[RichardLess]

I think the vast majority of people here loved GBA when it first came out. It seems a lot of people still feel that way. That’s how I read the room anyways,

But our opinions tend to change and evolve over time, so, now that the film has been out for a couple years(!?!) have your opinions about the film changed? Have you grown to love it even more? Spotted flaws you didn’t notice or that didn’t bother you? Or is it the same as when you saw it?

My own issues with the film are pretty well documented on here so I’ll skip telling y’all what I think and why for the 8,000th time but I will say that I think I’ve seen the film 5-6 times. There was a time around the 3rd watch where I started liking things a little more but the last couple have put me back on the negative side.

[Kingpin]

I think I've watched it at least 5, maybe 6 times as well.
My opinion hasn't changed, I still enjoy it as much as I did when I first saw it in the cinema.

[Davideverona]

I saw it 4 times when it came out.

The only thing I was wishing for was more OGB'S screen time and maybe a subplot with Summerville full of Gozer worshippers who'd fight the GBs along the resurrected Gozer.

When GB4 was greenlighted I understood why maybe they cut the OGB part the way it is and now I consider Afterlife and Firehouse a two chapter sequel.

[zeta otaku]

I've seen in... no idea, double digits for sure. It's still my second favorite Ghostbusters movie.

[WCat2000]

I think the vast majority of people here loved GBA when it first came out. It seems a lot of people still feel that way. That’s how I read the room anyways,

But our opinions tend to change and evolve over time, so, now that the film has been out for a couple years(!?!) have your opinions about the film changed? Have you grown to love it even more? Spotted flaws you didn’t notice or that didn’t bother you? Or is it the same as when you saw it?

My own issues with the film are pretty well documented on here so I’ll skip telling y’all what I think and why for the 8,000th time but I will say that I think I’ve seen the film 5-6 times. There was a time around the 3rd watch where I started liking things a little more but the last couple have put me back on the negative side.

[RichardLess]

I think the vast majority of people here loved GBA when it first came out. It seems a lot of people still feel that way. That’s how I read the room anyways,

But our opinions tend to change and evolve over time, so, now that the film has been out for a couple years(!?!) have your opinions about the film changed? Have you grown to love it even more? Spotted flaws you didn’t notice or that didn’t bother you? Or is it the same as when you saw it?

My own issues with the film are pretty well documented on here so I’ll skip telling y’all what I think and why for the 8,000th time but I will say that I think I’ve seen the film 5-6 times. There was a time around the 3rd watch where I started liking things a little more but the last couple have put me back on the negative side.

Wait. Aren’t you the same user who thought I was someone else on another forum? Shit dude. You paranoid.

Ah hell. Might as well admit it. Yes it is true, I Richardless, am in fact responsible every negative comment about Ghostbusters Afterlife ever written on the internet. It’s all part of my ploy to slowly drive WCat2000 insane. I can see I’ve succeeded.

[timeware]

Richardless,I knew there was something off about you.Lol.

Anyway, I saw it twice in theatres and haven't seen it since. Still love the movie. I think more time with the OG's would have served it better. Once it hits Netflix I'll more then likely see it again but my opinion hasn't changed. So, I'm still neutral.

[Sav C]

I saw it in theatres once, and started watching it on dvd, but only got about 20 minutes in. I do intend to rewatch it at some point.

[Ectopher]

I saw GB:A three times in theatres. My first showing was the Bluewater showing that Keith Lemon hosted - it was a blast!

Since then, I've watched it perhaps 5 or 6 times more - bringing me to a total of around 9 viewings.

At first, like most others, I LOVED it - then... I questioned some of the plot holes (for example, the GB's magically appearing from nowhere always bothered me a bit). Then I heard about the supposedly removed "Janine brings the crew back together subplot", and I pined a little for that version of the movie.

Yet, overall, I love the film. It's got an appropriately melancholy tone given Harold's unfortunate passing, some great new characters, and sets the stage for some exciting new adventures. I especially adore just how present Egon's character is throughout the film - the fact that the story focuses on the Spengler family is, upon reflection, a very good thing. I think it's a necessary stepping stone to bring the Ghostbusters universe back.

[ZedR]

Watched it once on opening night (actually rented out an entire theater for myself and my family)...

I have since watched the last 20 minutes with the OGBs around a dozen times, but I can't quite make myself sit through the entire film from the beginning.

