Ghost Rider 2 : L'Esprit de vengeance

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.

Well, the previews certainly looked great. But the actually movie, well, wasn't very interesting, just a bunch of noise and flames and explosions. I guess if you don't like the story you just cannot like ANY movie really. I thought Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance would be enjoyable because I enjoyed Transformers in 3D also, with all of its special effects, but I appreciated more about the cartoon transformers. Plus OK it was a better movie. Anyway,about 45 minutes into this I was getting really bored and actually thought we had entered the three hour mark!!. I then thought to myself "is this ever going to end?" Basically, at that point it got boring. So get popcorn after about an hour. Nick Cage acted pretty well in it, though, but the other actors weren't much to watch, except for the black guy who appears in the first scene (dont know his name). In the end, no amount of great acting could have saved this crap. Again I wish I could get that 2 hours back from my life. I should have gone to see George Lucas' Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace. At least I knew what I would have gotten to see a good story in that one. Also $14.50 for this 3D movie was way way way too much. I wont even see it at the $2 movie. Heck, I wont even rent it on video for $1.29 when it comes out on blue ray. I'm going to burn my memory of last night.

Don't see.

Spirit Of Vengeance ignites onto the screen in a mass of blazing carnage and sizzling hot 3D visual effects. Packed with some of the most random and craziest images you'll ever see, Ghost Rider 2 will mess with your head. It's great to see Nicolas Cage go mental in his roles, he actually goes insane and you can tell that by the look in his eyes. This time Johnny Blaze is on a mission to save a boy from the devil. The story is basic and needs some more development but the 3D and action totally make up where the story doesn't. The Ghost Rider takes control of several vehicles and tears up location after location, one scene includes a giant quarry digger that sets aflame and starts crushing bad guys and blowing stuff up taking down multiple enemies, and he also takes on a whole motorway full of the Devil's right hand men which ends up in more destruction. Spirit Of Vengeance shows what 3D can do at it's best alongside the wild camera-work from Neveldine and Taylor. Glass shatters, flames and cinders float out the screen in extreme force. It's miles better than the first, Spirit Of Vengeance works due to the choppy camera-work, fiery visuals, Nic Cage and some wild 3D.

if you don't take the movie as seriously as nic cage did, you'll probably have a mind-less, enjoyable ride. not too campy, and strong supporting acting, unique cgi and dedication to honesty of the exterior of the rider's character are all factors that save this film.

in 3D, it's wonderful. nicolas cage has jumped from a-list movie star to internationally famous cult star. he chooses movies and characters that are so off-beat they seem put off and "too much," but he just entertains. in this movie, he has funny moments that breach into the cooky, icon mode - receiving light applause and laughter from the audience.

if you bring a date, you might want to end the night with heavy drinking in a pub, after this movie.

enjoy the entertainment.

The biggest problem of the first Ghost Rider movie is it doesn't have enough riding, no action, and it focuses more to the romance between Johnny Blaze and Roxanne. Which isn't really the main appeal. In this film, it gets focused to the plot. Unfortunately, the story is weak and the script has its awkwardness scattered. Thankfully, there's Nicolas Cage who's spicing things up with his crazy insane performance. This is probably one of his craziest performance since Bad Lieutenant. Also, there's the Crank directors, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, using their shaky camera and directing style. It fits to the film. Some people may be disappointed but if you're in for some crazy Nicolas Cage and some crazy action then you're going to enjoy this.

It doesn't look like a sequel though. The flashback of Johnny Blaze's deal is different from the first movie. The only thing that stays here is Nicolas Cage. Everything else is new. Well, the story is pretty weak. The plot is little. The whole film is just chasing and protecting a boy. But chasing is what's best in a Ghost Rider film. More riding and less brooding. Though, there are some brooding but mostly is riding. But stories are still important in films and that is the main flaw of this. The script is awkward. With awkward dialogue and awkward moments.

The best parts goes to Nicolas Cage. This may not be the same performance from the first film but this new Blaze is more entertaining and ridiculously hilarious. With more ridiculous is the directing. Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor uses a lot of their trademarks and gives plenty of insanity in some scenes. There's a perfect chemistry between their directing and Nicolas Cage's rage. Feels like it's one of the trippiest films I have ever seen. The action is quite ridiculous. With its well shot shaky camera and its non-stop booming. These things feels right for this film. Yes, flaming awesome and disintegrating bad guys. Do the most ridiculous things with the power.

Aside from Cage, Idris Elba and John Whitworth are both fun and awesome. Ciarán Hinds is like Danny Houston. Even in the single glance, you know he could be a dangerous bad guy. And here, he is a threatening one. The CGI is obvious. The new skull design of Ghost Rider looks more awesome than the first one. The camera is shaky but it's well shot and made the action more exciting even in 2D.

Some people might get disappointed if they expect something bigger. But the action is bigger but the plot is just little. The people who likes Nicolas Cage and Neveldine/Taylor will enjoy this a lot. Or someone who wants to see something ridiculously insane. It's hard to take this film so seriously. It's just hilarious and fun. Let me say that it's a crazy version of last year's Priest but with better action scenes and there's a nut main hero than a bland one. It's short, it's dumb, but has its enjoyment. There's an easy advice to watch this film: Watch it for Nicolas Cage.