Ghost Rider - Spirito di vendetta

First of all I have to say that I wasn't particularly much of a fan of the first "Ghost Rider" movie, and much less fan of Nicolas Cage. But still, I decided to sit down and watch "Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance" of out sheer boredom.

Let it be said that "Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance" is actually much better than the first movie. There is a much darker touch and feel to part 2. The movie is more brutal and visual, and you get to see a more violent side to the rider.

Storywise, well then I think the movie was halting, because it was a sort of a weird hybrid mix of "Ghost Rider" and "Rosemary's Baby". It wasn't bad, don't get me wrong, however, it was just something of a cliché. Nothing surprisingly new or inventive here.

The effects and CGI though, were top notch. I liked what I saw and I was thoroughly entertained. I especially like the pyrotechnics and the smoke effects.

"Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance" had a good enough group of actors together. However, in my opinion, the movie was carried by Idris Elba (playing Moreau) and Johnny Whitworth (playing Ray Carrigan). What happened to the Ray character was really awesome. I am not familiar with the "Ghost Rider" comic books, so I have no idea whether or not that character is from the pages, but he was still cool and had really interesting powers.

For a Marvel movie, then "Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance" was actually a surprise for me. Especially because I am not too keen on men in spandex tights running around with super powers. "Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance" was darker, grittier and for a more mature audience.

One thing that I just had to shake my head in disbelief at was the in-you-face-lame raised finger morals with the "an illegal download" and the "crime doesn't pay" comments in the movie. Wow, could it get any more of a cliché? The "illegal download" comment was funny though, but it was not really at place in the intro.

Even though this film was intentionally suppose to be mindlessly entertaining, it is misguided in its attempt. There is some good action and some over-the-top Nicolas Cage but there is piss poor character development, storytelling and handling of villain(s). You don't have to dumb down a film completely for it to be entertaining and you piss off comic book fans as a result because of this film existing. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance might entertain you if you're high or drunk but if you want good entertainment go watch The Avengers instead.

Wow, this movie was pretty bad. I have to say, as a general Marvel fanboy I usually find some way to enjoy even the worst of their offerings. However, there are so few redeeming qualities about "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" it becomes hard to watch. Most of the time the movie actually feels like a fan film. The tone is uneven, the camera work is strange, and most of the movie fails to mesh together. It's a shame because the first movie is decent.

Okay, I'm a Nic Cage fanboy. Let's get that out of the way. I'll watch anything the guy does no matter how terrible the reviews are, and sometimes I'll be pleasantly surprised, as was the case with "Seeking Justice", "Drive Angry", and "Kiss of Death". The guy has some hidden gems in his career. Is Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance one of them? Hell no.

The first Ghost Rider was campy and stupid, but it was a watchable popcorn action movie and it had Eva Mendes (hence, watchable). Spirit of Vengeance is just stupid. Everything about it is stupid. No part of this movie is fleshed out and none of it is interesting. It throws you right into the action with no exposition. It's just a bunch of things happening on screen oozing with CGI to make up for the complete lack of substance. You can tell this is the same guy that directed Crank: the difference is that movie didn't need any substance because the premise was so fun. This movie just pisses on Ghost Rider's origin (literally) and expects you to enjoy watching sh*t blow up for the sake of sh*t blowing up. The writing in this movie is especially horrendous; did they hire a 10 year old to do the screenplay? It sure as hell seems like it.

So you may be asking yourself, "why give it a 4/10 if it's so awful?" Well, I'm a sucker for laughably bad movies and this definitely qualifies. I mean, the dialogue alone tries to take itself seriously but ends up providing really good unintentional laughs. But I'll be fair, not all of this movie sucks.

Nicolas Cage is always enjoyable to watch. You can tell he's invested in the role, and his dedication really holds this movie together. Idris Elba is also in this movie for some reason and he's great in anything, even if his character is completely throwaway. The other acting is serviceable I guess. You can't really blame any actors here because it's obvious the filmmakers wanted it to be a massive CGI-fest with stupid dialogue to lead action sequence A to action sequence B. To their credit, the CGI in this movie is pretty cool. Ghost Rider looks badass, the visuals in the big set pieces are nice to look at, and if you have no interest in the story you can definitely shut your brain off and enjoy the insanity happening on screen.

So in a nutshell, you don't need to see this movie. You really don't. Not even the great Nicolas Cage is enough to hold this piece of trash together. But if you're really stoned or just want to see cool sh*t on screen for an hour and a half and there's literally nothing else to watch, go ahead and knock yourself out with Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. You may find a new B-movie comedy classic.

You will have fun watching this movie, as a crazy fella than a normal movie critic trying to find what's wrong with this movie. The camera shot was amazing, Nicolas Cage's acting was at its best. The movie really shows that he cannot control the Rider inside him, and when its unleashed! Its mayhem! No body can stop him, even the devil himself. The recap of the story its very well said. This is not a direct squeal to the first one. But half squeal, the movie shows the rider is dark and not friendly. The way he fights is totally crazy. He fights more like a devil than human like in the first movie. The Red One Camera looks great. A treat for the eyes, then the cheeky-type of humor in it was good to laugh at also.

Even though the characters does not have much development, the feeling was not there.. It was missing something, but when Blaze turns into the rider everything changes. Especially the sound given by the bike or something before he arrives was totally epic. This Ghost Rider is something I did not expect, a story to be told differently to show that there is good in the rider. You will see what will happen in the movie if you watch. Even the devil will say to Blaze, this is the worst contract that I made. The devil, rider all are shown like real life like. That the move in the form of human rather than just disappearing away. Blaze wants to be a free man, the drunken monk wants to save the world from devil. The mom wants to save her son. So All you need is action from the first scene.

Personally I loved this film, I even went to change into a rider my self after watching this movie. But just that I can't do it. If you looking for craziness, abit of humor and great camera work this is the movie you should watch. Critics are gonna hate this movie. But people like me love it! So I am giving it 10/10