![]() Just as Neveldine/Taylor is a sillier, more self-aware directing entity than Mark Steven Johnson, Spirit of Vengeance is a tighter, weirder, funnier enterprise than its predecessor. Instead, the film offers other pleasures. To be clear: this is still a PG-13 sequel with some presumed fidelity to the comics (David Goyer, who has worked on the Blade and Batman series, is a cowriter), and contains few to none of Crank‘s winking transgressions. ![]() Neveldine/Taylor are responsible for the gonzo Crank series, but trash movie aficionados should banish any thoughts of an electric-shock-powered Nicolas Cage. They’re credited as Neveldine/Taylor, better to resemble an advertising firm or videogame design collective. A new creative team takes over for Spirit of Vengeance, and one advantage over some other stops on Cage’s shlock-cinema tour is the guiding hand of filmmaking duo Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. It takes Johnny Blaze (Cage) - the stunt motorcyclist whose deal with the devil gave him the ability to shift into the skull-headed monster Ghost Rider - on a fiery, sweaty low-budget adventure through Romania and Turkey (playing themselves).īut this mercenary approach has allowed a degree of risk absent from the first movie, shepherded by Mark Steven Johnson, who applied everything he learned from his Daredevil movie about how to ruin a potential comics franchise with a strong cast. ![]() And Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance feels more akin to another Cage supernatural programmer like Drive Angry or Season of the Witch than a follow-up to one of his biggest hits. It was also surprisingly profitable.įive years later, Cage’s detours have become more winding. While he has alternated small, artsy projects and big, trashy paydays for much of his career, Ghost Rider was different, more low-rent than Cage’s usual low-rent movies, not to mention the recent wave of Marvel Comics adaptations. ![]() Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is a more than adequate popcorn flick, so just switch your brain off and enjoy the ride.When the first Ghost Rider movie premiered in 2007, it was an unexpected turning point for actor (and one-time comic-book collector) Nicolas Cage. The Ghost Rider looks much more bad-ass, the action is frantic and fast paced and Cage is on fantastically loony form, as this time around he plays both Blaze and the Rider in all his fiery glory. Spirit of Vengeance is a much harder edged affair (even though it still carries a 12A certificate) in terms of both tone and style, and that’s no surprise with Taylor and Neveldine behind the wheel, the guys responsible for the absolutely bonkers Crank movies. But I say, give it a chance, this is a vast improvement on the first movie, capturing the crazy and archaic spirit of the comic-books much more so then the 2007 incarnation. The first Ghost Rider was far from a masterpiece, I think we can all agree, and some of you may very well grumble at the prospect of a follow. Not only is Roarke the man who gave Blaze his curse in the first place, he just also happens to be the Devil walking upon the Earth, who needs to the boy in able to unleash the extent of his full power over the world. Whilst hiding out in Eastern Europe, Blaze is approached by a rather unorthodox Monk, Moreau (the always-awesome Idris Elba), who promises to lift Blaze’s curse if he helps him protect a young boy from a man called Roarke (Hinds). ![]() Still riddled with the curse which turns him into a flaming skull demon whenever evil rears its ugly head, Johnny Blaze (Cage) has been travelling the world, isolating himself, with a desire to be rid of the curse which controls his life. Nicolas Cage returns as the stunt driver with a curse in this comic-book sequel that perhaps no one particularly asked for, but it is here anyway, so we might as well enjoy it. ![]()
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