Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Johnny Blaze, aka Ghost Rider, is now hiding out in remote Eastern Europe, struggling to repress his curse. Blaze is recruited by a sect to take on the devil, who wants to take over his mortal son’s body on the kid’s birthday.
Far superior to the first film. @MFC2TX
I saw this in the theatres. Unlike the first GR film, I didn't leave wanting my time and money back. I have been a fan of the comic book series and know a decent bit of the backstory and it thrilled me to see as much effort as was put into this version of the film as was left out (and utterly abandoned) in the first film. It created a complete 360 for the prospects of a GR franchise of movies. Several things still disappointed me about the film, many of which had to be continued because of where the first film carried the continuiuty, but I can live with adaptation for the sake of cohesion. Things I'd have liked to see that didn't make it were having Peter Fonda reprise his role as Mephisto, which was completely absorbed into Rourke, and Blackout (Kerrigan) getting more screen time while sticking closer to the original concept of the character from the comics (rotting was not what made him worthwhile). This movie more closely explores the "curse" aspect of the Ghost Rider, and brings in needed material for the continuation of a franchise event. Zarathos has strong implications for the future of this possibility. Character exploration was provided in greater depth and to greater effect. There were numerous corny visual puns and jokes that could have been left out. A serious gritty movie would be a far better direction for this series to take the action comedy angle, but directors and writers will have the last say in desicisons like that. Sadly, they don;t always make the best choice while trying to get their vision across on film.
A FUN, TRASHY SEQUEL AND NOTHING MORE @Broken Headphones
Nowadays, it seems like Nicolas Cage simply stars in movies to get a bewildered reaction from audiences. His over-acting is so bizarrely inept and unrelentingly goofy, it's as if we've almost come to expect his films to be as hammed-up and whacked-out as his performances. And that's exactly the case with "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance", a wildly misguided train wreck of a sequel that packs in every rotten cliché, bland line of dialogue and corny pun imaginable. Whether it's the ridiculous plot, the forgettable cast of characters or even the muddled CG effects, there's plenty to make fun of in this twisted, nonsensical B-movie experience. I'll admit that the action is surprisingly impressive in some scenes and Cage can be a real laugh riot when the moment calls for it, but other than that, this film doesn't do much to stand out from its equally loony predecessor. In fact, it's easy to see that the main reason a sequel to "Ghost Rider" was made in the first place was so that Cage could walk off with another easy paycheck. But nevertheless, I can't say that I was entirely disappointed with "Spirit of Vengeance". I expected to watch a totally mindless, hilariously over-the-top action-adventure, and that's exactly what I got. Personally, I felt it had the potential to achieve an even greater level of intentional cinematic awfulness, but it was a decent venture overall. At the end of the day, this is purely a guilty pleasure for fans of delightfully trashy popcorn flicks and nothing more. Unless you plan to fully shut your brain off and go along for the fast-paced madcap ride, don't bother purchasing it.
A step backwards @Sith Lord J
Taking out the best parts of the first movie Peter Fonda and Eva Medes and leaving in the bad parts Nic Cage acting half his age ( Ghost Rider is around 25 Cage is 45) and cheesy special effects make for a worse movie. Maybe this flop will convince the studio to sell the rights to Ghost Rider back to Marvel.
:( @Saunders502
I hated this film. Going in to it I did not realize it was a product of the same "filmmakers" that brought us "Crank", or as I call it, "Being Forced to Eat Farts with Your Eyes" . Now that I know this, I refer to this film as Crank 3: This Time I have Demon Powers. it sucked. it was stupid. These people should not be trusted with the responsibility of making a movie ever again. Not even porn. They couldn't even make a quality porno. This movie sucked. I award them no points. And may God have mercy on their souls.
The first one set the bar pretty low @tab12793
The first ghost rider movie was completely absent of any action and excitement, two things that marvel fans look for in superhero movies. Spirit of Vengence is more of an actiony gritty movie. There are a couple of cheesy scenes that could have been left out and the movie could've been a little longer and less slow as it builds up to the last third of the movie. Other than that, I think it's an improvement over the first one.