It would be impossible to look at the latest installment in the Ghostbusters “legacyquel” without ruminating on the franchise’s past. In fact, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire seems to immediately want its audience to reflect not only on the story’s history, but also New York’s itself. Hence, director and co-writer Gil Kenan (writing alongside “Ivan’s boy” Jason Reitman) commences the tale in New York, 1904. Specifically, at the Ghostbusters firehouse, long before it ever became that. Instead, it’s but an ordinary firehouse, where we see firefighters being dispatched to a members only club for the colonialist-type rich fucks who liked to show one another their stolen/pillaged spoils after returning from far-flung, overpriced adventures.
Among the spoils during this session is a metal sphere (made, more to the point, of copper). One that, unbeknownst to the richies, imprisons the ancient warrior known as Garraka. A supernatural being who gained the power to freeze empires like the one he was proverbially “iced out” of even after fighting for it. In this regard, part of the movie’s message seems to be that you should reward people for the work they do rather than punish them for it, otherwise they end up stealing your sex tape and selling it on a still-germinal internet. Or, in this case, freezing all of New York.
Which Garraka came close to doing in 1904, but only managed to freeze the entire room, at which point a mysterious ancient soldier-looking guy (or gal) in the corner appears to have regained control of the orb, startling the investigating firefighters when he opens his eyes abruptly. The “authorities,” of course, are useless in matters such as these (and most others), and end up getting partially frozen as well.
That general uselessness is also conveyed in the next scene, when the Spengler family, now consisting of Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd), Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon), Trevor Spengler (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe Spengler (Mckenna Grace), speeds down a busy NYC street wreaking havoc in pursuit of a ghostly dragon. The police watch them whiz by, eager to let them handle it without interfering, lest any blame or responsibility be put on them. Indeed, one of the main distinctions between present-day New York and 80s-era New York is how much more concerned the former is with property damage. If one thought that concern was bad in the 80s, it certainly seems tenfold now. This speaking to both a lack of punk rockness in local government (long gone are the days of Ed Koch) and a general vibe of empty coffers everywhere despite constantly collecting from the public.
Things in New York have gotten so “by the book,” in fact, that Walter Peck (William Atherton), reprising his role from Ghostbusters, even prevents Phoebe from continuing to work as a Ghostbuster by citing her involvement as child labor. Considering how much ghostbusting has become a major aspect of her identity, this little shutdown enrages her to no end. Because in the time since 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Phoebe has come even more into her own on the ghostbusting front, while Trevor is clearly meant to be the beleaguered do-nothing of the operation. And, despite being certain to tell his mother he’s eighteen now and can’t be told what to do, it would seem he doesn’t know how to function otherwise.
In the midst of this dynamic, Gary is trying to find his footing on the shaky ground between “Mother’s boyfriend” and full-on “dad.” This cast of main characters is rounded out by a quartet of OGs from the original films: Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), Peter Venkman (Bill Murray, whose abuse allegations couldn’t shake him from this gig) and Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts). The latter clearly subbing out for the spot where Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) used to be (and since his ghost was already used as a gimmick in Afterlife, Melnitz was up to bat).
As if that weren’t already enough main characters to “service,” so to speak, another important character, Nadeem Razmaadi (Kumail Nanjiani), is introduced as the “Firemaster”—an obvious nod to the Keymaster role that Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) took on in 1984’s Ghostbusters. Then there is Phoebe’s new ghost friend, Melody (Emily Alyn Lind, who also appears in another New York-related reboot, Gossip Girl). She makes Phoebe’s acquaintance after trying to scare her during a game of ghost chess in Washington Square Park (miraculously deserted at night, even though it never is in real life). And it doesn’t take long for things between them to quickly start leaning toward a sexual tension vibe, just one of many “modern updates” to the franchise.
Somewhere in between all these cast members is stuffed yet another character: New York. Because Ghostbusters is to NYC as Sex and the City is—it would be difficult to reconcile one without the other (though that’s what audiences did for Afterlife). And yet, perhaps the only truly standout scenes involving the city from Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire are, as we already saw in the trailer, the moment when the lion of the NYPL (who, what do you know, additionally cameos in the Sex and the City movie) comes to life and attacks and the moment when the Wonder Wheel is stopped, just before those frolicking in the dubious waters of Coney Island are sent running for the sand again as the “death chill” invoked from Garraka proceeds to freeze everything. Unfortunately, Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer” is only playing in the trailer and not the actual movie when this all goes down.
As for the buildup to Garraka’s inevitable unleashing from the sphere, which is sold to Ray by Nadeem, who mentions it was part of his now-dead grandma’s collection, it’s filled with ominous forewarnings. Including the fact that the Containment Unit is starting to act a bit, let’s say, fickle when additional ghosts are deposited. Phoebe, realizing that the chamber hasn’t been “cleansed” since it was first installed, asks the valid question of whether or not anyone considered what that might result in without a backup plan. Melnitz is the first to quip, “It was the 80s, people weren’t thinkin’ too much about the future.” Except, apparently, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale when they wrote Back to the Future. Faint allusions to the headier days of NYC life are also made by Melnitz when she says that a bunch of homeless people in the 90s ripped off any copper they might have had at the firehouse. Brass—another metal agent known for trapping demonic and supernatural forces—will have to do for outfitting the proton packs in a way that will have any kind of effect on Garraka. Specifically, the brass Phoebe siphons from the pole they usually slide down when there’s a specter-related emergency.
While there is some sense of “all hell breaking loose” (even though it’s ice we’re talking about), there’s also a generally blasé attitude about the bizarre goings-on. Even when the lion comes to life at the New York Public Library, there isn’t that much shock about it from any passersby. This portrayal being almost like a subconscious nod to how desensitized New Yorkers have become to all calamities. Half-awake in their increasingly fake empire, as it were (side note: never forget the on-the-nose absurdity of Barack Obama actually using an instrumental version of The National’s “Fake Empire” for an election campaign video—of which Aaron Dessner remarked, “When they first asked permission to use ‘Fake Empire’ we wondered, ‘Do they know it’s about how fucked up America is and wanting to leave?’”).
But perhaps the threat of The Day After Tomorrow-esque plot of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire could be enough to shake them from their half-awake reverie (for, yes, one can’t help but feel a subliminal climate change message here). If not, perhaps there are worse fates than freezing to death. Like OD’ing on nostalgia because looking to the future seems to be a lost cause. To put it in The National lead vocalist Matt Berninger’s words, “…you can’t deal with the reality of what’s really going on, so let’s just pretend that the world’s full of bluebirds and ice skating.” Oh so much ice skating in this particular scenario.
