Review of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011) by Jack F — 19 Apr 2013

Comic book movies are a dime a dozen these days. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as the genre has produced some wonderful gems (Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy and the Marvel ensemble "The Avengers" are two recent examples of this). However, there have also been some rather forgettable entries, and 2007's "Ghost Rider" falls squarely into this category. It had some big names (Peter Fonda, Eva Mendes, Sam Elliott, and Nicolas Cage in the title role) and decent special effects, but it was ultimately done in by a weak plot and some terrible villains. Evidently Hollywood didn't feel the same way, as here we are five years later with "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance." And, perhaps not surprisingly, it's even lamer than the original.

I've often defended Nic Cage as an actor, but I'm hard-pressed to defend the movies he's been acting in lately. I know that he's in some dire financial straits, but even considering that, he's on quite the losing streak. A good film crops up every now and again--Werner Herzog's "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" comes to mind--but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Even in the turkeys, Cage is usually interesting to watch, but most of the time that's just not enough.

Example: in "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance," there's a scene in which Cage's character, former motorcycle stunt rider Johnny Blaze, is desperately trying to keep his alter ego, the fearsome Ghost Rider, in check. You see, like the Incredible Hulk, the Ghost Rider is buried deep within the protagonist's psyche, and once unleashed, our hero has very little control over his other persona. The Ghost Rider is a sort of bounty hunter for the damned; he feeds on evil people's souls, so when Johnny is in the presence of evil, he has to constantly fight the urge to transform into the Rider. Why does he fight it? Because the Rider doesn't really see things in shades of gray; whether you're a truly evil person or just a casual everyday sinner, chances are pretty good the Rider is going to come for you. No soul is safe, as it were.

Cage has always excelled at portraying inner turmoil. He's a sweaty, twitching mess in this scene, like a drug addict severely jonesing for a fix, and he uses this to scare an informant into giving up crucial information. As I stated above, it's a fun scene to watch, but it doesn't add up to anything. In a good film, like the aforementioned "Bad Lieutenant," Cage's madness serves as a supplement to the story; it's in the service of something bigger, just another cog in the machine. In lesser films though, it comes off more as a distraction, as if the filmmakers are hoping that Cage's antics will draw attention away from the movie's shortcomings.

On to the plot. Since the events of the first movie, Johnny Blaze has gone into hiding in Eastern Europe. One day he's visited by a French priest named Moreau (Idris Elba), who has a proposition for him: assist him in finding and protecting a special young boy, and Moreau's fellow clergymen will lift the Ghost Rider curse from Johnny's life forever. I'm not exactly sure how Moreau knew where to find Johnny, but whatever. The boy, named Danny, is being sought by the Devil (Ciaran Hinds, replacing Peter Fonda from the earlier film) for nefarious purposes, so it's a race against time to see who gets to him first. Mayhem ensues.

I could say the story is cheesy and derivative, but for a movie entitled "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance," that kind of goes with the territory. The bigger offense is that the movie is really rather tedious and dull. The Ghost Rider is basically impervious to harm, so there's never any sense that he's in danger, not even when the villain opposing him is the friggin' Devil himself. We've got machine guns, grenade launchers, car chases, and even flaming construction equipment, yet somehow it all just seems so lame and uninteresting. Despite Cage's best efforts, I just couldn't get involved in Johnny's plight. I couldn't in the first film, and I couldn't here either.

It doesn't help that the movie also seems determined to interject moments of humor to the proceedings...or to be more accurate, I should say "attempts at humor." You may recall that I previously praised "The Avengers" for not taking itself too seriously; in that far superior film, the humorous moments worked. They felt natural. Here, though, they seem to come out of nowhere, and again, it feels like the filmmakers are trying to distract us. The main problem is that these moments are really not funny; they're just weird. Weird and out-of-place.

Oh, and another thing... the CGI this time around is pretty bad.

Overall, "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" is a very weak entry to the comic book genre. Apart from Cage and Idris Elba--who also gives the movie far more effort than it deserves--there really isn't anything worth seeing here. There was absolutely no need for a "Ghost Rider" sequel, and hopefully Hollywood has realized that now and is not making any plans to produce a third movie...though I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.