I like it...I think it's good overall....but seeing it once was kind of enough.


Honestly, I think Jason had too much time to fiddle with it during the pandemic.

[Specter Mitcher]

I've seen it once. The gf and I rented it two Halloweens ago. I was pleasantly surprised at how they didn't completely drop the ball and muck everything up. I attribute that 100% to the fact that: 1) a Reitman was the director, and 2) Ghostbusters is one of the few intellectual properties *not* owned by Disney or helmed by Kathleen Kennedy.

It was a good movie, but the choice of having kids dominate pretty much the entire film drags it down a bit. A few elementary schoolers being who ends up saving the world just isn't the most compelling storyline (to me). It steers the overall feel into that of being a children's movie, even though thankfully it somehow avoided that to the point of having a Spy Kids-like vibe. The OG's showing up at literally the last minute doesn't help it in that regard, either. School kids dominating the story again is my big concern with Frozen Empire, because Reitman kind of pigeon-holed himself into carrying over Phoebe, Trevor, and Podcast as main characters. And one random thing that never sat with me well at all, was how Trevor firing a proton stream, which in all other cases has simply burned through whatever non-ghost solid object it would hit, somehow locked onto the power lines feeding the ghost traps and powered them. I guess you could say that positrons would be attracted to wire since electricity wants to arc to things that are conductive...but that was just lazy/cliche writing there IMHO.

TL;DR: My opinion on it has remained pretty much the same. Good, but not superb like GB 1 and 2. Moviegoing as an adult now, I want a misfit gang of scientists saving the day again, not children.

[One time]

Seen it maybe 6 or 7 times now. It surprises me how the ending gets me every single time I've seen it.

[camdudetenger2018]

well i used to re watch ghostbusters 3 afterlife alot every now and then until ghostbusters 4 frozen empire came out then i started re watching that every now and then

[Chicken, He Clucked]

Seen it 6-7 times at this point.I had a mixed time with it at the cinema first time round.

Part of it was the expectation leading into it, some personal issues, terrible experience en route to the cinema.

I didn't take to the slower pacing and dialogue or the portrayal of the OG cast.
I didn't like Ray's exposition phone call and "Egon can go to hell" line - I still don't like it but I understand the meta context.
I also think their appearance at the end is abrupt and not foreshadowed enough.

The second viewing was much more enjoyable for me and even emotional with Egon appearing, it all landed very well.
The central Muncher chase sequence is excellent, and the climax with Gozer in the mine. I love both of those sequences.

But... it's a 3/5 for me. Rewatches it can go either way. Phoebe and Podcast are great. Muncher is great. Indifferent to Trevor and Lucky. Gary and Callie I think are the weak link - they're too flat. Callie needed to have bigger charisma, Rudd is dialing it in.

I also think it's a movie which is underwritten in general. It lacks the density of Frozen Empire and the OG movies.
I feel like maybe some of the flavour was cut - like the kid with the Doritos - a short scene of Phoebe backing away from a desk after being intimidated by some older kids, and then a scene during the montage of the same kid being spooked by Bug-Eye to get his comeuppance - a simple narrative thread told in two short scenes - I think the townsfolk needed a bit more presence. Even the idea of Lucky's dad being part of the Shandor cult was interesting.

I also think the Ghostbusters should've arrived at the farm midway after Phoebe's phone call to collect their equipment, only to find local law enforcement already clearing out Egon's lab including the PKE meter. There is a brief conflict with the Sheriff, allowing Venkman to wisecrack against an authority figure. Ray agrees to go with Podcast and Phoebe to the Shandor wall monument but finds all evidence of it gone. Ray has a bonding moment with Phoebe telling her about her grandfather's time as a ghostbuster (rather than exposition dumping over the phone), but tells her he is gone and reassures her they already defeated Gozer. Ghostbusters exit movie (temporarily) and then the movie continues with the kids vowing to further investigate the mine... this would've prepared the audience for the OG's climactic appearance and provided a moment to reintroduce them so the pacing of the finale isn't disrupted as they deliver all their lines during a battle with Gozer.

I feel like a version of the movie with all of the above would flow much better, but I'd be interested if there's any cut content that improves the Callie-Gary dynamic.

Ultimately I like Afterlife a lot and I feel like it nails so much stuff that could've gone wrong... but it only gets like... 60-70% of the way there and needed a few more passes of the script to bulk it out.

