for sure, I'm sure someone is writing shipping fanfiction about them as we speak.

[oldmanwinters]

Somebody got a theory on how Jack Frost (or whatever its name was) is able to freeze the proton pack streams? The film makes a point earlier in the story where Phoebe defiantly corrects Mayor No Dyck about what the packs are and aren’t. Is that… an attempt to set up anything?

And later… I think Nadeem the Keeper of the Flame is able to manipulate the proton streams because… why? My understanding is that the streams themselves are basically light. When they make contact with non-ectoplasmic matter, they tend to cause concussive damage and create heat, but why exactly would a pyro-prodigy be able to control them as if they were flames?

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

but why exactly would a pyro-prodigy be able to control them as if they were flames?

And yet they can be frozen as well? They want it both ways.

[frank_one]

Lesbian ghost romance? I need to watch this movie.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by frank_one

Lesbian ghost romance? I need to watch this movie.

So... I don't have many original thoughts on that specific issue. The film seems to play it up like Melody's character arc might have ended and allowed her to pass on into... nirvana or whatever. But, the core tension throughout most of the film is

Spoiler:

Melody being manipulated by the Jack Frost demon into earning Phoebe's trust enough so that they can release the evil spirit from its brass ball prison.

Phoebe gets intrigued by Melody's claim that she's able to exist on a different plane of existence, which eventually leads her to putting herself into a death chamber and temporarily becoming a ghost herself. Again... why exactly was that necessary for this movie's plot (from Phoebe’s point of view)? I must have missed it but what does Phoebe expect to gain by becoming a temporary ghost? Does it really satisfy any purpose other than her curiosity?

And while I'm riding that train of thought... dang, the GB research lab has a machine that can just... do that type of stuff? Who decided that kind of machine would be useful to keep around? Was it tested on anybody before? How does Phoebe in particular know enough about how the machine works that she can have full confidence she won't die and that the effects only last... 2 or 3 minutes exactly?

It's a weird thing about this film that opens with the Spengler family running all operations out of the old fire house and responding to calls. And their business is being publicly backed by Winston's company. And Winston sends his GB specialists over for periodic maintenance checks and to make sure the old containment unit is protected and working properly because... consequences. But Winston is spending a lot more resources on the covert underground GB lab and Ray knows all about it but none of the Spengler family busters have ever even heard of this place until somebody asks a reasonable question about the need for a newer/bigger containment unit.

And yet... Phoebe's brother's kinda-girlfriend already had a free pass to do weapons training at the super-secret facility despite not really knowing anything special about the science aspects of ghost-busting. And Lars seems to know everything about stuff and yet... both he and Ray seem to be pretty careless with the obviously dangerous and PKE-charged brass ball.

For a movie franchise that was built on making the impossible plausible and always having a witty retort about everything that came up, it just feels like this movie only happens because everything is a logical mess and our key people make bad decisions.

[CyberCubed]

We don't need a Ghostbusters 5. Especially once Bill Murray and the others pass away. Ant-man and the Stranger Things knock-off cast can't carry these films.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

We don't need a Ghostbusters 5.

Not from these people. And I was really rooting for this movie, too.