Ghostbusters: Afterlife Crosses The Streams In Terms Of Honoring The Original Films Legacy While Laying A New Path Forward For The Series

    

      Reviving an old 80's franchise that died out can be an extremely daunting task. In the case of Ghostbusters, the previous attempt at rebooting the series failed with Paul Feig's 2016 film proving to be a financial disappointment along with lacking demand to continue with a sequel. With Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Sony Pictures makes a second attempt at rejuvenating the series with the latter completely erasing Feig's film from cannon, while positioning itself as being the true sequel to the original Ghostbusters and its 1989 sequel. Although it finds itself on uneven ground at times, Afterlife ultimately proves itself to be a worthy continuation of the series.

      Afterlife's plot centers around the granddaughter of Egon Spangler, her mother and brother arriving in a small town and discovering their connection to the original Ghostbusters, as well as the secret legacy their grandfather left behind. Afterlife's plot aims to not only connect with the original films, but reinvigorate the franchise with a new batch of characters linked to the old ones like Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The plot is one that's bathed in excessive nostalgia with fans receiving one reference to the original after another with it sometimes going overboard. Despite this issue, the film is well-rounded by an appealing cast combined with the original Ghostbusters ones, making Afterlife a generally fun experience for fans of the series.

     Afterlife's cast does a terrific job of breathing new life into the series with everyone bringing a high-level of energy to the film. McKenna Grace is phenomenal as Egon's granddaughter Phoebe Spengler with her perfectly conveying her characters mannerisms and personality, in addition to getting the audience invested in her characters story arc. Finn Wolfhard does well as Phoebe's bother and Egon's grandson Trevor Spengler with him also adding both heart and charm to the story. Paul Rudd turns in a charismatic performance as Phoebe's nerdy middle-school science teacher Gary, whose revealed to be both a Ghostbusters fan and an amateur parapsychologist. Carrie Coon also shines as Phoebe and Trevor's divorced mother Callie, whose still resentful of her father's (Egon) neglectfulness towards her. Logan Kim also gives a surprisingly strong performance as Grace's fellow classmate Podcast, with the same being said for Celeste O' Connor as Trevor's co-worker Lucky. The return of Bill Murray as Peter Venkmen, Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stanz, and Ernie Hudson as Winston is more than welcomed with other fun cameos including Annie Potts as the Ghostbusters old secretary Janine, Bokeem Woodbine as Sheriff Domingo, and Sigourney Weaver as Peters love interest Dana Barrett. 

      Taking over the directors chair is Jason Reitman, son of original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman. Jason gives Afterlife a more emotional tone combined with an 80's Spielberg feel to it. He plants the film with numerous Easter Eggs that connects it directly to the original such as the return of Gozar dogs and dozens of small state puft Marshmellow men that'll excite the most ardent of fans. The story is fast-paced with enough time being given for the development of the characters, along with building the anticipation of when the original team will appear. The CGI effects are impressively done with one of the films key sequences involving the kids chasing a ghost with the old Ecto-1 car through town with Phoebe's character firing a proton pack at it, being stunning to watch on IMAX format. One area of the film that comes across as being hit-and-miss is the use of the original Ghostbusters score with some scenes having the music fitting perfectly, while others have it feeling overdone and unnecessary. As a whole, Reitman does a fine job of honoring his father's previous works, though Afterlife sometimes struggles with whether it wants to pay homage to Ghostbusters or Steven Spielberg.

      Afterlife's writing mostly lays out a strong foundation for the new storyline with clever connections to the previous movies. Out of the batch of new characters, Phoebe is the strongest with the audience buying into her characters dilemma of not giving a damn about her grandfathers legacy to wanting to following in his footsteps. Though the characters of Trevor and Podcast aren't as captivating as Phoebe's, they still serve as being effective in terms of selling the new storyline to audiences. The original teams reveal is rewarding, though a certain ghost reveal will draw comparisons to Peter Cushing's posthumous reprisal in Star Wars: Rogue One. As strong as the writing for Afterlife feels, it's not without its share of problems such as cliched use of quotes from the original film like Phoebe's character being handed a phone and asked who she's gonna call, or some of the subplots involving Phoebe's family not being as strong as hers, with them feeling unnecessarily added like the wasted romance between Trevor and Lucky, or Gary and Callie's which feels like a pale imitation of Peter Venkmen and Dana Barrett's love story from the original. Despite being serviceable overall, these subplots are not as strong as the main one involving Phoebe discovering that her grandfathers ghost is pushing her towards becoming a Ghostbuster. 

