Frozen Empire Ending – Why The Old Containment Unit Works Explained By Director

Warning: Major SPOILERS lie ahead for Ghosbusters: Frozen Empire!

Summary

• Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
  explores the significance of the old containment unit in its climax, serving as a giant ghost trap.
• Learning from past critiques, the sequel balances nostalgia with fresh elements, giving original cast members bigger roles.
• The better incorporation of iconic elements hints at how the franchise can continue to expand, fully passing the torch to a new generation.

Despite its destruction in the climax, Gil Kenan explains why the old containment unit still works in the Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire ending. After being teased to have problems in Afterlife‘s post-credits scene, much of the new sequel’s story revolved around the Spengler family working with Winston to determine a solution for it. The movie’s third act sees the villain Garraka break open the containment unit with the help of melancholic spirit Melody to unleash a ghost army. In an effort to defeat the god-like being, the team reverses the unit’s capability to serve as a giant ghost trap, capturing Garraka.

In honor of the movie’s release, TheWrap spoke with Kenan to break down the various plot points of the sequel, including Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire‘s ending. When asked about how the old containment unit still works after being broken, the co-writer/director noted that the device is “a very imprecise tool“, and that its late-movie revival lines up with a key theme of the franchise as a whole. Check out what Kenan shared below:

We’re talking about a very imprecise tool for capturing decades’ worth of spirits. What is important, thematically and dramatically, is that we’ve got all these new trappings. We’ve got new tools, we’ve got this new containment unit, but there is at the heart of it an intrinsic value to this tool that is under-loved, under-appreciated, discounted as being past its expiration date, and you were ready for the shiniest, newest bit of technology.

But, like a lot of things in this world, it takes a sort of refocusing on what those core values are and what really matters. And an appreciation that sometimes these old stalwarts are actually the very thing that can help define the difference between success and failure. That containment unit is actually much more than just a hollow shell, it becomes a symbol for ghostbusting – its longevity, its permanence. And if you can get this thing to fire up one more time, then we might just stand a chance to keep telling these stories.

The Containment Unit’s Story Showed Frozen Empire Learned The Best Lesson From Afterlife

Though the movie has garnered a franchise-low Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 44%, some of the more positive reviews for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire have indicated that the sequel learned from some of the critiques levied at Afterlife. The devotion to fan service and nostalgia was generally well received by audiences, though were lamented by some as feeling like less of a way to expand the franchise than a way to draw longtime fans in.

Heading into Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire‘s story, however, it’s clear that Kenan and Reitman learned some of the lessons from the predecessor by better delivering both nostalgia and something new. The original cast members were given far bigger and impactful roles in the sequel than Afterlife‘s cameos, particularly Dan Aykroyd’s Ray and Ernie Hudson’s Winston, who featured across the new movie’s runtime. Even with smaller roles than their counterparts, Annie Potts’ Janine, Bill Murray’s Venkman and William Atherton’s Peck were generally meaningful inclusions.

The incorporation of the original containment unit is also a promising sign of how Kenan and Reitman are building out the franchise’s future beyond Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. By instituting a more meaningful exploration of iconic elements like the device while also serving as a launchpad for new villains and characters, the duo are slowly and effectively passing off the torch between the two generations of Ghostbusters while still honoring the legacy before them. With Frozen Empire‘s mid-credits scene setting up a similar continuation of this trend in a potential Ghostbusters 6, it will be interesting to see what comes next.

Source: TheWrap