I recently won a couple of complimentary tickets to the premier screening of the new Ghostbusters film, Frozen Empire. Of course, with me being in Malaysia, we common folks would technically only get to see the movie on our cinemas here only on April 11 (that's almost a good whole month from the premier in Lincoln Square in NY last month!) and seriously I was ready to go hiding from the internet until April 11, so that I won't accidently read about any reviews or comments on the new movie.
But fate interjected and I found myself being one of the recipient of two complimentary tickets to the premier screening here in Malaysia on April 2. So off I went to the premier screening event with my little man who is a huge fan of the GB franchise himself (yup, we even dig that 2016 all-female flick too and we don't care what others think).
The sight of many cosplayers at the premier screening event was kinda expected. Honestly, I saw that these were mostly the same guys week in week out doing cosplaying for other movie launches like Star Wars and such, so they're pretty experienced in what they do. Many movie-goers were admittedly (happily) confused at their presence and wondered if they were actually paid to be there. If you ask me, that's a solid no because I think these guys were there because of their passion towards the Ghostbusters franchise like they had previously displayed during the many Star Wars movie premier screenings. Many took photos and mingled with the cosplayers too which is cool, because that's probably the closest we're gonna get to actually being at real comic-cons like those in the States.
What surprised my son and I was that there were a considerable amount of freebies that came with our complimentary tickets. All you gotta do is stand in line and collect them after you produce your complimentary movie ticket stubs, easy peasy. We did miss a free tote bag but we later discovered that only those who received press passes receive them.
The ticket stub itself could be considered a collectible on its own I reckon. Love what they did here with the mini marshmallow dudes trapped inside those ice cubes.
We were totally stoked when we received this almost-Funko-like bobblehead of the marshmallow man. We were supposed to received one each but alas they redemption counter only had 1 left (which was absurd really since a long line behind me indicated that a large number of people has yet to claim their complimentary tix). But we take what we can get, so one marshmallow bobble head it is!
And we also received these cool-looking (by saying cool I meant that I really like the packaging) Walch hand wash set, complete with refills! (Edit: later I found out that the handwash is lime-scented is 'Slimer-green' in color. Bonus!) What drew most GB fans in was that you'd also get a free slime barrel with a glow-in-the-dark slime.
My son said that I'd probably never open the slime barrel because of that cool Slimer graphics and he is right! I am such a sucka for movie merch and to destroy such an eloquent art on plastic is a no-no. I care not about the glow-in-the-dark slime inside but this barrel's going to sit pretty on display with the rest of my GB-related stuff.
And yeah, we were each given this cool teaser poster featuring the Ghostbusters logo all covered in ice, frozen and all. Yup, couldn't be much clearer than that.
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Right, now let's hear my thoughts about the movie. You may skip now if you still haven't seen the movie.
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Okay, consider yourself warned. Heh.
In general, Frozen Empire (FE) was definitely better than Afterlife. I don't think anyone who's seen the movie would disagree with this statement. The fact that the action has shifted from Summerville, Oklahoma to New York is a huge plus point for me as the original films were all focused on NY, so it's nostalgia overload all the way as we get to consistently see the Firehouse and the streets of New York throughout the film.
What got me really excited was that Jason Reitman (co-writer of FE) has finally mentioned the events of Ghostbusters 2 very early in the film. This makes it truly canon in the wake of it being unmentioned in Afterlife, so much so that many fans were already speculating that the younger Reitman is trying to retcon the events that happened in GB:2 (the goes Vigo!) and make Afterlife a direct sequel to the 1984 movie.
So glad GB:2 is finally acknowledged!
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I was at first skeptical at the role Kumail Nanjiani was going to play but everyone must've surely guessed that he'd be providing the comic relief in the film (I can't even recall a film that he wasn't funny, except for The Eternals maybe). He did a great job and added to the comedy of the film which I felt wasn't going to be THAT funny if it were to be left to the main casts alone. We have to face the fact that comedy now ain't what it was back in the 80s and adding a current comedic presence in the movie is just a genius move by the producers. I seriously enjoyed Kumail's character.
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And how about Patton Oswalt's cameo? That was a pleasant surprise to me. The man has been at the forefront of comedy for so many years now so when I first heard that he signed up to play a small part on the film I knew he was going to be funny. Hahah. His character is a great addition to the GB lore. Everybody loves a know-it-all nerd.
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The library ghost scene at the library however, although a great fan service, wasn't really necessary in my opinion. It doesn't really add to the story arc as the protagonists were trying to catch the Possessor ghost at the time. In my opinion, if there's anything that came out of the scene, it must have been fans' outcry about the abysmal CGI as compared to the original clay/stop-motion effects used in the original movie.
And speaking of library, the library administrator from the 1984 also made a cameo. I supposed he's been working at the library since '84 and totally loved his job. If you asked me, totally unnecessary scene and it's nothing but fan service to stir up nostalgia amongst the original movie faithful.
Yeah this guy here is apparently still working at the New York Public Library after all these years!
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Just to add to everyone's annoyance is the fact that ol' pencil-neck/d*ckless is now the mayor of New York and he is STILL hot on the trail of the Ghostbusters, all hell bent to shutting the business down even though he no longer faces the original four. Not bad for some one who got chased out of the then mayor's office to actually being the incumbent 40 years later. As expected, at the end of the film he fell to the pressures of public outcry to finally accepting the Ghostbuster's contribution in saving New York yet again. So all is well with Peck in my books.
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How about to finally seeing Janine in full uniform? That's surely way overdue at this point because those who've watched The Real Ghostbusters cartoon series will breathe a sigh of relief that it finally materialized on the big screen.
Yeah, I'm talking about this. The big difference is that she uses a small handheld proton gun (?) similar to the one we've seen used by Abby in that 2016 reboot movie, so don't count your hopes too high if you were hoping to see her carrying a proton pack like in TRG series. A great nod to the cartoon series nevertheless.
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Winston Zeddmore, or Zedd (honestly I've never heard him being called that in the original movies nor the cartoon series) is now a millionaire (billionaire?) who owns a business empire as first shown at the end of Afterlife, so he now not only STILL pays for Ray's bookstore rent but he has a division under his business empire that is dedicated for research on the paranormal. Totally excited to see his research lab and to learn the fact that they've already started to build a more stable offsite containment unit to support the one they have at the firehouse.
Happy to see the extended Ghostbusters team making their way in the movie. This reminded me a lot of the Extreme Ghostbusters cartoon series even though they could've been utilized more, perhaps in the next instalment in the franchise. Speaking about the future of the franchise, the mid-credit scene does nothing for me nor it remotely hinted at the direction of the franchise next. What a waste of mid/post- credit space!
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The main antagonist, Garraka is one scary looking dude indeed, even though he looked mightily similar to one Darth Plagueis from Star Wars without his horns. Interesting to note that once again the producers have gone down the Middle Eastern route and opted to use a demon entity which originates from the Arab region (again) after twice battling a Sumerian God before. Interestingly, the writer-director of the film openly admitted to have watched countless TRG episodes for inspiration prior to writing the draft script for Frozen Empire, so that it'll feel like a very long TRG episode. Yup, agreed. Frozen Empire does have that cartoon series feel to it.
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So if you ask me, Frozen Empire is still a solid entry into the Ghostbusters franchise. Some may like it and some may not. As for me, it brings me great pleasure to know that Ghostbusters movies are still being made so I say bring on the next movie!
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