The “spoiler warning” is pretty much implied by the fact that most of you didn’t see this.

§ April 16th, 2012 § Filed under movie reviews § 13 Comments

So, while the rest of you were out there watching your Hunger Games and your Three Stooges and (to a somewhat lesser extent) your Cabin in the Woods, I was enjoying, for certain values of the term “enjoy,” a free screening of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance:


Yes, it’s another Nicolas Cage-tacular, with no piece of scenery left unbitten. It was also directed by the same guys who did the Crank films, and there were at times moments of those films’ energy and humor in this otherwise turgid sequel, but alas the decision was made to attempt “plot” and “characterization” at the expense of “Ghost Rider doing crazy shit.”

Or “Nicolas Cage doing crazy shit,” I suppose I should mention, since there’s one scene where Cage, as Johnny Blaze, is apparently barely containing his transformation to Ghost Rider while he’s interrogating this one fellow. Did I say “interrogating?” I mean “yelling and jerking his head around and acting like a lunatic and basically barking at the dude” and it was either the worst acting I’ve ever seen or, dare I say, the greatest acting I’ve ever seen. Honestly, say what you will about the man and his acting choices…once he’s made his decision, Cage just full out goes for it.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen the first film, so I don’t recall if it establishes Ghost Rider’s super power of making anything he rides turn into a flaming hellengine of death. In this film, he hops into the control booth of some huge piece of construction equipment, which proceeds to burst into flames and become something terrifying and awesome, and later Ghostie hops onto some big truck which also becomes all fiery and rad. Frankly, had the film just been Ghost Rider driving a variety of vehicles that are on fire while fighting the bad guys or monsters or other cars that are on fire, I think we would have had somethin’ here.

Also of note:

  • Cage’s opening narration catching folks up on Ghost Rider’s back story: pretty sure the intent was “down to earth recounting of fantastic events” in order to somehow promote the audience’s suspension of disbelief in the premise, but somehow the tone of Cage’s line-reads made it sound hilarious. Not to mention the fact that you’ve already got people who willingly came to a film about a demonically-possessed motorcyclist…they probably don’t need the semi-embarrassed hardsell on the product.
  • There’s a cheap, obvious joke in which one of the villains of this piece, Decay (who has the power to…well, guess) is going through a lunchbox trying to find food that won’t crumble to dust in his hands, and finding success with a Twinkie. Like I said, it’s cheap and obvious, but still, it was amusing.
  • Ghost Rider is not nearly as loquacious as he is in the funnybooks: he only speaks a couple lines of dialogue. The first time, it’s genuinely creepy, as he mockingly repeats “does this hurt” (or something similar) to a bad guy who had mocked him with the same words a bit earlier. The second bit is Ghost Rider laying the completely unnecessary quip “Roadkill” after his nemesis is flattened by a vehicle after a battle. I suppose it was supposed to be “funny” or “cool,” but…nah, sorry, it was neither.
  • And there are times when Ghost Rider just does…odd things, which were sort of baffling at the time (like when he just kinda stands there, rocking back and forth, during a pause in a battle). While talking about this film with a coworker, he mentioned that he read an interview where Cage said he took inspiration from a pet snake in his portrayal of Ghost Rider, and…you know, I haven’t verified that, have no idea if it’s true, but I’m not going to check because I want that to be true and I do not wish to be disappointed.

So, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance – worth seeing for free, I guess, if you’re not otherwise busy. Even at about 90 minutes or so, it’s a bit overlong, but if you enjoy Nic Cage movies, this one is certainly very Nic Cage-y.

I should also tell you that, as we were walking into the theater, there was a group of about a half-dozen or so kids, about 6 to 8 years of age, coming to the movie as well, all cheerfully chanting “GHOST RI-DER! GHOST RI-DER! GHOST RI-DER!” …All things considered, that made the evening’s entire movie-going experience worth it.

13 Responses to “The “spoiler warning” is pretty much implied by the fact that most of you didn’t see this.”

  • CW says:

    Mike, how did you get a free screening? If you won a contest to see this film for free, is that really a victory? ;)

  • Dwayne the canoe guy says:

    So is it possible to wish for a Ghost Rider/Killdozer buddy film?

  • Well, I paid to see it in February (but then again, I pay to see a ton a movies every year). The worst thing about the film is, it’s just SOOOOOOO BORING!!
    http://www.theblabbingbaboon.com/?m=20120219

  • adam says:

    I was wondering the other day if this had come out on DVD and I had missed it at Redbox. When you pay a buck and a quarter for you and your sweetie to both see a movie, your standards go WAAAAAAAAYYYY down.

  • Andrew says:

    I can’t recall the ‘story’, but I can remember the strange swaying of Ghost Rider. I put it down to incomplete special effects. Wasn’t there some mention of Ghost Rider sucking the soul out of people? Due to shortage of money they ended up with “Ghost Rider sucking” instead :)

  • MRPRSN says:

    I was hoping that some of the sheer manic energy of the two Crank films would spill over into Ghost Rider 2, but it seems to have not translated well into the licensed property arena. I’ll still watch it at some point, I imagine. I enjoyed Cage’s weirdo take on Johnny Blaze in the first one well enough.

  • All I want to know is, did he pee fire in the movie, or was that just a scene for the trailer?

  • Googam son of Goom says:

    for me the best part of this film was walking into a local bar where a wedding with an Elvis impersonator was doing his thing. it was definitely the spirit of cage.

  • Mikester says:

    CW – The local military base has a free movie theater for base residents, our men and women in uniform, and civilian employees (the latter category my girlfriend falls under).

    Mitchell – The scene is pretty much just as it is in the trailer…the kid asks him if he pees fire, and Blaze says “yeah, it’s cool” and then there’s a Family Guy-esque cutaway to said flaming urination. It’s actually pretty funny. Intentionally funny, even.

  • Andrew-TLA says:

    In the year 2012, we get a superhero movie in which a villain is distracted by the delicious golden sponge cake and creamed filling of a Hostess product? That is awesome.

  • Snark Shark says:

    ” In this film, he hops into the control booth of some huge piece of construction equipment, which proceeds to burst into flames and become something terrifying and awesome”

    And then… KOREA!

    “In the year 2012, we get a superhero movie in which a villain is distracted by the delicious golden sponge cake and creamed filling of a Hostess product?”

    I wonder if someone involced in the film is a fan of those old comic book twinkie ads?

  • pell says:

    Off topic, but while looking up the source of that J. Jonah Jameson (presumably) in the upper right of the blog, I came across this Amazing Spider-Man cover:

    http://www.samruby.com/AmazingSpider-ManA/Large/AmazingSpider-Man025.jpg

    Can’t help but wonder if Steve Ditko’s erotic artist roommate had a hand in that one. :)

  • CW says:

    Mike, thanks for the explanation. Free movies are the BEST kind of movies! :)