Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is meh. It is the most meh movie I have seen this year. It is not a bad movie either, just painfully meh. There was zero hype for this movie before and after it came out.

One might say this is a potential franchise killer, but if the franchise survived the 2016 version, this is not too bad.

I do not have much to say here because the movie is not giving me much to work with in terms of talking about it. My engagement in writing this is very tricky.

The performances are fine, the characters are there, the storyline is serviceable for a Ghostbusters movie, and the visual effects are decent.

However, Bill Murray’s 'involvement' here is the most amusing aspect, and it does not have to do with writing or how his character is part of the film, but how transparent it is that Murray could not care less even if you paid extra. He does not say or do anything hilarious, just Murray not caring, and he does not hide it makes his scenes unintentionally funny.

Speaking of which, the original four cast members return once again, with Dr. Peter Venkman (Murray), Dr. Raymond Ray Stantz (Aykroyd), Dr. Winston (Hudson), and Janine Melnitz (Potts). On paper, it may be exciting to see familiar faces from our beloved movie return once again and recapture the glory days. But watching it unfold on screen, I got the opposite effect. I was instead asking myself, “What are we doing here? Are we still doing this 40 years later?”

The original 1984 film was never designed to be an epic franchise. It is a clever comedy about four hack frauds trying to run a business catching Ghosts and being so out of their depth with the supernatural. It is the lighting in a bottle film. That is the reason why the follow-ups did not work. Lighting striking twice is rare. Sometimes, it does. Sometimes, it doesn't.

I do not know what the future holds for this franchise. Is it finished for good? No, because, in Hollywood, nothing is truly dead or over.