Frozen Empire is the 2024 direct sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The movie was written by Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman, and directed by Kenan. It brings back the entire main cast, including McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Paul Rudd, and Carrie Coon. It also brings back Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts to reprise their roles from the original films. Also returning from the 1984 film is William Atherton, reprising his role as Walter Peck, who remains a thorn in the Ghostbusters' side. Logan Kim and Celeste O'Connor reprise their roles from Afterlife, and the new additions to the cast in this film include Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Emily Alyn Lind, and James Acaster.
In this movie, the new Ghostbusters have returned to New York and are working out of the old firehouse. Peck, who is now the mayor of NY, is trying to find a way to shut the operation down for good and forces the team to bench Phoebe because she is a minor. She befriends a ghost in the park (played by Lind), who, in turn, is being manipulated by a demigod named Garraka to help free him from an orb, so he can release all of the ghosts who have been trapped, which will allow him to conquer humanity and rule the world.
The 4k set (which is available both as a regular release and a steelbook release) is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a standard blu-ray. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is outstanding. Both the audio and video are at or near reference quality, especially if you have a large screen and even a decent surround sound system. The only bonus material on the UHD disc is the previews (which can be skipped as each new one loads) and a commentary track by Kenan. The rest of the bonus content is on the standard blu-ray and includes the same previews, several making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes (ranging from about 4 minutes to just over 20 minutes, and about 9 minutes of deleted scenes.
Overall, the film is good, but not quite as good as Afterlife. The use of the legacy cast members was perfect; they were used enough to provide the nostalgia boost, but not enough to take away from the new group. There were a lot of callbacks and easter eggs to the original films throughout the movie. The only two surviving original cast members who did not appear were Rick Moranis and Sigourney Weaver (although there is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to Weaver's character, Dana), but they honestly would not have fit into the storyline all that well anyway. The middle part of the movie does plod along a bit, but the action definitely picks up in the final act. Ultimately, if you are a fan of the franchise and liked or loved Afterlife, this is worth checking out.