Whereas, despite some flaws, I've loved Frozen Empire every single time I've watched it.

[BatDan]

I’ve watched it in full a few times.

I think I’ve watched the ending on YouTube more.

I agree though, more set up/development to the OG cast was really needed. I believe a whole bunch of their scenes got cut and parts of them just ended up as the Credit bits

If you pretend for a moment that the OGs inclusion at the end was earned and they at least had a scene or 2 together before the rematch with Gozer. It really works.

Having their presence felt throughout FE really helps it makeshift itself as the sequel we were waiting for. However the same “almost there” flaws abound.

[Light em Up]

I've watched it around 10 times all the way through. I've watched individual scenes more than that. I'm happy with most of the film. The new setting was good, as were the new characters and their banter. I liked the new equipment modifications. Egon's ghost showing up to join the fight is now among my top moments in the franchise. Based on the information about previous attempts, I would say this is the best version of a continuation they had come up with.

But, like most things, it's not without its faults. I wish the original GBs would have had a better entrance at the end---they're just standing there. I also would have preferred for Gozer to remain in its weakened state for the duration of the finale. Not only did it look more threatening, but I think it could have been a sufficient workaround for things from the original film that they didn't want her doing here.

The only time my opinion has changed about the film was when I first watched it at home, and was able to study the wall with Callie's photos. While viewing it theatrically, I was looking at the photos and missed the dates associated with them. I assumed the story was that Egon had to leave Callie in order to protect her from the impending apocalypse. This is what Phoebe tells us inside the mine, and Callie also said at one point that he left the family to go to the farm. But if Callie is almost 40 and never knew Egon, then he would have left her a decade before he went to Summerville.

That isn't like Ray saying the firehouse is now a Starbucks, and then it isn't. This was a major contradiction that changed a large portion of the story for me. I still don't really know what to make of all that. I know many people come away with the idea that Egon was a deadbeat father after all. I just have a hard time believing that's what they intended, after trying to redeem him in the previous scene. I do wonder if it was all a flub. Perhaps someone didn't connect the dates on the photos with her dialogue about never having met him.

[mrmichaelt]

This is what Phoebe tells us inside the mine, and Callie also said at one point that he left the family to go to the farm. But if Callie is almost 40 and never knew Egon, then he would have left her a decade before he went to Summerville.

I think you're taking the lines too literally and chronologically.

Callie says, "I think he was a sad old man who turned his back on his family, his partners. And for what? For a stupid farm in a town nobody cares about. Where, by the way, everybody thought he was nuts."

Consider what we know, the Ghostbusters was all but shuttered once again in the 90s/maybe early 00s:
- Instead of trying to keep the business afloat we know from Ray that Egon went on less and less calls to study apocalypse myths. He didn't try to help keep Ghostbusters in business=Turned his back on his friends. And leaving with Ecto-1 and a lot of the equipment was the nail in the coffin. We know how much Ray resented it.

-Knowing the Ghostbusters' days were numbered, Egon could have moved to Chicago and been there for teenage Callie and whoever Callie's mom was. He didn't go nor try to initiate contact.

He went to Summerville, where he believed the next apocalypse would eventually be triggered and shut out nearly everyone out of his life in order to 100% focus on stopping it himself.

Is that why he also didn't try previously in 1984 and 1989? Probably. There was a similar bit in the IDW run when faced with Janine's advances over the years, Egon admitted he knew how she felt about him but he was busy with constantly trying to prevent the end of the world as a Ghostbuster. Ok, but what about the 5 year gap? Well, he got lost in his new obsession, proving and researching the psychomagnetheric energy field. A bit of a strength and weakness that Egon has a singular focus once he gets going on something.

Another thing to consider about this is we lack context for one aspect of Callie's past. Was staying out of Callie's life from the start a choice Egon made because of, what you call the excuse of, the apocalypses or did Callie's mom tell him she was pregnant but wanted him to stay out of her life and she was going to raise Callie on her own and Egon agreed to it (but as a scientist, still couldn't help but observe from afar without Callie knowing)? To me it feels like the latter, otherwise why would he bother to keep tabs on her all her life if he was supposedly 100% all in on the paranormal and the end of the world?

Another is how much did Callie's mom tell her about the circumstances of her conception and birth? It feels like she told Callie jack and Callie filled in the gaps by herself with her insecurities thus Callie seemed to have been operating under the false impression that Egon bailed on them and thus we the audience can't accept what she says about that topic as fact.

