Thomas G

You would think that with a 30+ years headstart they could have figured out a half decent screenplay... AFTERLIFE feels like a fanfiction made into the pilot of an upcoming Netflix series...and no, it is not a compliment. SPOILERS -The plot is heavily flawed, if you can even call that a plot -98% of the characters are underdeveloped and end up taking screentime for no reason , -it isnt scary at all, not at all. -where are the ghosts? -the laughs are pretty much inexistent unless you are 12, -and the set decoration looks like a small soundstage on which someone is wearing a bad gozer cosplay costume .. -The once super cool villain also became very dumb and it turns out that saving the world takes about 2 minutes of the film and as much efforts as grocery shopping. -Not sure why Shandor wasted time and money building a beautifully apocalyptic antenna/portal on top of a skyscraper in NYC when it could all be done from a cornfield in a quiet town with cheaper rent... (Yes, this movie manages to actually nullify the whole point of Ghostbusters 1984) -Talking about Shandor... having his corpse played by a famous actor was a real bad move as you didn't see Shandor but said Famous actor .. -Rudd and Coon doing the Gatekeeper and Keymaster thing felt like an outtake from Anchorman...that is also not a compliment... -And Egon's back story is extremely hard to buy to say the least... As well as a world that was saved by 4 guys from a ghostly invasion but which has completely forgotten the 4 guys and that ghosts exist. -By the way, did you know that Egon was 5'4 tall? His 12 years old granddaughter fits Perfectly in his GB suit. I guess he looked taller on TV uh.. There's absolutely no plot nor point to this film. What will be next? The ghostbusters hire a bunch of 12 years old to take over their buiseness ? Thats only plausible in a Disney movie... The Real Ghostbusters was a cartoon aimed at kids audiences, but the Ghostbusters films weren't. Not everything needs a passing of the torch...great films can be appreciated for what they are without needing to milk them into never ending series. Anyway, what Hollywood has failed to understand both with 2016 and with Afterlife, is that the real torch of the original Ghostbusters films was never the packs or Ecto1...but the Ghostbusters themselves ...these guys.. (along with fantastic lines and screenplays, as well as riveting cinematography, of course). But, You will never have Ghostbusters without these people ...because they were not only the Ghostbusters, but they were "Ghostbusters ". Seeing some of them for a few minutes was certainly not enough to make this film a Ghostbusters film. Just like Dan making a cameo appearance in Casper as Ray Stantz didn't make of Casper a Ghostbusters film. 300 easter eggs and a complete rip off of Elmer Bernstein's music from the first film won't change that. As a fan of GB and GB2, ...no...this isn't the sequel I had been waiting for. Very far from that. I gave up on that long ago anyway. I am genuinely happy for Ernie , Dan and Bill that many people seem to be loving it. But the fact that its IMDb rating equals the rating of the first film, and beats the rating of Ghostbusters 2 (actually written by Harold Ramis with Dan Aykroyd) shows that 21st century audiences have developed really low expectations. Because if Afterlife is somewhat watchable , it certainly isn't a great movie...and surely not a great Ghostbusters movie...and at no point did it feel like Ghostbusters to me. Personally, I'll be fine not considering this a Ghostbusters film , and sticking with 1 and 2.