       In retrospect, Afterlife is a film that appears to be of two minds: The first wanting to be a true sequel to the original films, and the second being to branch out and tell it's own story with acknowledgment of the past. Reitman attempts to bridge the two together by overstuffing the film with relentless amounts of nostalgic bits that only the truest Ghostbusters fans will enjoy. While the effort given here isn't bad, one find themselves wishing that more risks were taken with the story and less reliance on nostalgia. (The reusing of Gozar as the main villain feels a bit lazy). It doesn't always land and begs the question of whether so much use of nostalgic references was needed, but for the most part, Ghostbusters: Afterlife delivers as an honorable continuation of the original comedy horror classics with its heart in the right place and the utmost devotion to pleasing its fans.

Final Verdict: See It

Images Courtesy Of Sony Pictures

Netflix's Red Notice Provides Serviceable Entertainment Largely Thanks To It's Charismatic Main Leads

      Whether it's solidly written films or bland ones, sometimes it requires the most appealing main leads to elevate it as being a watchable piece of entertainment. Regardless of a films faults, audiences can often point to the cast as being its main saving grace, which can be said regarding Netflix's globe-trotting heist flick Red Notice. Carrying a big budget and star-studded cast from Dwayne Johnson to Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot, Notice operates as being a serviceable action-comedy that carries all the right ingredients to make it watchable despite its generic plot.

      Red Notice's plot revolves around an FBI agent (Dwayne Johnson), and two master art thief's (Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot) all collaborating and competing against each other in search of a rare Egyptian antiguity. Their search ultimately results in several heists and surprise twists. Notice's plot registers as being extremely predictable and formulaic with audiences having seen this story done before more creatively. Although it doesn't bring anything new to the table, its workable plot is given life by its slick production values and appealing A-list trio. Whereas Red Notice lacks in innovativeness, it makes up for with enough charm and popcorn-style thrills to make it deliver on its promise of providing reasonable entertainment.

      Much of the reason Notice works can be largely attributed to its cast with Johnson, Reynolds, and Gadot working wonderfully together along with giving the film an extra shot of energy with their charismatic performances. The chemistry between Johnson and Reynolds stands as one of the films main highlights with their rivalry turned friendship being comically effective despite. Johnson is perfectly matched as FBI Special Agent John Hartley with The Rock doing his traditional tough guy persona. Ryan Reynolds does his usual Deadpool routine with him spurring out witty jokes and heavy sarcasm. He not only holds his own against Johnson, but makes for a fitting rival turned partner/friend. Gal Gadot dazzles again with both her beauty and charisma as Booth's main competition, Sarah Black AKA "The Bishop." Gadot is terrific with her surprising as the films main antagonist. The chemistry between the three main leads is spot on with them adding more fun and realism to the story. Ritu Arya impresses as FBI agent Urvashi Das, whose pursuing the gang along with Chris Diamantopoulous as Italian gangster Sotto Voce, whose in possession of one of the eggs. Regardless of how one feels about the rest of the film as a whole, it can be agreed upon that the cast tries their best to make something out of a plot that feels repetitive and cliched. 

    In terms of the films directing, Rawson Marshall Thurb puts in work that feels standard for a typical action-comedy despite the production budget being the biggest for a Netflix film. Made for $200 million, the film is beautifully shot with gorgeous locations being displayed as the main trio trots the globe looking for treasure. At 118 minutes, Thurb ensures that the film moves at a brisk pace with it being stuffed with a ton of impressively filmed action-set pieces. Thurb's strategy of directing Red Notice consists of him relying heavily on placing the main leads infront of the camera as often as possible to carry the film. In addition, he provides audiences with locations that are richly filmed and go hand-in-hand with the appeal of the main leads. Some of the films exotic globe-trotting locations include Rome, Sardinia, Bali, and Indonesia. Overall, Thurb crafts an enticing visual feature that makes it hard for the audience not to watch and find enjoyment with despite the plots familiarity.

