Marvel Media Mania: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was released today (2/17/12). It's the sequel to the original Ghost Rider movie, starring Nicholas Cage.

The storyline of this sequel divorces itself from the original almost completely, except for the basic concept of the deal with the Devil. Johnny Blaze finds himself in Europe. Gone is the entire supporting cast from the first film. In fact, the character of Johnny Blaze seems to have completely changed. Gone are the stunts and jelly beans, replaced with angst and insanity. Even Ghost Rider is very different, now "eating souls."

Ghost Rider remains visually very well done (especially in 3D), this time with oily black smoke rolling off of him. But as a character, he's the equivalent of a robot with a circuit loose. His behavior doesn't make sense most of the time and the film doesn't explain it. One time he rides into combat but just stands there with his fist raised into the air. I think there's a few times when he "eats someone's soul" (he opens his mouth wide but besides that there's no other visual clue) but he chooses to do it in the middle of active combat, allowing the bad guys to defeat him.  At various times in the film, Ghost Rider uses vehicles other than his motorcycle, all of which burst into flame just like his bike. Most ridiculously is a what appears to be a large earth-moving construction vehicle of some type. Ghost Rider's partial transformations come across as ridiculously cartoonish.

The main villain is the Devil and a human named Carrigan. The bad guys that he struggles to defeat are, for the most part, normal guys who he should have been able to take care of without a problem. Carrigan is transformed into a decay demon (who apparently is suppose to be Blackout, though he is never called that in the film). Carrigan's decay powers are selectively applied even though he's suppose to be unable to control them. How is he able to drive for hours if his touch destroys anything in mere seconds? The Devil himself proves easy to dispatch since he was "reimagined" to need a frail mortal host to survive.

This film fails on almost every level. At times, the film attempts to break new ground, inserting "comic bookish" sequences, but these come across as being exposition heavy momentum killers. The plot is extremely simple but seems muddled because basic concepts aren't explained until late in the film (why is there all the fuss over this kid again?). Characters are cardboard cutouts lacking any real emotion, backstory, or motivation. Even the editing and camera work is extremely poor. The film missed out on major opportunities to explore themes like the difference between vengeance and justice. I don't want to give away the ending but lets say that the logic behind the "new" Ghost Rider doesn't make any sense.

There were two funny moments in the film. One was when Blackout tries to eat but all of the food decays as he touches it... except a Twinkie. The second was seeing Johnny Blaze squirm as he's asked hypothetical questions by a kid, a la Mallrats. "What happens if you have to pee when you're on fire?" the kid asks. "It's like a flamethrower," Blaze replies. The accompanying image is hilarious.

But what isn't funny is wasting your money on this film. I expect nobody is going to be happy with this slop of a movie, Ghost Rider fans or not.

1LR Review - 6 out of 20 - It's a Failure!

Marvel Media Mania: Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider is a 2007 movie that presents the origin story of the title character.

Ghost Rider starts out so well. The entire opening sequence with the young Johnny Blaze, his father, and Roxanne works. They cast fantastic younger look-alike versions of Nick Cage and Eva Mendes to play the teenage versions of Johnny and Roxanne. I liked how the deal-with-the-devil was worked out and the bitter irony of it.

When the movie transitions into modern day with a middle aged Blaze it initially holds my attention. The way the action unfolds with Blaze's jump over the helicopters is cool and his pursuit of Roxanne is also very cool. I  initially liked how quirky Blaze is - eating jelly beans, watching stupid TV, and living recklessly (but not WRECKlessly... haha). Over time, however, Blaze ends up just coming across as a social moron whose initially charming quirks turn into debilitating weirdness.

Ghost Rider looks awesome. They went for a complete CGI character and it was a good move. The initial transformation to Ghost RIder is fantastic and the change back to Blaze was similarly well done! I liked the Ghost Rider bike and how his appearance changes throughout the movie, adding a chain and spikes.

 It is when Blackheart and his cronies show up that the film goes down hill. First, Wes Bentley does an absolutely horrible job as Blackheart. Blackheart comes across as a spoiled child, not a serious demonic threat. The rest of the villians "The Hidden" are so forgettable I couldn't even tell you their names if I didn't look it up online (Abigor, Wallow, and Gressil in case you were wondering). In any event, Ghost Rider defeats each one in very easily about 20 seconds or so. Yawn. In the first fight I wondered why all four of them didn't just gang up on Ghost Rider. Instead, they attack him one a time like bosses in a video game - Beat level 1, level 2, level 3 - HEAD BOSS! If that doesn't sound that interesting, you're right.

The police storyline is an oddity. It goes nowhere. The police are tracking down evidence at the scene of each fight. They even detail Blaze, question him, and lock him up only to have him transform into Ghost Rider, break out, and get chased by the police. Then the police apparently completely forget they were interested in Blaze because you don't see or hear from them again for the rest of the movie. Weren't their video cameras in the prison to catch Blaze transforming into Ghost Rider? Didn't the police want to... you know, continue questioning Blaze for an unsolved murder case?

The movie is riddled with these little logical holes and oddities. Ghost Rider apparently doles out brain death to common muggers on the street. Roxanne apparently has no problem dating somebody who transforms into a demonic entity every night. Really? Cause I got to tell you - that'd be a deal breaker for most women. At the end of the movie, Caretaker (AKA Western Ghost Rider) rides 500 miles with Ghost Rider to the final showdown... and then doesn't fight. Instead, he transforms back into a human for the last time and apparently rides the 500 miles back home but instead on a normal horse this time. Huh? Why not have him fight a little and then get knocked out or killed or something? Weird.

I wanted to like this movie and it does some things right but ultimately misses the mark. Let's hope the sequel is better.

1LR Review - 10 out of 20 - It's a Miss!

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance Trailer

I wish I could say I was optimistic about the chances of this being a good movie... but I saw the first one. If this ends up being good, I'll be very pleasantly surprised!

STILL, it IS a Marvel movie so I WILL see it in the theaters.

Look for a MAJOR announcement coming from 1LR this December! BIG NEWS!