Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Blu Ray Review (Sony)

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (aKa Ghostbusters 4) is a 2024 comedy co-written, produced, and directed by Gil Kenan (Poltergeist, Monster House, City of Ember, and Scream: The TV Series). It was co-written and produced by Jason Reitman (Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Thank You for Smoking, Up in the Air, Labor Day, and The Front Runner). Three years after the crazy events in Afterlife, Callie Spengler (played by: Carrie Coon from Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Gone Girl, Avengers: Infinity War, Boston Strangler, Kin, Fargo, The Leftovers, and Widows) with her boyfriend Gary Grooberson (played by: Paul Rudd from the Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Ant-Man franchise, Clueless, Avengers franchise, Anchorman franchise, I Love You Man, and Knocked Up), her children Trevor (played by: Finn Wolfhard from Stranger Things, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, IT, and The Turning), Phoebe (played by: Mckenna Grace from Ghostbusters: Afterlife, I Tonya, Gifted, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Young Sheldon), friends Lucky (played by: Celeste O’Connor from Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Madame Web, Freaky, and A Good Person) and Podcast (played by: Logan Kim from Ghostbusters: Afterlife and The Walking Dead: Dead City) set up shop in New York City. They work with Winston Zeddemore (played by: Ernie Hudson from the Ghostbusters franchise, The Crow, OZ, Sugar Hill, The Cowboy Way, and Airheads), Ray Stantz (played by: Dan Aykroyd from the Ghostbusters franchise, Trading Places, Blues Brothers, Nothing But Trouble, Neighbors, The Great Outdoors, Tommy Boy, My Girl franchise, and 50 First Dates), Peter Venkman (played by: Bill Murray from the Ghostbusters franchise, Rushmore, Zombieland, Saturday Night Live, Caddyshack, Stripes, Groundhog Day, Scrooged, and Kingpin), and Janine Melnitz (played by: Annie Potts from the Ghostbusters franchise, Young Sheldon, Pretty in Pink, Toy Story franchise, and Designing Women) to resurrect the legendary Ghostbusters. They end up making a complete mess and destroy parts of New York so it causes problems with Major Walter Peck (played by: William Atherton from Ghostbusters, Die Hard, Hoodlum, Bio-Dome, and Real Genius). The Ghostbusters are put on notice with threats of being shut down so they bench the underage Phoebe from the team. Phoebe feels abandoned and upset so she interacts with a ghost named Melody (played by: Emily Alyn Lind from Doctor Sleep, Replicas, Revenge, and The Babysitter). This backfires on the angry teenager. The crew meets Nadeem Razmaadi (played by: Kumail Nanjiani from Stuber, The Big Sick, Eternals, and The Lovebirds) who finds out he has powers from his family. The Ghostbusters are forced to fight off the powerful supernatural. New York City is in trouble once again, can these heroes save world again? or Will the ghosts finally take over???? It starts out with an amazing opening. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is better than the last few films in the series. It feels more like the older ones, it has that same atmosphere. All of the main cast from Afterlife returned to this direct sequel. Plus it features a decent amount from the original movies which is really cool. There’s several nods to the franchise in Frozen Empire. The script is lots of fun and very entertaining. It has a nice balance of comedy, supernatural, and action here. The visual and special fx are top notch in this. That’s something that you can definitely appreciate over the first two. Garraka is interesting main villain for your favorite paranormal heroes. I always enjoy seeing Slimer and the Stay Puff Marshmallow crew in something like this. Paul Rudd is great as Gary Grooberson, he’s way over his head in these situations but he tries his best during all this chaos. The Spengler family is a nice tribute to the iconic Harold Ramis especially the kids. They remind me of Egon so much. They all have great chemistry with Paul Rudd. It’s great to see Ernie Hudson, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Annie Potts reprise their classic roles from the originals. They all ease into their characters like they never left them at all. William Atherton and John Rothman have hilarious cameos in this new one. It has a solid supporting cast that includes Celeste O’Connor, Kumail Nanjiani, Emily Alyn Lind, Logan Kim, James Acaster, and Patton Oswalt. I’m really surprised that Jason Reitman didn’t direct this follow up but Gil Kenan did a great job with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. It’s loaded with replay value and it’s one of the better features of the year so far. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from Sony Pictures! This 1080p (2.39:1) transfer looks phenomenal, I can only imagine what the 4K looks like but unfortunately I didn’t get that release for coverage. Everything pops on the screen, the visual and special fx really shine here. It has a few different audio options which includes English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, and Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 on the disc. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire sounds great when it comes to the audio. All of the dialogue is crisp, the supernatural elements are elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English, English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles. It has an “Audio Commentary” with co-writer and director Gil Kenan. This is a really good track from the film maker. Lots of information and stories here. “Return to the Firehouse” is almost 22 minutes. It has interviews with the cast and crew. They chat about coming back to where it all started. It has all kinds of clips from the originals. They talk about the legendary location. You get a little tour and inside look into it. They explore stuff that wasn’t done in the past. It shows appreciation for the production design. “Busting: Capturing the Ghosts of Frozen Empire” is a little over 11 minutes. It has interviews with the cast and crew. They chat about their favorite ghosts and moments. They get some attention here, it gives them all a little time on each character. It focuses on visual and special fx here. “Easter Eggs Unleashed” is a little over 6 minutes. It points out all the nods, homages, and tributes to the classics. “Manifesting Garraka” is almost 4 minutes. This one is all about the main ghost, villain, and monster from Frozen Empire. It’s a cool behind the scenes look from the production side of Ghostbusters. “New York, New Gear” is a little over 7 minutes. It has interviews with the cast and the crew. They chat about the newer technology and gadgets they have for the movie. “Welcome to the Paranormal Discovery Center” is almost 5 minutes. It focuses on Winston Zeddemore’s research location for the supernatural. It shows that the Ghostbusters have expanded their world when it comes to their work. “Knowing the Score” is a little over 6 minutes. They focus on the music for the film for this sequel. They use some familiar stuff plus it has all kinds of new material. It has some awesome behind the scenes footage of putting it together. 6 “Deleted Scenes” that’s around 9 minutes. It’s cool to see these but I think most of them are better left on the cutting room floor rather than being in the final version. It has a variety of “Trailers” from Sony. It also comes with a slipcover, a digital code, and a DVD copy of the release. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!