      Notice's screenplay ranks as being standard work for the genre with the film replicating the feel of an old school caper flick with Indiana Jones being thrown into the mix. Many of the stories elements have been lifted from other noteworthy action-comedies and adventure films such as True Lies and National Treasure. The script lacks true creativity and innovativeness with both Johnson and Reynolds characters acting as generic character tropes. Johnson's character essentially operates as the straight man FBI agent, who ends up predictably becoming the prime caper suspect and is forced to partner with the thief he's pursuing in order to prove his innocence. Reynolds character comes across as a bad-boy type figure, who delivers heavy sarcasm with some of his lines being totally random (Reynold's character proclaiming that he could make a deepfake video of someone mouth-sexing a goat for example). Gadot's character is written as being charmingly sadistic with her appearing to outsmart both male figures, along with being able to overpower both physically. The back and forth bantering between Johnson and Reynold's character help with sugarcoating the scripts lack of both plot and character depth. An example of the script attempting to add depth to their characters in a way to channel the whole buddy arc, is both men admitting that they have father issues. The screenplay attempts to get twisty with one plot twist being unveiled after another with characters finding themselves overexplaining things as if the audience doesn't get what's happening. The film makes an attempt at relevance with numerous pop culture references, and a subplot involving a Nazi crypt that further reinforces the Indiana Jones connection. Though the writing for Notice is heavily reliant on past action/caper films for comfort, its overall plot manages to work only because of its talented cast who are capable of making it engaging.

      While it certainly won't blow anyone's mind away in terms of storytelling, Red Notice delivers entertainment that's largely contingent on the strength of its main stars. With a trio as charismatic and star-studded as the one present here, they can take a concept that's become fairly generic in today's realm of filmmaking and make it palatable to audiences despite its glaring issues. It's not a film that will stand as being memorable long after finishing it, but for one looking for an effective action-comedy, Red Notice proves to be a fun yet disposable piece of entertainment. 

Final Verdict: Worth a watch if you're not expecting much from it. 

Images Courtesy Of Netflix

Marvel's Eternals Thrills Fans While Offering A Bold New Direction For The Marvel Cinematic Universe

      Faith without question can lead to unwanted consequences. That's the message that's being driven in Marvel's Eternals. Much has been said about the films critical reception with arguments being directed towards the films uneven pacing, and overly serious tone in regards to its main themes. While Eternals does suffer from an excessively long running time, it's admirably executed with it providing enough decent thrills while offering a bold new direction for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

      Eternals plot focuses on a group of near-immortal beings who have lived quietly among humans for thousands of years, are called back into action when a powerful foe returns and threatens the destruction of Earth. Eternals plot offers the Marvel timeline something fresh and unique with a new team forming that differs from the traditional Avengers whom fans are familiar with. The film is more plot and character-driven than the average MCU flick with the plot being placed front-and-center. The story moves at a significantly slower pace in comparison to most Marvel movies, though the personal touch that director Chloe Zhao gives the films characters can't be understated. Eternals isn't the type of Marvel film that fans are generally accustomed to, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as it contains the action, humor, and heart that drew them to the universe originally.

      When it comes to performances, the cast of Eternals rank as being one of the films main highlights with everyone delivering stellar work along with selling the story. Gemma Chan gives a strong performance as the emphatic Sersi, who can manipulate and transform matter through physical contact. Chan brings a sense of gentleness, compassion, and vulnerability to her role while showcasing a more nuanced female lead character than what's been previously seen before in the MCU. Richard Madden thrills as Ikaris with both him and Chan sharing strong chemistry with their deep-level romance being believable to audiences, along with their opposing views of the world. The rest of the Eternals cast deliver charismatic performances with Kumail Nanjiani as wisecracking Eternal Kingo, who provides the stories humor along with his sidekick Karun played fantastically by Harish Patel. Lia McHugh also impresses as 12-year-old Sprite with McHugh playing her role as a cynical older figure trapped in a teenage body with Brian Tyree Henry scene-stealing as Phastos. Despite both Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie being here, the latter feels a bit restrained in her role with Hayek doing well as wise spiritual leader, Ajak, though Jolie doesn't get as much depth as elite warrior Thena. Other noteworthy performances include Lauren Ridloff as deaf Eternal Makkari who possesses superhuman speed, Barry Kepghan as aloof Druig, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, and Kit Harington in a small yet charismatic performance as Sersei's love interest Dane. As a whole, the cast for Eternals delivers.

