Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) Movie Review

Hello guys and welcome back for another round of movie reviews with Movie Nerd, a place where you can be nerdy about movies!

So, long time no see or, rather, long time no review :)). I know I haven't post reviews for several weeks now but I just did not find the time to post them with all the things that are going on in my life right now. Holydays are just around the corner and I really want to post these reviews before that time of the year or maybe even sooner, before a particular movie with a friendly neighborhood wall crawler hits the movie theatres. I have 5 of them already lined up and I will start today with the most recent one, the one that you see in this review's main title because I just saw it last night.

I really enjoyed the first Ghostbusters movie from 1984 and, on a personal note here, I think I am one of the few that really liked the second one as well but I think we all agree that the 2016 female version should not exist. For me, this is the third movie in this franchise and that version can fade away, to put it politely. Before I get into the review, a bit of a synopsis for you guys: In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, when a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town, they begin to discover their connection to the original ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind.

What this movie really does best is to hit you with that nostalgia that you really were expected to be hit because this is like a soft reboot/ sequel and that's what these types of movies do. It really tries to put a new spin of this franchise and bring it back to life while, also, staying true to the original movie. For the most part, the movie really does a good job on holding those two sides of the coin together. We get a tone of references to the original movie, from familiar scenes that are slightly different here bit still hold that sense of familiarity to really obvious cameos that everybody knew they were going to happen.

The nostalgia part does not feel overly exaggerated but it still follows the almost same steps from the original movie, which gives you the feel that they were trying to do a copy paste of the original but what Jason Reitman really tried to do was to recapture the magic and the feel of his father's movie. A kind of a passing of the torch, which is the main theme of this movie, the legacy of the Ghostbusters, in this case the legacy of the Egon, past down to his grandkids. While I am on this subject, I have to point out a negative thing about this whole legacy stuff in this movie. We have already seen this trope on several occasions and it's starting to wore off.

Great special effects, a good written script, with lines of dialogue that did not feel stupid, boring or uninteresting and a really good story that has some emotional weight to it. Some great acting all around, the humor is there but not quite as funny as it was in the original one but it gets the job done.

The movie's week points, mainly, are the slow pace because, although having a story that feels very fast paces and brisk, it takes at least an hour to see some ghost busting which, by the way, it was worth the wait because that scene, with the Ecto-1 is one of the best scenes in this movie, maybe even the best one. Also, like I said before, it does try to capture the magic of the original but it feels to serious rather than ridiculous and not taking itself to serious, like the 1984 version did. We get the same villain and that does not scream originality in my book and it also has a emotional weight to it, with the death of Harold Ramis and bringing him back with the CGI technology, by the way I think they did a good job with the CGI, it looked very good, felt a bit like cheating. They did what the Fast and Furious did when Paul Walker died, it's the same thing. It's very nice and it's very emotional and the ending tugs on your heart strings a little, clearly being an homage to Harold Ramis and Egon as well. With all that considered, it felt a bit like cheating.

Overall, after a very long review, phew!!, I really liked the movie, I had a good time with it, seeing these characters back, seeing this franchise going back to it's roots, it was a good experience. It had a couple of rough spots, a couple of weird shots that didn't made sense but it was a nice SF comedy with some horror elements to it and it left room for more. I am really curious as to where they will go next. 7.2/10

OK guys, that was my review for this one. Next up is going to be Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City but, until then, take care, stay movie nerdy and keep on reviewing!