Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Many people absolutely love super hero films. That being said, I held high expectations for this reboot, “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.” The original film had great effects and an interesting storyline, staying fairly faithful to the comic book character. This reboot attempts to improve on some of the shortcomings of the first, such as the lack of action scenes, the depth of the Rider’s story, and some of the supernatural background behind it.

Built upon the Ghost Rider mythos of a motorcycle stuntman named John Blaze, “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” starts fresh with a totally new story—including origin sequence—and cast (except Nicolas Cage). The film’s directors are Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the same men who directed “Crank” and “Crank: High Voltage”. These men bring the same over-the-top, dark edginess present in those movies to the “Ghost Rider” film. The cinematics are definitely the strongest point of the film, with amazing camera angles and visually stimulating depictions of Ghost Rider insanity. The storyline, this time around, is much weaker, consisting of the devil trying to possess his human son’s body.

Although the horrific looking hero is a relatively good guy, and the plot is redemptive (good vs. evil) and involves trying to stop the Devil from increasing his power, most of the entertainment value is still based on the subject of supposed Satanic powers, demons, ugliness and heavy violence for the sake of entertainment.

Don’t take kids to see this movie. The mixture of spirituality along with frightening imagery and brief strong language prevent this from being a children’s movie. Men are burned to ashes by Ghost Rider, smashed, cut in half with his chain, or have their souls drained. There is, refreshingly, only mild sexual content. However, there are two uses of “g_dd_mn” and one use of “f__k,” along with six or eight uses of milder vulgarities.

While “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” will certainly win no Golden Globes or feature any Oscar® nominees, competent acting by Nicolas Cage supports a storyline, that while weak, certainly works for the creative minds of the directors. The action scenes are well done, but the CGI is inconsistent, and a few of the liberties taken by the filmmakers may be a little disappointing to some fans (the Rider’s skeleton being black instead of white, no spikes on the Rider’s biker outfit, etc.). With its skewed spirituality, if one goes to watch this movie, they should not bring anyone except those who are secure in their faith and not easily scared (not younger than high school or college age). That being said, “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” is junk, but somewhat fun junk—just like that giant slice of chocolate cake I ate yesterday…

Violence: Extreme / Profanity: Moderate / Sex/Nudity: Mild

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