      As for directing, Zhao demonstrates a skillful hand at crafting character-driven stories which rely heavily on excessive dialogue with Zhao creating a visually stunning atmosphere that surrounds them. The film is beautifully shot with stunning cinematography, putting Zhao's directorial style on full display in what's stylistically the best looking Marvel film yet. Scenes are bathed with final light from sunsets along with wide shots showing key landscapes such as a desert Oasis, a volcanic island, and the American prairie with characters appearing smaller in comparison. The CGI effects are impressive with Zhao making it a point to use as much practical effects as possible with VFX creatures and settings only being added when necessary, though still blending with their natural environments. The pacing is extremely slow with priority being placed with establishing the characters with the action coming in second.  As far as the films technical aspects go, Zhao presents a different kind of Marvel story that's gorgeously shot and feels epic although its pacing might be off-putting for audiences.

      Eternals screenplay feels more meatier than the average superhero script with it carrying themes pertaining to evolution, purpose, faith, war, friendship, loyalty, sacrifice, and legends with a message regarding finding ones own purpose. The writing does well with taking its time in showing the origins and individual dynamics of each character, along with the different timelines they've experienced within 7,000 years. Despite Chan delivering a strong performance as Sersei, her character isn't as interesting as other Eternal members, even with her essentially reigning everyone in. The screenplay does well with exploring her relationship with Ikaris, while showing the contrast between them in terms of their overall perception of the human race. The story is strictly about the reassemblance of the Eternals in order to stop the looming threat with it flashing back and forth in telling the backstory of the characters to make the audience care about the consequences later on. In terms of introducing the team and establishing the universe, the script does fairly well with balancing out its main ensemble while giving them just enough depth to make an impact on the story. The writing isn't perfect with questions being posed regarding where the Eternals have been all this time along with why didn't they appear earlier and so forth, but the story is well-structured with much to appreciate here.

      As noble as it's attempts are at taking the MCU in a bold new direction with the filmmakers ambition shining through, Eternals ultimately won't satisfy everyone. It may move too slowly compared to the common superhero flick and its philosophical themes may come across as feeling too preachy given the films serious tone, but it thrives as being an unusual beat for the MCU that possesses a tremendous amount of talent both infront of and behind the camera. Eternals for better or worse, is a reasonably satisfying and visually spectacular superhero film that makes a strong effort to break away from the typical Marvel standard of fast-paced storytelling and characters making non-stop witty jokes. One hopes that future MCU films make the same attempt at reaching for the stars that Chloe Zhao attempted here. 

Final Verdict: See It

Images courtesy of Disney

Denis Villeneuve's Dune Delivers An Exhilarating Experience That'll Please Audiences And Fans Of The Book

      Adapting classic novels to the big screen is an ambitious task which requires the skills of talented filmmakers, who possess extraordinary skill in bringing the story to the screen with the most gratifying results. In the case of Dune, the classic novel received its first film attempt in 1984 with David Lynch's box-office and critical misfire. Fast-forward to 2021, the universe gets a second attempt at initiating a film franchise, this time with acclaimed Blade Runner 2049 filmmaker Denis Villeneuve at the helm of a planned two-part film series like 2017's IT. The results are much more satisfying and groundbreaking for audiences with Dune working as an adaptation that's ambitious in scope along with being visually thrilling and exceptionally well-told despite feeling its slow-pacing.

