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Sunday, March 4, 2012

[3.75/10] Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012)


Ghost Rider:
Spirit of Vengeance (2012)


Brief review: After the unfortunate "Jonah Hex", directing duo Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylorand bring us another lackluster effort, which also happens to be a sequel of Marvel's "Ghost Rider" from 2007. While the original movie was kind of cheesy fun and somewhat watchable, this sequel is not even cheesy. It's just bad. In fact, it's so bad, it could be easily considered to be one the worst Marvel Comics-based movies ever made. The script is an uninspired mess, and everything about the story feels familiar and borrowed from other movies, the comic book-like back stories not only suck, but also make the plot even more confusing than it already is, and Neveldine and Taylorand's direction is amateurish, lazy, incompetent and dull as the movie itself. There nothing special about the special effects either. Not sure how hard is it to make a cool-looking burning skull, but the team behind the visual effects seems to have been struggling with that, and the end result is both lame and disappointing. On a positive note, some of the action sequences are entertaining and well-executed, plus, "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" offers some nice and interesting scenery from Romania and Turkey. Although Idris Elba and CiarĂ¡n Hinds both deliver solid performances, Violante Placido and Johnny Whitworth's weak acting lets the film down, and Nicolas Cage gives another nutty, overconfident performance as Ghost Rider.

Overall summary: A couple of cool action sequences aside, "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" is a poor sequel to a mediocre original, that is not only boring and unexciting to watch, but also suffers badly from a cliched script, cheesy special effects and lackluster direction.

20 comments:

Maynard Morrissey said...

Ha, just finished watching Part 1. Will watch Part 2 tomorrow.

1 was meh and I have absolutely no expectations for 2 :)

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Maynard, the original was quite cheesy, but still mildly enjoyable, while the sequel was absolutely joyless and dull.

Maynard Morrissey said...

Looks like another 7-8 Euro wasted for another crappy 3D movie. I'm so dumb :D

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Harry, you're paying to see a lot of crap lately. First The Devil Inside, now this... :)

Unknown said...

Talked my nephew out of seeing this so we could see Underworld: Awakening. I'm glad I won that little debate. I could barely stand the original. Terrific eviciseration as always. Too bad Ciaran and Idris has to be in this schlock. What a waste of their talents.

Maynard Morrissey said...

LOL yeah, currently I'm just wasting my money :D

btw, didn't you want to send me a mail?

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Mel, you should be glad you won this debate, indeed, because Awakening is a lot more entertaining and fun to watch than this one. I didn't hate the original, I just didn't care about it. This one had a few enjoyable scenes, but overall it felt short.

Yes, too bad, they're both great.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Maynard, yes, I was but I obviously forgot. Besides, I was outside the whole day with my friends, because the weather was great today.

Maynard Morrissey said...

oh, lucky you. Weather here was pretty shite today.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Someone else posted today that this was better than the original but still only three out of five. (Film Forager? Don't remember who!) I still wouldn't hold any expectations though.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Better than the original? I disagree. It was much worse. 3 out of 5 equals my 6 out of 10, which is way to high for this garbage. You'd better skip it unless if you're a die hard fan of GR.

farawayeyes said...

Thank goodness you did not love this film. (Of course, I never imagined you would LOVE it.) I don't think I could take the burning skull. I actually thought the first one was funny, but not up for a second go around.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

farawayeyes, of course I didn't. It was so dull, I couldn't believe it. Not that I expected it to be brilliant or anything, but I was hoping it would be at least as cheesy fun as the first one.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Maynard, don't worry, the spring is just around the corner. :)

Craig Edwards said...

I haven't attempted either of them - but I picked up a used copy of the first movie for a dollar, so I'll see it at some point. Worst Marvel movie...there's a claim to fame! Good one, Mr. N!

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Craig, the first Captain America was worse than this, but GR: SOV comes close behind. I'd pay a dollar to buy the first GR movie, but I would never pay a dollar to see the sequel again. :)

And thanks!

filmrruss said...

Sounds rotten, I'll look forward to missing this one!

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Russ, it is actually. Don't waste your time and money on this one.

Maurice Mitchell said...

I heard they had a TON of problems with the first burning skull till they decided to scan Cage's skull in for the CGI. Sounds like it's harder than it looks.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Maurice, maybe they should have hired more experienced special effects team. I dunno...