Starring: Nicolas Cage, Fergus Riordan, Ciarán Hinds, Violante Placido, Idris Elba, Christopher Lambert, and Johnny Whitworth
Nicolas Cage was once a respected, formidable actor. This guy is an Oscar winner with some great films on his résumé including Face/Off, The Rock, and Adaptation. When the IRS came knocking though, his career stopped rocking. It's clear. He's become known for making some of the worst films in recent years. Just think of flicks like Bangkok Dangerous, Knowing, and Next. I don’t need to delve any further into these horrible memories to make my point. After making countless flicks that deserve wasted ratings, Cage has now decided to make sequels to them. He's decided to make a follow-up film to the atrocity that was Ghost Rider back in 2007.
Johnny Blaze (Cage) has still not come to terms with the demon within him. He leaves the country and goes into hiding in Eastern Europe. A man of Johnny's unique ability can't remain hidden for too long though. Meanwhile, a young boy named Danny (Fergus Riordan) has unique abilities as well because of his extraordinary heritage. Naturally, Roarke (Ciarán Hinds), also known as the Devil, has some apocalyptic plans for the gifted boy. He sends a thug named Carrigan (Johnny Whitworth) after him. However, these plans don't sit well with Danny's mother Nadya (Violante Placido) or the church for that matter. Nadya flees with Danny, while the church sends a monk named Moreau (Idris Elba) to protect her. Realizing that he can only do so much to protect the boy from the Devil, Moreau turns to Johnny Blaze. If Blaze helps keep the boy safe, the church will undo the fateful deal he made with the Devil years ago.
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is a film that never should have been made. It seems like Cage came back to make up for the horrendous original. Instead, he just made things worse. Spirit of Vengeance sucks more than the first Ghost Rider. I didn't think that was possible, and I was unfortunately proven wrong. The big issue with the film is that there are major inconsistencies in the plot that undermine the entire movie. For instance, the Devil can turn Carrigan into Blackout and curse Ghost Rider. Despite this, he's afraid of the Rider and somehow can't stop him. That's a big load of crap that I can't accept. The Devil is not supposed to be a weak old punk. There's no way in hell the Devil should be incapable of dealing with a demon he created.
There are so many problems with Spirit of Vengeance that had to be evident to the filmmakers on set. Bad acting, bad writing, and bad directing plague this comic book flick. At some point during the movie, I began to think that directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor realized that they were making a crappy film and embraced it. They said screw it and decided to show that they knew how bad the film is. Ghost Rider is supposed to be a soul-snatching, kick-ass vigilante. Instead, Neveldine/Taylor reduces him to a freak urinating with a flamethrower between his legs. That's certainly not the kind of demon that Marvel intended to show on the big screen.
On top of all these problems, the 3D isn't even worth the price of admission. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance fails the Sobriety Test miserably. If you're crazy enough to go see this one, you're going to need to rack up a serious bar tab to do so. Normally, I'd recommend mystery shots, but you don't want any surprises. You've definitely got to get wasted for this one. I'm thinking you'll need some Flatliners, so get the sambuca and tequila out for Nicolas Cage’s latest crap!