      Based on the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, Dune's plot revolves around brilliantly gifted Paul Atreides, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to fulfill his destiny in ensuring the future of his family and people as malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of Spice, the most precious resource in existence. Being split into two films, Villeneuve's film only feels like half the story being told, and is intended to be the launching of the next great Sci-Fi universe to compete with Disney's Star Wars. Dune certainly carries with it the visual flare to compete, while also properly developing its characters and overall story. The films slow-building pace will definitely be off-putting for those who aren't accustomed to long films, but Dune excels in creating a world that audiences will want to explore as its not only visually stunning, but draws audiences in with a universe that's absorbing with the film being smartly written and brilliantly directed, ultimately ranking as being one of the years best.

      The cast for Dune deliver performances which rank as being terrific with everyone understanding the material and giving stellar work. Timothee Chalamet is perfectly casted as the ducal heir of House Atreides, Paul. Chalamet makes for a strong lead whom audiences can buy as being "The Chosen One". Rebecca Ferguson nails her part as Paul's mother Lady Jessica and consort to Duke Leto. Both actors give fantastic performances along with working well together on screen with the audience becoming engaged with their mother and daughter dynamic. Both Oscar Isaac and Josh Brolin deliver strong performances as Paul's father Leto and Duke of House Atreides with Brolin as weapons master of House Atreides, Gurney Halleck and one of Paul's mentors. Stellar Skarsgard gives a scene-stealing performance as the films disturbing antagonist, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, whose enemy to House Atreides. Other noteworthy performances include Dave Bautista as Baron's nephew Glossu Rabban, Jason Momoa as swaggering swordmaster Duncan, and Zendaya as Paul's love interest and young Fremen woman, Chani. Along with the films breathtaking visual landscape and scope, the casts performances do much in driving the sheer thrills of the story along with holding the audiences interest. 

      Like Blade Runner 2049, Villeneuve brings the same visual style to Dune that's immersive. To those familiar with Denis' work, he generally runs his films at a slow pace which allows the audience to take in enormous sets such as giant spaceships which look like large dragonflies, in addition to keeping track of the stories key players. The film is shot in a Widescreen frame to show the entirety of the films sets, which are designed and built with the format in mind. Hans Zimmer once again delivers a score that's highly effective in enhancing the mood of the story with the sounds effects working hand-in-hand with the music. Villeneuve's vision is one that carries the right amount of flare in bringing Dune's universe to life. One of the most striking aspects of 2049 was how impressive the film looked on a technological level with Dune's universe pulling the audience in and keeping them at the edge of their seat regardless of the films 155 minutes.

      Considering that Dune was written as the beginning of a two-part saga to cover the entire novel, the script by Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, and Eric Roth does a fine job of establishing the characters and stories main narrative. The story essentially revolves around old familiar concepts like "The Chosen One" and everyone basically fighting over a drug known as "spice." Although the film contains the same young boy chosen as the savior narrative that's prevalent in so many other Sci-Fi stories, Villeneuve and the writers do their best to make it feel fresher and less generic. Some of the films key highlights include Chalamet's character Paul dodging a life-threatening hunter-seeker, along with him enduring a painful gom jabbar test, and the revealing of the desserts massive sandworms. There's no denying that the films source material bears an excessively serious tone with the work inspiring other hits including Star Wars and The Matrix, but Denis keeps everything well-balanced without being forceful on the audience. Here he takes old and tired devices revolving around the young savior arc and adds more flavor to the proceedings. It doesn't always work but he does his best to make things feel organic and present a narrative, that feels more straight-forward and focused than David Lynch's misfire.

      Unlike the 1984 original, the 2021 remake possesses a more serious tone with an execution that'll blow audiences away with its scope. It's only main fault is that the film runs far too long and could've been trimmed down by 20 minutes. Though it's pacing proves challenging for those who aren't accustomed to enduring long-running films, Dune fans will willingly endure the experience as the film thrills both as a visual piece as well as a vivid form of storytelling. Despite the directors slow-building style, Villeneuve's ambition at getting the story told in the most striking way is on full display with him further establishing himself as being one of modern cinemas strongest filmmakers. Dune delivers an exhilarating experience for audiences that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible.

Final Verdict: SEE IT

Images Courtesy Of Warner Brothers