MercMatt Reviews Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

MercMatt Reviews Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Has Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor kicked off 2012, the year of comic book movies, with a bang...or a bust? Click to find out my thoughts on Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

Review Opinion
By MercMatt - Feb 17, 2012 07:02 PM EST
Filed Under: Ghost Rider



I just now got back from watching Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and have decided to try my hand at a review of the movie. Spoiler free, might I add?
Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the guys that brought us the Crank films, helmed 2012's return of our flaming-skulled antihero. Did they do a good job? Yes and no. Mostly no. But here's why"

This movie is kind of hit and miss throughout...And then more miss. I went into this movie, purposely, with very high hopes, knowing I'd be let down. But the parts that let me down weren't what I thought they'd be.

Now to get this out there... I am a Nic Cage fan. I've always enjoyed his acting. Aside from a few of his roles, and was looking forward to seeing how he'd step it up in this sequel? Well...he didn't really step it up. His Johnny Blaze was far different from his portrayal in the first film, and just a bit(a lot) on the worst side. He seemed to portray Johnny Blaze as a crackhead. It was off-putting and just unnecessary. As much as I love Cage, his overacting in this film rivaled Jim Carries in all of his films. And that is saying something. To say this portrayal was dull is truly an understatement.

In the first film, I could kind of buy him as Johnny Blaze. But this time around, he just seemed like an addict, looking to bully people for drugs.
When we see his portrayal as Ghost Rider, the special effects are spot on and very visually brilliant, imo. I enjoyed every scene with Ghost Rider in it. However... There are parts to his GR performance that really, and I'm bringing up a Jim Carrey reference again, seemed very much like the Ghost of Christmas Past, from Jim Carrey's Christmas Carol. You could tell he channeled his snake companion as influence for his performance, and it did not pay off. But GR was still very menacing most of the time, and I enjoyed every scene with him in it. As I said before. The quarry scene stands out as a very good scene. But it is over way to quickly.

Idris Elba does make good from what little he's given, and A little more backstory to Moreau would have been nice. Ciarin Hines was just dull, and left you wishing Peter Fonda had come back for the sequel.

Blackout was just terrible. I didn't think that Blackheart could be beaten in the lousy villain awards for GR films, but it happened. I would have preferred Johnny Whitworth to remain as Carrigan, rather than become a terrible Blackout.
Violante Placido is beautiful, and like Elba, did the best she could with what she had. Fergus Riordan is forgettable as Danny, and Christopher Lambert's small role wasn't enough to really judge his performance.

All in all, I say the action scenes were done very well, and I enjoyed that part of the movie. The story between wasn't anything other than flat, and the plot was just nothing to praise. We got another Ghost Rider movie with even less intimidating villains, and even worse acting/story.

I'm glad I saw the movie in theaters, if for nothing more than the need to say I saw it, and I'm guessing that Marvel will eventually get the rights back. (crosses fingers)

2012, the year of the CBM has indeed started. Just not with the "BANG" we were hoping for.

I rate Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 5 out of 10. But only because I did enjoy the action scenes. Cheers!
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scmittydude
scmittydude - 2/18/2012, 9:59 PM
If you're scared to see it cause of some lame ass reviews by people who don't understand crank. Form your own opinion and go see this movie
MercMatt
MercMatt - 2/18/2012, 10:32 PM
Both Crank films were great, imo. But that formula was far from needed for a Ghost Rider film.
JasonCYates
JasonCYates - 2/19/2012, 9:44 PM
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!! I wasn't expecting MACBETH, but the story doesn't resolve anything for BLAZE, He agrees to help retrieve the Boy (Danny) that Rourke (the Devil) is after, because he is promised that his curse will be lifted, which it is, and in an awfully plain way I must add. After that he still stays involved? Why? what the Hell does he think he can do, and why does he care about this boy and his Mother, he just met them like a day ago, then Danny discovers he has the powers of the Devil, which apparently he had to be told this before he could use them, and does so by giving Blaze his curse back to defeat Rourke, w/o even asking, so it's not like Blaze sacrifices his humanity for the greater good, it's just thrust back upon him with some changes. If the kid has the powers of the Devil, why doesn't he defeat the bad guys himself, why would he give Blaze back the one thing he spent the entire movie stating he does not want? Then Blaze is OK with it because now apparently he can feel the angel ZARATHOS, the Rider once was, upon him? Granted now he has more control over it and can change day or night and has some kinda healing/resurrection gift, but in the end he's only slightly better off than when he started. I wish the kid had turned all the power back on the Devil to send him to Hell, fighting fire with fire, and kept the Ghost Rider curse for himself, since he seems to like THE RIDER, and in another movie he is played by a teen actor and takes over for Blaze, which would have been a more satisfying resolution. Then they could be preparing for a MIDNIGHT SONS film
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