I never caught the 2007 film Ghost Rider. I heard through the grapevine of it being a low point for recent Marvel comic book adaptations, that the flaming skull looked off, that Nicolas Cage was the wrong actor, etc. The follow up Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance initially struck me as appealing. Maybe a harder Ghost Rider would work. Maybe the abrasive signature style of the Neveldine/Taylor duo could separate this new installment from the predictable humdrum.
Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage), the Ghost Rider, has exiled himself to remote Eastern Europe in an attempt to control the ancient demon that resides within and unveils itself when confronted with evil. Moreau (Idris Elba with the worst French accent ever), a spiritual man, tells Blaze of a boy in the area who is being hunted because his mother made a deal with the devil much like Johnny himself had. If Johnny can keep the boy safe, Moreau will have his curse lifted.
The core story elements almost sound like Terminator 2, but a James Cameron film this is not. There’s a few animated sequences between breaks in action along with other comical inserts. Plenty of low angle rollerblading shots keep with the tradition of Neveldine/Taylor films such as Crank. Details on how monks are going to keep this boy save for a couple of days until some miscellaneous period passes go unexplored. This isn’t a movie looking to answer questions—this is simply a preamble for Marvel to build anticipation for its summer blockbuster Avengers.
Some of the effects are impressive. Again I don’t have the previous film cataloged for comparison, but in this viewer’s eyes the flaming skull and boiling jacket are very cool. The quirky mannerisms and behavior are less so. Sorry, but it’s just not appropriate for a hero to swivel like a lazy Susanne. During a high speed chase the Rider uses his chains to flip a car, which looked fine if not for the artificial dust stirred.
When the Ghost Rider demon isn’t summoned, that’s when Nicolas Cage has to improvise. Shaking down a guy for information becomes a vaudeville act. After you witness Cage’s face trying to oppress the demon, you’d just as rather it hurry up and take over.
It’s getting harder and harder to care for the characters that most Hollywood films are delivering, and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is no exception. It’s impossible to get any emotion stirred over this boy, the adults trying to protect him, or even Blaze himself. The Rider, though awkwardly eccentric, has the most personality and can hardly talk. *½
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