Possessed by a Spirit of Vengeance, Johnny Blaze transforms in the presence of Evil into the fiery headed, chain wielding, motorcycle riding Ghost Rider.
Let me begin by saying I hate the first Ghost Rider. As a kid, I loved reading Ghost Rider comics, especially the Spirit of Vengeance books, and I believe Ghost Rider 2099 deserved way more props and better treatment than it received.
Marvel missed the boat on the first movie; the story just did not click or resonate with the actual character or his origins.
On to 2012 and Marvel’s second attempt at a Ghost Rider movie; this time around, they recruited the co-directors of Crank, Crank 2, and, the greatly underrated, Gamer, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.
Reprising his role as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider is Nicolas Cage staring opposite Violante Placido (The American) and relative newcomer Fergus Riordan who play the mom and son Johnny must protect in order to remove his ‘curse’.
Idris Elba (Prometheus, The Losers) rounds out team good as the French alcoholic priest Moreau.
Ciarán Hinds (John Carter, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life) is Roarke, the Devil’s meat suit and Johnny Whitworth (Gamer, 3:10 to Yuma) as Ray Carrigan/Blackout.
Of note: there are cameos by Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy, Merlin (UK)) and Christopher Lambert (Highlander).
The script was written by Scott M. Gimple (FlashForward, The Walking Dead), Seth Hoffman (House, Flash Forward) and David S. Goyar (Blade Trilogy, The Crow: City of Angels).
With this group behind Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, I went into the theater with high hopes, knowing full well the pooch may have been screwed.
I liked Ghost rider 2. I like the highly stylized Crank movies and appreciate what the directors did here, stuck with Nicolas Cage; they turned his crazy loose on the possessed and on the verge of sanity Johnny Blaze to tremendous success.
That said, not everyone will like this film.
The script is a little weak and the fights seem a little naive when it comes to how to handle this character.
Filmed in Romania and Turkey they gave this film a definite ‘end of the world’ feel with sets devoid of any other traffic or, really, inhabitants other than the cast except for a couple of city/interior scenes. (I will say this, the roads they used for the film make the ones around my current city of residence look like the bombed out potholes they really are. Good on you Turkey and Romania!)
The horror aspect of Ghost Rider is amplified immensely from the first movie but it still borders on Marvel’s adaptation of The Omen; a little too ‘graphic novel’ for its own good, a little too close to Ang Lee’s Hulk.
Special effects-wise I the loved the look and feel of Ghost Rider and his vehicles; this aspect was nailed 100%.
The soundtrack was also entertaining, points for the 80’s music.
As you may well surmise from this, there is a reason Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is not, at the very least, the opening salvo of the Summer Movie Blockbuster season and was put in the much maligned ‘February Release’ slot.
Overall, fans of the comic book will be hit or miss on whether they like this film, really boils down to if they loved or hated Crank.
The casual moviegoer may not connect with this film but everyone should definitely rent it, especially when it hits the dollar kiosk and/or Netflix.
Everyone should be thankful Marvel listened to the fans and made an honest attempt for a better second movie.
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