Phoebe says, "Our grandfather. He was right here. He built this. He was standing guard, even when no one believed him. He sacrificed everything. His life. His friends. Us."

Basically what Phoebe is saying is Egon gave up having a normal life and what that could have entailed (9-5 job, hanging out with contemporaries and friends, a standard nuclear family, mending fences with Callie and being a part of her family and having known his grandchildren in life) to stand guard 24/7 for decades, plan and build, and wait for the chance to stop Gozer in 2021.

[Light em Up]

If Callie is misleading us about Egon, I would prefer for it to be where she said she never even met him. I'm just not into the idea of Egon never having been around at all.

But I do feel that her comments about why Egon left the family are presented as literal in the film. I can see that take on Phoebe's lines, but I still feel like she's speaking about why he left Callie. Otherwise, I think it feels like an odd choice for her to pair "us" with two other things that were directly lost due to him leaving for Summerville.

If their intention from the beginning was to say that he left her in the 80s, then I feel like the execution could have been better. From a writing perspective, it's not a good idea to give a character a line like that about her Dad, if you're not actually trying to convey a point to the audience. I would like to think that Jason and Gil wouldn't do that. But I still haven't fully discounted my flub theory.

[robbritton]

This is what Phoebe tells us inside the mine, and Callie also said at one point that he left the family to go to the farm. But if Callie is almost 40 and never knew Egon, then he would have left her a decade before he went to Summerville.

I think you're taking the lines too literally and chronologically.

Callie says, "I think he was a sad old man who turned his back on his family, his partners. And for what? For a stupid farm in a town nobody cares about. Where, by the way, everybody thought he was nuts."

Consider what we know, the Ghostbusters was all but shuttered once again in the 90s/maybe early 00s:
- Instead of trying to keep the business afloat we know from Ray that Egon went on less and less calls to study apocalypse myths. He didn't try to help keep Ghostbusters in business=Turned his back on his friends. And leaving with Ecto-1 and a lot of the equipment was the nail in the coffin. We know how much Ray resented it.

-Knowing the Ghostbusters' days were numbered, Egon could have moved to Chicago and been there for teenage Callie and whoever Callie's mom was. He didn't go nor try to initiate contact.

He went to Summerville, where he believed the next apocalypse would eventually be triggered and shut out nearly everyone out of his life in order to 100% focus on stopping it himself.

Is that why he also didn't try previously in 1984 and 1989? Probably. There was a similar bit in the IDW run when faced with Janine's advances over the years, Egon admitted he knew how she felt about him but he was busy with constantly trying to prevent the end of the world as a Ghostbuster. Ok, but what about the 5 year gap? Well, he got lost in his new obsession, proving and researching the psychomagnetheric energy field. A bit of a strength and weakness that Egon has a singular focus once he gets going on something.

Another thing to consider about this is we lack context for one aspect of Callie's past. Was staying out of Callie's life from the start a choice Egon made because of, what you call the excuse of, the apocalypses or did Callie's mom tell him she was pregnant but wanted him to stay out of her life and she was going to raise Callie on her own and Egon agreed to it (but as a scientist, still couldn't help but observe from afar without Callie knowing)? To me it feels like the latter, otherwise why would he bother to keep tabs on her all her life if he was supposedly 100% all in on the paranormal and the end of the world?

Another is how much did Callie's mom tell her about the circumstances of her conception and birth? It feels like she told Callie jack and Callie filled in the gaps by herself with her insecurities thus Callie seemed to have been operating under the false impression that Egon bailed on them and thus we the audience can't accept what she says about that topic as fact.

Phoebe says, "Our grandfather. He was right here. He built this. He was standing guard, even when no one believed him. He sacrificed everything. His life. His friends. Us."

Basically what Phoebe is saying is Egon gave up having a normal life and what that could have entailed (9-5 job, hanging out with contemporaries and friends, a standard nuclear family, mending fences with Callie and being a part of her family and having known his grandchildren in life) to stand guard 24/7 for decades, plan and build, and wait for the chance to stop Gozer in 2021.

I felt the idea was the latter too, and I wish they had given Callie, Trevor and Phoebe a different surname to make that feeling explicit. I find the Spengler family name a bit confusing, as to a casual viewer it implies a marriage, which makes the story as told a bit weird. I can totally get that Callie's mother might have chosen that name to honour Egon's part in their deal and etc etc, but if I have to do mental gymnastics to make it work then it is, sadly, bad storytelling.

