Pietro's Movie Review: GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE

Nicolas Cage once again portrays Marvel Comics' flame-head in the not-really anticipated sequel to the poorly received 2007 film Ghost Rider. Unfortunately, while the sequel ups the ante on stylized action it takes two massive steps back in regards to story and characterization; so much so I found this film to be a detriment to the franchise's possible future.

Crank directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are at the helm of this follow up, which finds the Ghost Rider's alter ego Johnny Blaze hiding away in Eastern Europe in an effort to forget his devilish responsibilities as the Spirit of Vengeance (which in and of itself I understand is a hard premise for general audiences to comprehend, since most people expect God to create a vengeance seeker against evil doers and not the Devil). Enter a secretive group of monks lead my Moreau (Idris Elba) who tell Blaze that they can rid him of his Rider curse if he protects a young boy from the Devil (a shockingly mundane portrayal by Tinker Tailor's Ciarán Hinds).

The film is a reboot/sequel in vein of Marvel Studios' The Incredible Hulk continuing of Universal's Hulk (except instead of recasting, the lead here is the same). Even the opening montage that retells the character's origin story was reshot in an uber-stylized fashion. We're also treated to Neveldine and Taylor's strange sardonic humor right off the bat as images of "evil" figureheads flash on screen, ending with Jerry Springer. While their inner circle type jokes flourish throughout, their edgy technique which was most prevalent in Crank seemed to be replaced by a bare-bones and uninteresting story; capping off with a completely formulaic end battle. I can deal with style over substance films, but this is not the case here as the style of Spirit of Vengeance only takes up about 20% of screen time while a poorly executed plot and awful dialogue make up the majority.

The most enjoyable parts of the film are seeing the obviously-too-old-to-play-the-part Nic Cage tap into his eclectic acting panache, which could have added more life to the dreary first installment. But this sometimes feels fake, like Cage is playing a parody of himself he thinks audiences expectt. Still, it's nice to see him channel the crazy -- albeit phoned in. Secondly, the first time the Rider is unleashed upon a swarm of goons is flat out the best part of the whole project. This action scene lends itself well to the directing duo's hand held camera filming style, very nicely combined with standard issue wide angle and slow motion beats. The dirtied and burnt visual effects accentuated on the Rider, though not as comic book accurate as the white skull character shown in the first film, look much better here. Sadly these two things aren't worth sitting through an hour and a half movie for. Even supporting characters played by Johnny Whitworth and Violante Placido are instantly forgettable and easily dwarfed by 80's action icon Christopher Lambert's brief cameo.

While I don't consider Spirit of Vengeance an unwatchable film (i.e. Human Centipede II) is it unnecessarily boring and for the most part devoid of cinematic entertainment; a sorry conclusion considering you the mix of a crazy actor, crazier directors and a fantastical premise consisting of blazing fire, Satan, machine guns and motorcycles. What's most disappointing is that I really liked the three ADHD riddled action romps these two directors have previously released, Crank, Crank: High Voltage, Gamer, and hoped they would bring the same high-octane energy to this defunct property. Again, unfortunately they didn't. Even being a closeted fan of Cage's most oddball performances didn't help me enjoy this nearly as much as watching "Best of Nic Cage" YouTube videos. If I'm ever faced with the forcible option, I'd watch the tamer 2007 Ghost Rider film over it's spastic sequel.