While the first Ghost Rider movie was between Spider-Man and Daredevil the second one sure was not a delight either. Sure there was a somewhat vague of a storyline, acting was okay and some scenes were cool by far, but the plot and how the movie was played is as confusing as the fast forwarding scenes in it. Nicolas Cage was getting older with that funky yet sometimes funny hairdo, but it’s when he transforms into the Ghost Rider is when the ambiance of the movie changes. Plus we get to see some serious power-ups for the character as oppose to the first film, especially when he lit up that mining machine. It almost reminds me of the best of the comic book days of Ghost Rider.
The Ghost Rider transforming into the Spirit of Vengeance from the helper of mankind sent by God was quite acceptable as it gives the character the chance to switch sides once more and fulfill the destiny originally mandated to him. Johnny Whitworth is a talented actor and he played out his character (Blackout) quite well; however, he wasn’t as intimidating as Black Heart in the first film and Ciarán Hinds a.k.a. Roarke the Devil was such a wimpy push over for a Lord of Darkness. Mephistopeles played by Peter Fonda was a much better adversary, I was a bit disappointed that Ghost Rider didn’t have a hard time fighting Roarke. I would have loved to see him fight like hell to retake his soul stolen from him eons ago and reclaim his rightful place as the protector of mankind.
With a $50 million budget, Ghost Rider The Spirit of Vengeance made almost 3 times the profit, but at $122 million in the box office, it’ still not enough to impress the critics especially those who does not have the taste for big screen comic book adaptations. Overall, I think that it’s a good movie and I’d give it a B- rating with 2 directors namely Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor gave it a notch from Mark Steven Johnson’s first take.