Also, Egon having had kids for a science experiment would totally fit with the character previously seen. Why didn't they lean on that? Callie can still have father issues and the weirdness of "why did we never hear about this family in 84 and 89?" goes away. Have the mum be another egghead scientist who did a mutual experiment with Egon. No character break, everything understandable and even slightly humorous (albeit darkly). Perfect Ghostbusters!

It appears I am still slightly frustrated with Afterlife, eh?

[mrmichaelt]

If Callie is misleading us about Egon, I would prefer for it to be where she said she never even met him. I'm just not into the idea of Egon never having been around at all.

But I do feel that her comments about why Egon left the family are presented as literal in the film. I can see that take on Phoebe's lines, but I still feel like she's speaking about why he left Callie. Otherwise, I think it feels like an odd choice for her to pair "us" with two other things that were directly lost due to him leaving for Summerville.

If their intention from the beginning was to say that he left her in the 80s, then I feel like the execution could have been better. From a writing perspective, it's not a good idea to give a character a line like that about her Dad, if you're not actually trying to convey a point to the audience. I would like to think that Jason and Gil wouldn't do that. But I still haven't fully discounted my flub theory.

I recall at least one time... maybe to her landlord Callie says she never met her father.

But sure, that line is misleading. I simply took it as after Janine contacted her, Callie googled "Egon Spengler" and with her false impressions she carried her whole life, thought Egon abandoned her and her mother in 1981/82 then the other Ghostbusters in the 90s/00s. I'm willing to entertain the line was from the older drafts when the story was a little different and they forgot to edit it in the final draft. I recall someone said there was a lot more of Callie's backstory at one point but then it got streamlined.

[Light em Up]

I recall someone said there was a lot more of Callie's backstory at one point but then it got streamlined.

Yeah, around the release of the film there was a lot of discussion about that. There were users on the GB reddit that swore they knew of a deleted scene between Callie and Janine in Spinner's, where they would have talked over some of Callie's backstory. While that may not be true, such a scene could have been informative.

[Kingpin]

There were users on the GB reddit that swore they knew of a deleted scene between Callie and Janine in Spinner's

I wouldn't read anything into that, there were a lot of claimed insider scoops that cropped up on sites like Reddit that were never proven to be legit. One such bit of baseless claim was that the 1984 Ghostbusters would appear in Times Square in Ghostbusters: Answer The Call when Rowan time-warped the area.

[timeware]

Part of me wonders if they'd gone that route if we'd have ever gotten Afterlife, much less frozen empire?

[Light em Up]

I wouldn't read anything into that, there were a lot of claimed insider scoops that cropped up on sites like Reddit that were never proven to be legit. One such bit of baseless claim was that the 1984 Ghostbusters would appear in Times Square in Ghostbusters: Answer The Call when Rowan time-warped the area.

Nah, I don't put much stock in it. I just brought it up as an example of all the speculation that took place surrounding her backstory being trimmed. It's true that most Reddit claims are unreliable. The only GB-related outlier that I can think of was when that Stantz1984 guy spoiled Answer the Call prior to its release.

[mrmichaelt]

Yeah, around the release of the film there was a lot of discussion about that. There were users on the GB reddit that swore they knew of a deleted scene between Callie and Janine in Spinner's, where they would have talked over some of Callie's backstory. While that may not be true, such a scene could have been informative.

Yeah, on a semi-related note, that's one opinion that hasn't changed - the 1 deleted scene in the Afterlife release special features. Like c'mon!!!

[Light em Up]

Yeah, on a semi-related note, that's one opinion that hasn't changed - the 1 deleted scene in the Afterlife release special features. Like c'mon!!!

That was disappointing. Even if they weren't ready to release the scenes with the original cast, there were still a few others they could have put on there. At least Frozen Empire gave us a pretty good selection.

[BatDan]

Speaking of deleted scenes..I would really like to see the unaltered “OGBs vs the Possessor” sequence

You can tell where they split the reshoots in—the flying paper airplane is definitely the merger.

Head scratcher on why that was left out. Because when we cut back Ray has his goggles on and Peter has the sunglasses.

It would have amped up the action and gave long time fans another busting sequence with the OGs. Oh well..