Rob's Reviews: Ghostbusters Afterlife

I have to admit I was never a huge fan of the original Ghostbusters movies. I saw them both back in the 80s (I think on videotape, not in the theater) but neither impressed me all that much. I never bothered with the reboot a few years ago, but when I saw that they were revisiting the universe of the original but with a modern take, I was intrigued. I also was interested in seeing it because of Finn Wolfhard, who I have enjoyed in Stranger Things. 

I rewatched the first Ghostbusters a few months ago in preparation for Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Again I was underwhelmed by the story, and as much as I enjoyed Bill Murray in Groundhog Day and in What About Bob (two of my favorite comedies of all time), in Ghostbusters he was too over-the-top jokey for my tastes. All of that to say that I headed into Ghostbusters: Afterlife with extremely low expectations.

I had planned to see this new iteration in the theater but never got around to it. I ended up with a free afternoon yesterday and decided to watch Afterlife. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it! It was a fun thrill-ride with well-designed characters, snappy dialogue, and a much more realistic take on the Ghostbusters universe. It honored the original, and I was glad I had rewatched it recently so I could catch most of the homages. 

I won't do a complete breakdown of the film, but my guess is that if you enjoyed the original, you'll like this one. And even if you didn't like the first one all that much, you should still have a good time. I loved this one and would give it a solid A. 

Oh yeah: The only thing that took me out of the realism of the movie was a scene in Walmart. All of the signage was wrong - wrong color numbers, no headers on endcaps signs... - although that may be due to the fact that this was filmed in Canada and they have different signs. The other thing is that all the shelves were fully-stocked and zoned to perfection. Seriously? Have you ever been in a Walmart like that? :) Watch the clip and you'll see what I'm talking about.