Review of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011) by Cameron J — 11 Jan 2013

Man, Neveldine/Taylor are so bent on cooling up this franchise that they were so far as to make Ghost Rider's skull black, so you know this is gonna get hardcore, or at least until you actually see the film and end up finding that the black-skulled man just can't catch a break. Shoot, if anyone can't catch a break, then it's, well, Nicolas Cage (Come on, Nick), as well as Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor when it comes to superhero films about vengeance seekers with burnt faces and godless powers. Granted, I liked "Jonah Hex" just fine, but this film is making me think back to when I said that Neveldine/Taylor should probably stick to directing, and conclude that they should, in fact, just do their own writing and directing, because they don't appear to be entirely certain of what to do when working with someone else's "script", or whatever document it is that they usually use to simulate something of a plot structure. Now that I think about it, if this film reminded me of nothing else, then it was of the slow spells in "Gamer", as this film, surprisingly, isn't too much livlier than Neveldine/Taylor's last film. You would think that a film that features Nicolas Cage as a stunt motorcyclist with powers bestowed upon him by Satan, and is directed by borderline masters of neo-exploitation wouldn't be slow, and yet, lo and behold, I present to you a film that is a bit lacking in the fun within campiness that save the original "Ghost Rider" for a plummet into contempt. No, this film isn't really that dull... on occasions, but make no mistake, when things aren't sloppy, they're way too steady for their own good. Still, while this film messily disappoints as a "thriller", this film goes saved from a plummet into contempt by many a chain of fizzle's going broken up by a couple of undeniable flares, particularly those of a technical nature.

Nearly all of the visual effects of 2007's "Ghost Rider" were well-concieved, but when it came down to the bringing of those conceptually promising effects to life, while there were some strong final renderings, most effects fell flat in execution, whereas the visual effects of this film deliver consistently, not just in concept, but in executions that dazzle in their lack of seams and richness in dynamic slickness, thus making this film remarkable as, if nothing else, an effects piece, or at least a technical piece, as Brian Berdan's editing also gets to be pretty upstanding, particularly when really played up as a supplement to a certain other area in which this film genuinely accels, or at least up to a point. Neveldine/Taylor's style is distinctly great and all, but has had a history of going a bit too far in just about every Neveldine/Taylor effort, with this film being anything but an exception, as there come occasions in which technical and storytelling stylistic choices go quite a ways over the top in their near-surrealistic flashiness and freneticism, to the point of sparking cheesiness. Still, on the whole, the stylistic choices all but fall over the entirety of this film, hit hard in their dynamic livliness, brought to life by Neveldine/Taylor's fabulously clever camerawork, which proves dizzingly dazzling in its immersive slickness, complimented by Brandon Trost's strikingly detailed and, at times, lovely cinematographic touches, and adds a lot of color that adds to this film's survival from contempt, especially when action hits the scene. I've praised this film's technicality quite a bit, even though said technicality is behind a mess of a final product, so I'd imagine it hardly comes as a surprise that the moments in which technical and stylistic value come together in the heat of battle are where this film truly shines, delivering upstanding action staging that, when backed up by Neveldine/Taylor's, well, brilliant taste in style and technicality, deliver thorough thrills that this film probably doesn't deserve. If nothing else, this film improves upon its predecessor's technicality considerably, though it's not like glimpses of what this film could have been rest only in particularly stylish moments, because with all of their missteps and being held back by a faulty script, directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor will find moments in which they truly deliver on what should have always been delivered in a "Ghost Rider" film, whether it be the effective capturing the Ghost Rider's presence as a brutal being of power and terror, or simply engaging fun. Moments such as the ones in question are rare, but they are here, and reward the patient with a taste of the visceral thrills that I expected from a Neveldine/Taylor interpretation of the actually somewhat promising "Ghost Rider" mythology. Still, on the whole, while this film doesn't exactly try patience, it's anything but rewarding, meeting occasions of what could have - nay - should have been with many a misguided misstep that nearly destroys this film and certainly leaves you to meditate upon how this film's story is a mess even in concept.

