In Spirit of Vengeance, Blaze still struggles with his demonic side while hiding out in Eastern Europe. But he is soon called upon by a holy man called Moreau (Idris Elba) to stop the Devil – Roarke (Ciarán Hinds) – and save a young boy’s soul, as Beelzebub tries to take human form in the child.
The visual trickery and nothing else is what animates and drags this weak storyline to the bitter end. The 3D is present in sporadic amounts, but is ironically needed to divert attention away from the rather daft script. Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor’s visual stunts do not disappoint though, especially when Ghost Rider and his gun-toting nemesis Ray Carrigan (Johnny Whitworth) start stirring up trouble. Fans will be pleased to hear the Ghost Rider skull effects are also far neater and more sinister in this film than before, complete with blistering leather biker jacket effects that are altogether grungier. However, it’s a long way off ‘scary’ as such.
The clincher of all the chaotic actions scenes is actually Ghost Rider ‘relieving’ himself with a devilish aplomb that has carefree, eccentric, (borderline) deranged Cage written all over it and deservedly gets a big laugh. Cage knows this story’s flaws but in admirable defiance he positions Blaze as the equally flawed and naturally likeable rogue anti-hero, evidently having a blast along the way in some scenes straight out of a latter-day Mad Max road movie. In fact, all else is pretty unremarkable as the film goes on, even with the added presence of a contacts-enhanced Elba and facially compromised Hinds as the Devil soon-to-be incarnate.
Still, with plenty of goggle-eyed Cage/Blaze warped effects on tap, and Cage gurning if he’s not trying to control his simmering insanity in the more meaningful moments with mother and child, what more does this silly series need? Better bike effects for starters from those in the sound department who need a lesson in the difference between four- and two-cylinders, especially as Blaze/Ghost Rider is a biker at heart.
[Rating:3/5]
This movie absolutely sucks. They didn’t stick with the storyline from the first movie, so I wouldn’t call this movie a sequel, instead I would call it someone’s lame interpertation of the Ghost Rider series. It would have been nice if the writers and directors had stuck to what happens in the comic books. And I’m honestly surprised that Stan Lee actually let this much artistic licsense into this movie. The 3D effects were hardly noticeable and were only used to take your attention away from the lame storyline. Nicholas Cage should have refused to do this movie, since he was the only person from the first movie. Yep, they didn’t keep any of the same characters. They changed the devil, both the actor and the devil’s name, his love interest Roxanne is no longer in the film, in fact she isn’t even mentioned. Blaze says his dad was at peace with his cancer but in the first film he doesn’t even tell his son till he finds out the cancer is already gone because of what the devil (Peter Fonda) does. His awesome bike Grace and his cool spiked jacket are no longer by his side. And he doesn’t even want the Ghost Riders power anymore! In the first movie he refueses to give the powers back, but in the sequel he can’t wait to get rid of them. The Rider himself doesn’t even look the same, and neither are his powers. Remember the penance stare? Well he doesn’t use it anymore. So far I think the only thing they kept the same was with the match. In the first movie when Blaze is arrested the cop pulls out a lighter and the flame extends towards Blaze, same thing happens in the second one when someone lights a match. The Ghost Rider also still uses his big chain, but instead in the sequel it exstends to great lengths. And they made the Ghost Rider insane, as in mentally insane. Blaze can’t even control the Riders powers while in human form anymore. And in the first movie the Rider gets shot by cops when tries to approach Roxanne and all he does is make the cars explode and he is in complete control of the Rider, in the second one he swallows bullets and re-fires them and has no control over the Rider. They also write into the story that the Devil has a human son by the name of Danny, even though the Devils son is the demon Blackheart according to the first movie. Also in the first flim Slade (another Ghost Rider) says that Blaze made the deal for the right reason, love. But in this film Blaze says he made the deal because he wasn’t ready for his father to leave the Earth. Overall this film was horrible and poorly put together, the acting sucked and the 3D effects were pointless. Don’t waste your money on this movie.
Too different. And the beginning was awful. The comic book looking interpretatio of how he sold his soul was embarrassing. Story line was all over the place. The acting was horrible and very obvious that cage wanted little to do with the sequel. Poor. And with the rising prices to see it it was not worth even half the 23 dollar price (if your seeing it with a date)
I todly agree with u, it s was for me so far the worse movie of 2012!!!honestly nicolas cage is dead to me every recent movie he made are pain in the ass to watch
I just got to see this movie yesterday (I don’t get out much), and this movie was awful. The story wasn’t engaging, at all. The visual effects were only passable, but nothing amazing.
It basically felt as though the creative team were surprised they got to work on the property, and then had no idea of what to do.
All in all, I’d say this was a 3 out of 10.