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• Currently 1/5 Stars.

Movies.ie Critic Review

GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE (USA/United Arab Emirates/12A/95mins)

Directed by Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor. Starring Nicolas Cage, