Ghost Rider - Spirito di vendetta

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.

The first Ghost Rider was already a disappointment – compared to other Marvel adaptations to the cinema, it was far under the average. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, however, is even worse. It didn't even look like a big Hollywood production – the special effects and the action sequences were sometimes absurd going to the ridiculous. It looked like a low budget film – a poor visual with only one or two exciting scenes - if I can call them exciting.

Then, there is the plot issue. Those 'blockbusters' are not supposed to have a story with philosophical meanings as they are made aiming pure entertainment, but this one actually didn't even have a story. It was totally redundant, silly and cliché – actually kind of ambiguous because the characters were not well explained or explored - things seemed too much up in the air leading the audience to nowhere.

Nicolas Cage also didn't help at all as he was not convincing on what he was doing. But, we can't put all the blame on him – the character was already badly written by the screenwriters who didn't know how to make him interesting. The Ghost Rider is not the conventional superhero – he has an obscure personality. So, where is this aspect on the story? Where is the true nature of the Marvel superheroes? In this film, there isn't any.

What surprises me most is the fact that this film coasted $75 million and no one knew how to make a good use of this big budget. It was a total waste of money and time – not only for the audience, but for the actors too. A superhero movie that promises more than it really has to offer. If you didn't like the first film, you'll probably hate this one.

Judging from the mood of the theater I was in, the consensus of this film was "...."

Yep, the pacing and storytelling of the film was so bad that it's actually hard to appreciate the plot, and even the action scenes. The otherwise simple plot becomes a task and even a bore to follow due to the bad editing and pace of the story. Things that are supposed to hit home through a joke, or a "Wow!" action scene, fail to do so either because you've gotten lost in all the distractions the film throws at you, or you just merely lost interest due to the lackluster story telling.

It's quite a shame in my opinion that there were many scenes that were supposed to evoke emotion, that just did not. It's hard to comprehend how these scenes fail, when in the back of your head, you actually know that in another occasion, that scene should've been really bad-ass, or really funny. Better editing and better character development would've made the movie easier to follow, and would've given meaning to all the great visuals and occasional funniness the film has.

Now how does it compare to the first? Dare I say Apples and Oranges? The first was coherent and easy to understand but way too cheesy and campy (lacked action too), while this one was heavy and slow with a lot of zany visuals and camera work. Both seem to want to achieve completely different results from an audience that it's actually difficult to say which one's better.

If you're looking for great eye-candy, and whack visuals, then Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance delivers. As a complete entertainment experience though, it falls flat.

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.

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.