After 32 years of waiting, Jason Reitman finally follows in his father’s footsteps to deliver the sequel we’ve all been waiting for, one that looks to banish all memories of the polarizing and insanely divisive 2016 reboot from the collective consciousness of the fandom forever. Ghostbusters: Afterlife is here! And it’s… not bad.
In news that’s going to piss some folks off to no end, the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score continues to spiral downward, where it’s now sitting at 62%. For those keeping track, Paul Feig’s effort wound up with 74%, but it’s the audience scores where things start to get really interesting.
The last Ghostbusters blockbuster was review-bombed and downvoted into oblivion, but at the time of writing, Afterlife‘s user rating on RT is a healthy 96%. Sometimes, being made by the fans for the fans isn’t all that bad. One person who certainly enjoyed their time on set was Ernie Hudson, with the returning star describing his comeback in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“When Bill and Danny and I put on our jumpsuits and our proton packs, it transported me back. It was cool — just how much I love that family. It was almost spiritual. I didn’t cry, but some of those emotions welled up in me. To see Jason who was running around the set at 6 years old and now he is at the helm of it; I was so proud of him. I am so appreciative that he established himself as a wonderful director-producer before stepping into Ghostbusters.”
To be blindingly obvious, there’s a lot of spiritual experiences to be found in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, given that it’s a supernatural comedy. Based on the early and very mixed responses from fans and critics, it looks like the fourth installment in the franchise is going to be divisive all over again — this time for very different reasons.