Co-writing again with Jason Reitman (The Front Runner), Gil Kenan (Monster House) takes over directing duties for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. And while it is entertaining to a lesser degree than Afterlife, it suffers from an underdeveloped and rushed storyline, an excess of callbacks, and mostly lackluster performances from the cast.
The Spengler family, along with Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd), have moved to New York City and set up shop as the Ghostbusters in the old firehouse. However, the storage unit has reached capacity, creating a situation where Winston Zeddimore (Ernie Hudson) needs to step in and inform the Spenglers that he has a second containment unit. Still, it will take a while to transfer the spirits. Meanwhile, Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) purchases an ancient haunted artifact that defies attempts to harvest its ghost. The entity turns out to be an entrapped god who intends to take all the Ghostbuster's captured ghosts and turn them into an army, which he will use to destroy humanity and rule the frozen world that remains.
Both Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Frozen Empire were co-written by Reitman and Kenan. But this time, Reitman gave the director's cap to Kenan, which could be what makes Frozen Empire a lesser film. Kenan doesn't draw meaningful performances like Reitman in Afterlife. Many of the actors deliver a dull, wooden performance mingled with bland call-outs as crowd pleasers in lieu of substance. There are two exceptions. Dan Aykroyd plays Ray with all the boyish enthusiasm, if not energy, as ever. And while his character is annoying and a clear avatar for Louis from the first film, Kumail Nanjiani is spot-on with his portrayal. These two bring much-needed humor to a story that winds up being more of a drama than a comedy, which will disappoint many viewers.
There are a couple of returning characters that weren't brought back in the first reboot film. But like so many things in this movie, their presence is more of a call-out than a necessity. There isn't enough development for them, the bad guys, or even most of the main characters to make the film a memorable experience like the original film. The script suffers from having too many things to say and not enough time to develop any of them. It is entertaining but not noteworthy.
The special effects were sound, but some of the situations are reminiscent of other films, which detracts from their impact. The main villain is spectacular but not interesting or frightening. Since that is what the latter half of the film seems to be going for, they may as well have gone all-in for terror instead of making him look like something from a high-end theme park ride.
While entertaining enough, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire fails to deliver cohesion among its many characters and subplots. It is decent popcorn fare if the viewer doesn't overthink it too much, but other than that, it is a frigid entry in the Ghostbusters dynasty.