I have actually heard this film's story described, by one of my favorite critics, as so beyond generic that it doesn't even deserve to be called generic, and really, I wouldn't consider this film's story concept so trite that it's glaringly unnerving, though make no bones about it, this David S. Goyer plot idea, however thin it may be, is consistently conventional, collapsing into trope after trope, and, along the way, establishing predictability that dilutes intrigue, not in the least bit helped by a script that truly marks this film's downfall. There are actually quite a few talented filmmakers behind this project who could have crafted a decent film, yet what you ultimately end up with is a testament to how much a promising project can be undercut by a shoddy script, as Scott Gimple, Seth Hoffman and David S. Goyer essentially ruin this film by turning in a messy screenplay that can't even get humor right, underusing comic relief to the point of creating awkwardly jarring tonal unevenness whenever humor is, in fact, incorporated, and making things all the worse by making the actual humor hardly worth the wait, delivering many a familiar, bland and altogether fall-flat joke. These fall-flat jokes are few in number, but only because the number of actual attempts at jokes are slim, meaning that every piece of humor in this film proves to be a particular height in the dialogue and set piece faultiness, which goes brought more to attention by certain performances, because even though inadequate acting is, regardless of what some say, somewhat rare in this film, with Idris Elba stealing the show with near-glowing charm as a noble yet expertly combative man of God and France (I don't know what's more far-fetched, a priest with exploitation-level firearm combat competence [It must be Neveldine/Taylor's tribute to their buddy from "Gamer", Gerard Butler, the other machine-gun preacher], or a black Frenchman; it took me long enough to get used to black Englishmen), when performances fault, they're missteps are glaring, particularly those of a person who I, at least, would expect better from. People poke their share of fun at Nicolas Cage for his recent tastes in roles and often playing the same kind of smooth, when not over-the-top dude, but really, there's no denying that Cage has, at least in the past, proven himself to be a strong actor time and again, and is even now continuing to charm in quite a few films, including this film's predecessor, which he helps greatly in saving with his charisma, but with this film, while he gets a reasonable grip on things at quite a few times, Cage really messes up, turning in moments of embarassing overacting and moments of all-out woodenness as particularly extremes in line deliveries that are all too often awkwardly distant, thus making for a weak lead performance and Nicolas Cage performance whose being a slip-up ever so unfortunately cannot be ignored. Cage has his moments, and in those moments, at least I was reminded of what made Johnny Blaze a saving grace in Mark Seven Johnson's original "Ghost Rider", Cage makes Blaze a fall-flat lead, or at least doesn't help in making Blaze a fall-flat lead, as Blaze, like most everyone else in this film, suffers from a lack of flesh-out, an offshoot from this film's script's definitive flaw: uneven story structuring that drive inconsistency into plotting's flow, when not at least keeping consistent with heavy-handedness that spawns anything from a lame cop-out of an a non-ending, to distance from this slam-banged story. This film's script is a total mess that plays the ultimate key part in this film's fall from decency, but really, this screenplay isn't so faulty that it can't be compensated for by a lively directorial performance, or rather, dual directorial performance, something that, in this film, sparks glimpses at what could have been at times, though ultimately doesn't help, as directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, whether it be because they find their hands tied by pressuring fellow filmmakers or because they're not without their own mistakes, fail to keep this film pumping as a whole, and make things all the worse with uneven storytelling pacing that doesn't get to be as consistently slow as I jokingly said in this review's opener, but all too often slips into dullness to break up freneticism that adds to the final product's being either exhausting or considerably bland. This film isn't entirely bad, having its share of undeniable strengths, or at least so much blandness that I found it difficult to actually find all-out disdain, yet the final product is as much a let-down as it is a misfire, backed by a misguided script, worsened by underwhelming performances, onscreen and off, that make this film nothing short of a mediocre mishandling of a promising project.

Overall, visual effects and certain other technical aspects are exceptional, as is this film's dazzling style, which goes complimented by Brandon Trost's fine cinematography and helps greatly in crafting thrilling action sequences that, like occasions in which directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor deliver on certain effective storytelling moments, provide glimpses of what this film could have been, but isn't, thanks to a generic story that goes executed by a script so riddled with cheesiness - made worse by certain fall-flat performances, including that of leading man Nicolas Cage - and structural messiness - not helped by uneven areas in Neveldine/Taylor's pacing - that is spawns the consistent distance that makes "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" a mediocre misfire that isn't exactly disastrous, full falls flat as a mishap-heavy disappointment.

2/5 - Mediocre.