Ghostbusters: Afterlife Trailer Review - 7 Ups & 4 Downs
Is it Ghostbusters enough?
It's taken several decades, but in 2020, we're getting the third Ghostbusters film that was always intended to come out. Obviously it won't be the third overall, because Paul Feig's reboot-quel took that slot and we're not in the business of needless revisionism, but the newly titled Afterlife is the third step on the original timeline.
There are old parts and new parts co-existing for this new project, with veterans working alongside the likes of Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon and McKenna Grace and director Jason Reitman promises something that continues his father's original vision, rather than deconstructing it. Sure, it'll be for a new generation, but it's going to know where it came from and why.
And now that we've got the first trailer for it, we can all start to get that little bit more excited.
Here's the trailer...
Inevitably, it's not a completely flawless thing, despite the presence of Paul Rudd, so let's get into where it was great and where it really could have done better. First the positives...
Ups
7. The Legacy Hints
In the pre-release information, we've been led to believe that there's a link between the new family at the heart of this plot and the original Ghostbusters. This trailer stresses that even further, hinting heavily that the grandfather who previously owned the run-down house they inherit was one of the original Ghostbusters.
It's not said outright - which is smart, given how much it'll generate conversation - but the look of Finn Wolfhard's Trevor and Mckenna Grace's Phoebe definitely suggests that they could be related to Egon and Janine Melnitz. Or at least Egon, anyway.
The fact that they would inherit Ghostbusters tech fits and Janine no longer being with Egon at the point of his death would too, as their possible relationship in the original series was always stifled by his emotional stunting. All of this merely being hinted in the teaser is a smart move for linking this to the older movies.