mjlower-28991
Let me begin by stating that every Marvel fan should get on their knees and thank the universe that there is even a Ghost Rider movie for them to watch. That being said...
I'm so tired of critics throwing movies "under the bus" when they don't get a FREE screening. It's childish and abhorrent to us adults who work for a living. This movie was great in my opinion. I'm forever thankful that we live in such times as to have believable effects in movies. All these spoiled brats who grew up on Harry Potter have no idea what is was like growing up in the 70's and 80's when all there was was "blue screen" effects. Have you seen TRON? That's what was available for me growing up....and I loved every minute of it. Now.... these days CG effects are incredible and that seems to be every reviewers problem with this film. How about not focusing on CG and watching the movie? This movie is great... it has it all. So don't be a jerk...give this movie a chance first... trust your own self and make a decision of your own... Thanks...
Stephen Abell
This is the apotheosis of a hit and miss movie. There are as many things wrong with it as there are right.The most disturbing factor in the movie is Nicholas Cage's acting. He doesn't even appear to be playing himself (as is the case with most of his movies). For the entire movie, you get the feeling he would rather be elsewhere as his performance appears lackadaisical. There's no conveyance of any character and no chemistry between Cage / Johnny Blaze and any of the others involved.Then there are the soul-taking sequences. These are way too long. By the time the Ghost Rider starts to pull out a soul and actually remove it from its body completely, the bad guys have enough time to, get in their vehicles and drive to the nearest army base... overthrow the soldiers... hack into the weapons room... decrypt the nuclear missile codes... and launch them at The Rider... as I said, way too long. These scenes verge on the ridiculous and I nearly turned off at this point.Which would have been a shame because I would've missed some of the good things about this movie. The concept of whatever The Rider rides becomes his hell on wheels is inspired as this allows for the transformation of a van and a drilling machine. These are pretty awesome scenes. The last chase scene is pretty decent and packed with action.It was also pretty nice to see Christopher Lambert as the mad monk Methodius.Apart from Nicholas Cage, the rest of the cast were okay. Not outstanding by any means. Though the strongest actor was Idris Elba as Moreau, and even he wasn't at his best. This could have been down to the direction of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who did a great job of all the action sequences but weren't too hot when handling the acting and there are too many sequences that feel "thrown in".If you enjoyed the first Ghost Rider movie or enjoy the Comic Books then you may enjoy this but I would not recommend it to anybody who wasn't a fan of The Ghost Rider.
generationofswine
I write this with a heavy heart, growing up in the 90s, Dan Ketch's Ghost Rider was one of my favorite comic books...at least for the first 25 issue run and a few cross overs.I came to the first one loving Ghost Rider, both Ketch and Blaze, and walked away disappointed. It couldn't choose which incarnation it wanted to be and flopped hard for lack of decisiveness.I rented the sequel out of loyalty to the character even though I expected a disaster.I wasn't disappointed, a disaster was exactly what I got.The first one was indecisive, the second one a wreck.The character's were confusing, not because it was difficult to follow, but because it was hard to care enough to pay attention to who they were and what they were doing.You watch the action without a plot and let your mind wander through the bulk of the mess. You perk up again when you hear Christopher Lambert, but only with the hops that he'd revert to his old head-hunting ways and grab a fast quickening from everyone involved in the movie.There is nothing to hold your attention here. Watch it when you're drunk, really drunk, and you might have killed enough brain cells to actually enjoy it
Jackson Booth-Millard
The first film was a pretty average anti-superhero style film, based on the Marvel comic, and it seems nothing was going to change for the sequel, from directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank, Crank 2: High Voltage, Gamer). Basically it has been five years since Johnny Blaze (Razzie nominated Nicolas Cage) made a deal with the Devil, in the guise of Mephistopheles, now Roarke (Ciarán Hinds), and was cursed to transform into the demonic bounty hunter Ghost Rider, he is now on the run to avoid causing anybody any harm for their sins and crimes. In Eastern Europe, Johnny is approached by French priest Moreau (Idris Elba), he explains that mercenary Ray Carrigan (Johnny Whitworth) attacked a fortress protected by monks, and abducted young boy Danny (Fergus Riordan), but his mother Nadya (Violante Placido) rescued him, they escaped with Moreau on his motorcycle. Moreau offers Johnny to restore his soul and remove the Ghost Rider's curse forever, if he protects Danny from Roarke, who has plans for him, to help him take human form. Of course this will not be easy for Johnny, even as the Rider, as Ray has a powerful weapon that can subdue him, and he is trying to resist becoming the Rider when confronted by sinners, but he seeks vengeance against Anthony Head as Benedict and Vincent Regan as Toma Nikasevic. Cage is still sort of alright as the anti-hero, despite still having slightly unconvincing flames and skull effects, the rest of the CGI effects are fairly good, there are some chase and fight sequences that get your attention, but just like the predecessor it is overall not a very thrilling action fantasy horror. It was nominated the Razzie for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel. Okay!
AD
