Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)
November 17, 2024 6:28 PM - Subscribe
When the devil resurfaces with aims to take over the world in human form, Johnny Blaze reluctantly comes out of hiding to transform into the flame-spewing supernatural hero Ghost Rider -- and rescue a 10-year-old boy from an unsavory end.
Starring Nicolas Cage (the only actor returning from the first movie), Ciarán Hinds, Violante Placido, Johnny Whitworth, Christopher Lambert, Anthony Stewart Head, and Idris Elba. The film was directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, from a screenplay written by Scott M. Gimple, Seth Hoffman, and David S. Goyer.
I just posted the first movie, and commented "There's a sequel, and I may take a crack at it, but honestly, what could possibly be left?" The answer is, "not much." It's roughly the same subject as the first film--Johnny Blaze gets caught up in something involving the devil and his son--but for some reason the filmmakers decided to try to make it serious, and thereby surgically removed about 90% of the fun. There are some bits and pieces that weren't too bad; that may be the work of David Goyer, although his other superhero work is definitely a mixed bag. At one point, Johnny gets behind the controls of an enormous strip-mining machine called a Bagger 288, which apparently counts as a vehicle, and was frankly terrifying even before it got Ghost Rider-ized. The devil's henchman gets the the power to speed up decay, and the only thing that he can eat are Twinkies. There's a passing comment about how Ghost Rider will take vengeance for anything arguably bad or wrong, including illegal downloads.
But, ultimately, it's about stopping Armageddon, yet again, and mostly a waste of the new cast, including Ciaran Hinds, Idris Elba, and Anthony Stewart Head; Christopher Lambert has an interesting look as a monk-warrior who has more stuff tattooed on his face than Lady Jessica in the recent Dune adaptation, but mostly this is paint-by-numbers Book-of-Revelation-as-thriller dreck. You can understand why Cage thought twice about committing to yet another one.
Starring Nicolas Cage (the only actor returning from the first movie), Ciarán Hinds, Violante Placido, Johnny Whitworth, Christopher Lambert, Anthony Stewart Head, and Idris Elba. The film was directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, from a screenplay written by Scott M. Gimple, Seth Hoffman, and David S. Goyer.
I just posted the first movie, and commented "There's a sequel, and I may take a crack at it, but honestly, what could possibly be left?" The answer is, "not much." It's roughly the same subject as the first film--Johnny Blaze gets caught up in something involving the devil and his son--but for some reason the filmmakers decided to try to make it serious, and thereby surgically removed about 90% of the fun. There are some bits and pieces that weren't too bad; that may be the work of David Goyer, although his other superhero work is definitely a mixed bag. At one point, Johnny gets behind the controls of an enormous strip-mining machine called a Bagger 288, which apparently counts as a vehicle, and was frankly terrifying even before it got Ghost Rider-ized. The devil's henchman gets the the power to speed up decay, and the only thing that he can eat are Twinkies. There's a passing comment about how Ghost Rider will take vengeance for anything arguably bad or wrong, including illegal downloads.
But, ultimately, it's about stopping Armageddon, yet again, and mostly a waste of the new cast, including Ciaran Hinds, Idris Elba, and Anthony Stewart Head; Christopher Lambert has an interesting look as a monk-warrior who has more stuff tattooed on his face than Lady Jessica in the recent Dune adaptation, but mostly this is paint-by-numbers Book-of-Revelation-as-thriller dreck. You can understand why Cage thought twice about committing to yet another one.
Wow, yeah! I haven't watched Drive Angry in a while but I wouldn't mind a rewatch. It's one of my favorite things that William Fichtner has done, and he was in Heat and The Dark Knight.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:37 PM on November 18, 2024
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:37 PM on November 18, 2024
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posted by Ashwagandha at 11:19 AM on November 18, 2024 [3 favorites]