Nicholas Cage is feeling the heat as Johnny Blaze takes a ride through Eastern Europe to try and escape the curse of the Ghost Rider. As Blaze travels the world in an attempt to escape his curse he finds himself pulled into a new struggle by a mysterious Frenchman named Moreau who wants Blaze's help to rescue a young boy named Danny from the Devil in return assured that Moreau can save him from his curse. Nadya and son Danny like Blaze are on the run, from not just the devil but also an ex boyfriend named Ray who's become a pawn of the Devil. It's up to Blaze as the last chance to save Danny's soul before the Devil can use him for his own grievous undertakings, Blaze will have to channel the wrath of the Rider in order to stop the infamous evil he faces but will even that be enough to take on the Devil, save the boy and finally escape the curse.
Nicholas Cage is the headline and clearly driving force of the film, yet to this moment that i type these words if he was initially setting out to create a bizarre and chaotic torrent of insanity as he returned to Blaze but that's exactly what he did. While i'm in no way saying Nicholas Cage is a terrible actor (Lord of War is a rather brilliant example) but in this instance he goes miles ahead, up and over the flaming handlebars of his motorcycle stepping way beyond the mark of the character and into a whole new realm of chaos. That said it gives the audience some (while some what awkward) hilarity just to see how far Cage is determined to go to make Blaze entertaining and the Rider ferociously immature. While Violante Placido as Nadya doesn't really throw too much into the narrative, the opposite could be said for Idris Elba as Moreau who with what he's given in the film adds to the story with both a decent character with a charming and likable performance much more mellow than Cage's lunacy to boot. Johnny Whitworth plays a bland ex-with-issues as Ray Carrigan and a side villain to the rather more screen welcoming face of the true incarnation of Satan, Ciaran Hands as Roarke giving while not the most exciting comic-book villain at least let's you feel the dark nature of the Devil.
If the first Ghost Rider left you with a sour taste in the mouth, you won't be leaving Spirit of Vengeance with any startlingly new favorable flavors. Instead of trying to focus on a strong story and build up from there Spirit of Vengeance tries to install the film with a laugh-o-meter on how much Nicholas Cage can attempt to lose his mind on camera. While it shows that this sequel (even in name tries to step out of the dark shadow of the original) has tried to shake the formula up a bit by focusing on the insanity and lunacy of Blaze's struggle of balancing humanity with skull flaming bad-assery. Is this a good film? Well it's a film if that's the fundamental point of the question, though even at times it feels like it's actually been created on a shoe-string budget. On the other side of that Ghost Rider is more fleshed up and takes a great leap away from any rate of seriousness in story and unleashing havoc with the more playful side of the curse. No matter how many explosions, action packed chases and gun toting henchman the Rider emerges from, the film never really speeds up and leaves you coughing on a trail of smoke with the random comedic moments thrown awkwardly into the flaming action wreck of a film. If judged by any real standards the film is actually a flaming wreck, if your a massive fan of Ghost Rider or you really want to see Cage blurt out obscenities and bizarre sentences then you may want to see this out of obscure loyalty/curiosity yet if your looking for anything else it's probably best to steer far clear of this chaotic mess.
2 / 10
FIN.
Nicholas Cage is the headline and clearly driving force of the film, yet to this moment that i type these words if he was initially setting out to create a bizarre and chaotic torrent of insanity as he returned to Blaze but that's exactly what he did. While i'm in no way saying Nicholas Cage is a terrible actor (Lord of War is a rather brilliant example) but in this instance he goes miles ahead, up and over the flaming handlebars of his motorcycle stepping way beyond the mark of the character and into a whole new realm of chaos. That said it gives the audience some (while some what awkward) hilarity just to see how far Cage is determined to go to make Blaze entertaining and the Rider ferociously immature. While Violante Placido as Nadya doesn't really throw too much into the narrative, the opposite could be said for Idris Elba as Moreau who with what he's given in the film adds to the story with both a decent character with a charming and likable performance much more mellow than Cage's lunacy to boot. Johnny Whitworth plays a bland ex-with-issues as Ray Carrigan and a side villain to the rather more screen welcoming face of the true incarnation of Satan, Ciaran Hands as Roarke giving while not the most exciting comic-book villain at least let's you feel the dark nature of the Devil.
If the first Ghost Rider left you with a sour taste in the mouth, you won't be leaving Spirit of Vengeance with any startlingly new favorable flavors. Instead of trying to focus on a strong story and build up from there Spirit of Vengeance tries to install the film with a laugh-o-meter on how much Nicholas Cage can attempt to lose his mind on camera. While it shows that this sequel (even in name tries to step out of the dark shadow of the original) has tried to shake the formula up a bit by focusing on the insanity and lunacy of Blaze's struggle of balancing humanity with skull flaming bad-assery. Is this a good film? Well it's a film if that's the fundamental point of the question, though even at times it feels like it's actually been created on a shoe-string budget. On the other side of that Ghost Rider is more fleshed up and takes a great leap away from any rate of seriousness in story and unleashing havoc with the more playful side of the curse. No matter how many explosions, action packed chases and gun toting henchman the Rider emerges from, the film never really speeds up and leaves you coughing on a trail of smoke with the random comedic moments thrown awkwardly into the flaming action wreck of a film. If judged by any real standards the film is actually a flaming wreck, if your a massive fan of Ghost Rider or you really want to see Cage blurt out obscenities and bizarre sentences then you may want to see this out of obscure loyalty/curiosity yet if your looking for anything else it's probably best to steer far clear of this chaotic mess.
2 / 10
FIN.
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