REVIEW: GHOSTBUSTERS - AFTERLIFE

GHOSTBUSTERS: Afterlife - Screenplay analysis #SpoilerAlert

This film is set up beautifully. The tone is a little more grounded than the earlier films in the series. The stakes are larger than just fighting monsters. The protagonist is likable. The dialogue is witty and nuanced. But other than that, it quickly loses its way getting stuck in a past problem we've already seen resolved instead of focusing on the one at hand, and not utilizing the subcharacters to their fullest potential. 

-- Mom is broke. She needs money to support her family. Yet, when they get to the new town, that storyline falls completely off the page. Are y'all still broke or nah?
-- Gary was setup as a Mr. Miyagi but ultimately didn't help train our protagonist at all. He had so much knowledge but didn't prove useful. He was a way for mom to understand her science kid but didn't help in the science of it all to defeat the problem.
-- Egon tries to use the trap in the opening scene but the foot pedal doesn't work. Gary tries to use the foot pedal when showing the kids what the trap does. It doesn't work. But in the climax, it works with no issues. Who fixed it? This was an important plot point and could've made our protagonist that much more active if she understood the key to killing the monster is in fixing the foot pedal that controls all of the traps on the farm. 
-- They never learn that the monster killed their grandfather. It seemed like good information for motivation to look deeper into the monster vs just an interest in science.
-- Why now? Why did the new slimer guy that eats metal and the tiny marshmallow men show up now? Why did Gozer show up now? Are the former monsters with Gozer?
-- It's called Ghostbusters but felt very monster/god heavy. Are we to assume they are the same thing? It brings up questions about the v original concept as well. What exactly is a ghost in this world? 

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AUTHOR

Shannan E. Johnson is a former creative executive at The Syfy Channel turned CEO + Head Consultant of The Professional Pen, a script consultancy that develops screenwriters from idea to pitch to become more confident storytellers ready for a professional screenwriting career, and consults with scripted development teams at entertainment companies to streamline their notes process to get to pre-production more efficiently.