Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

“A Cold, Hot Mess” ❄️👻


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🎥 Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers, shall we?

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Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

After Afterlife tried to hand the proton pack to a new generation, Frozen Empire attempts to go bigger: Phoebe Spengler, her family, the OG Ghostbusters, and some random new recruits must stop Garraka, an ancient ice demon threatening New York. Sounds cool (pun intended), but the result is overcrowded, undercooked, and way too dependent on nostalgia cameos.


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Main Issues (Quick Rundown Before We Dive Deep)

1. Bloated cast – 12+ main characters in under 2 hours.


2. Phoebe sidelined – the best new character gets benched.


3. Villains weak – Garraka and Walter Peck both fizzle out.


4. Pointless subplot – only exists to set up Act 3.


5. Frozen NYC arrives too late – big threat teased in trailers happens for… 10 minutes.


6. Comedy deficit – takes itself too seriously.


7. Paul Rudd = just Paul Rudd.


8. Different director = corporate sequel energy.




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Character Rundown (Highlights)

Phoebe Spengler (McKenna Grace): Supposed to be the emotional core. Here? Reduced to “ghost chess with a friend.”

Trevor Spengler (Finn Wolfhard): Still bland. Still angsty. Still unnecessary.

Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon): Generic mom duty.

Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd): In Afterlife, he had a character. Here, it’s just Paul Rudd riffing.

Podcast (Logan Kim): Sidekick to Ray, wasted potential.

Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts): FINALLY gets to suit up. One of the best moments.

Ray, Winston, Peter: Nostalgia cameos. Ray gets meat, Winston pays bills, Peter gets 2 scenes + one whiskey gag.

Nadeem (Kumail Nanjiani): Dumb comic relief who turns out to be… a Firebender descendant. Don’t ask.

Walter Peck (William Atherton): Now mayor. Still annoying. Still pointless.

Garraka: Cool design, lame threat. “Frozen world” promise reduced to a blip.



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Pacing / Episode Flow

Great prologue (1904 frozen hotel). After that, the film meanders: too many subplots, too much fan service, not enough tension. The Frozen Empire payoff comes in the final 10 minutes, making Garraka feel like a side quest, not a world-ending threat.


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Pros

Phoebe (when she’s actually allowed to shine).

Janine suiting up = finally.

Nostalgia set pieces (firehouse, library, ghosts).

Creepy prologue had promise.

Some decent visuals (icy streets, Garraka’s look).



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Cons

Cast bloat = character arcs suffer.

Phoebe benched.

Garraka rushed + underwhelming.

Walter Peck pointless.

Subplots filler.

Comedy scarce.

Deus ex machina ending insulting.

Feels like a corporate sequel, not a passion project.



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Final Thoughts

Frozen Empire is mid, plain and simple. Not the trainwreck of 2016, not the heartfelt send-off of Afterlife. It’s corporate nostalgia cosplay. There are flashes of fun (Janine’s moment, Phoebe’s heart, Ray’s energy), but Garraka deserved to be scarier, funnier, and more threatening than “horny frozen hands with a 10-minute runtime.”

Jarrod’s Rating: 6/10 – Flawed but fun enough.

Friend’s Rating: 2/10 – Burn it all down.


So which side do you land on? Mid-fun or mid-trash?


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🚨 Spoiler Warning 🚨


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Spoilers (Full Breakdown)

Prologue (1904): Firefighters break into a frozen hotel, find everyone mid-ritual turned into ice statues. Creepy, effective, moody. Sets up a darker tone the movie immediately abandons.

Modern Day Intro: Spenglers chase a sewer dragon ghost. Peck (now mayor) shows up, benches Phoebe for being a minor. Let me stress this: Walter Peck is the voice of reason about child labor. That’s how bad this script is.

Phoebe’s “Arc”: She sulks in a park, plays chess with a ghost girl (Emily Alyn Lind). Surprise: ghost girl is Garraka’s pawn. She convinces Phoebe to use Winston’s soul-separating machine (yes, they invent one) so Garraka can hijack her body. Imagine sidelining your best character like this.

Ray & Podcast: Run a haunted-object YouTube show. Kumail shows up with his mom’s orb. Orb = Garraka’s prison. Inevitably gets opened because… everyone is dumb.

Library Scene: Ray, Phoebe, Podcast, Patton Oswalt cameo. Nostalgia cameo #1: library ghost. Trash-bag ghost steals incantations to free Garraka. Ray nearly gets kids killed. They get arrested. Peck gloats.

Final Act Setup: Garraka wakes, freezes New York. Except not really—we only see like 2 streets iced over. Entire “Frozen Empire” promised in the trailer? Reduced to wallpaper.

The Firebender Twist: Nadeem = descendant of fire guardians who locked Garraka away. He gets fire powers… but runs out of lighter fuel mid-battle.

Deus Ex Machina of Doom: Ghost girl hands him ONE MATCH. Yes. The match saves the world. Nadeem ignites his powers, Garraka goes down. Dumbest resolution since “love saves the day.”

The Climax: Everyone (new and old Ghostbusters, Janine included) blast Garraka with crossed streams + fire powers. Garraka, this “ancient end-of-the-world demon,” gets defeated in about 10 minutes. Slimer does more damage in the original film than Garraka does here.

The Hollow Farewell: Ghost girl thanks Phoebe, says she’ll wait for her in the afterlife. She can “move on” now because… she gave away her match? Contrived nonsense.

Peck Epilogue: Pretends to support the Ghostbusters on live TV, purely to save face. Adds nothing.

Mid-Credit Scene: Stay Puft minis steal a truck. Pure filler.



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Fix-It Section 🛠️

How to make this movie work:

Garraka should’ve broken out at the halfway point, freezing NYC across multiple set pieces. Each Ghostbuster team (old + new) could handle different crises around the city before converging for the finale.

Phoebe should’ve been the emotional core, not benched. Her relationship with Egon’s legacy is what grounds the story.

Walter Peck? Make him an actual antagonist, not comic relief. Let him actively sabotage the Ghostbusters while Garraka rises.

Ditch the “one match” deus ex machina. Tie Nadeem’s fire powers to real sacrifice or earned growth.

Cut 4–5 characters. Focus on Phoebe, Ray, Janine, and one new recruit.


If Frozen Empire had leaned into the tone of its own prologue, it could’ve been chilling. Instead, we got “corporate mid.”