Title: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)Original UK Release Date: 17th February 2012
Original US Release Date: 17th February 2012
UK Rating: 12
US Rating: PG-13
Directors: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Genre: Action/Fantasy
Plot: The Ghost Rider emerges from hiding when he is called upon to stop the devil taking a new younger body. In return the curse of the Ghost Rider will be lifted from him.
Mike's Review
The
first movie, Ghost Rider (2007) was met with
mixed reactions. Personally I really enjoyed it, but as I have said before, I
seem to like many movies that most other viewers don’t! I was looking forward
to this especially after seeing some of the videos about the making of this one.
There have been some great sequels to good comic book movies. i.e. Spider-Man
2, Blade 2 & The Dark Knight. Could this one pull it off? Or would all my
hopes be dashed?
The
film is about the devil trying to find his son so he can inhabit his body as
his current human form is breaking down. The Ghost Rider (Nicolas
Cage)
is called upon to protect the child and stop the devil.
Once
again Nicolas Cage plays the Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider.
Like the first film his love for the character comes across in the film. He portrays
just the right amount of crazy for the character. The remainder of the cast
including Ciarán Hinds, Idris
Elba,
Johnny Whitworth, Violante
Placido,
Fergus Riordan,
Christopher Lambert & Anthony
Head
are good. I was confused however about the small parts given to Christopher
Lambert
& Anthony Head, two great actors who
are very under used in this. While it’s good to have small cameos, if they had
been given more screen time I believe the film would have benefitted greatly
for it. Christopher Lambert stands out in this
film even though he has a small part. He would have been great if he had been
cast as the devil.
The
film is visually stunning, the effects of the Ghost Rider are incredible. His
flaming skull is amazing to see. However one thing was missing. For some reason
you never see the full transformation from Johnny Blaze to the Ghost Rider. You
see partial changes but not the whole transformation. Maybe it was cut in the
editing but it would have been great to see it.
The
way the film was shot was awesome. The director pulls off some incredible
camera work. Shots that you would believe were CG, however if you watch the
the making of you will see the way it was filmed. They are fearless in their
search for the perfect shot.
While
the direction was amazing in places, the film did manage to dash my hopes. The
storyline itself was flawed. This wasn’t a sequel or a reboot but a mix of both
when it needed to be clearly one or the other. There was no real back story for
a reboot and there were many inconsistencies for a direct sequel. As a fan of
the first film I felt I needed it to be clearly defined as to what it was. This
just didn’t manage to draw me in like the first. I didn’t connect with any of
the characters, not even the Ghost Rider. As much as I enjoyed some of the
direction other parts of it left me confused. There are strange cuts to
completely black with just the characters showing, if this was meant to be a
visual reference to the comic it didn’t work. There was no reason for the cuts
and I could have done without them.
The
directors were also the writers of this film. They were also the ones
responsible for the brilliant film Crank (2005), however the follow up also missed
the mark for me. Ghost
Rider: Spirit of Vengeance did the same. I don’t know if the
directors/writers aren’t great with sequels of if they were just trying too
hard.
While
this is fairly good, it isn’t a very good film. Without Nicolas
Cage
this wouldn’t work. He is the Ghost Rider and truly has made the character his
own, he just needs a better platform for it. The first one almost hit the mark
but this one missed even further. Hopefully one day we will get a great Ghost
Rider film.
So
while my hopes were dashed for a great sequel, I got a fairly enjoyable movie,
just not the one I was hoping for.
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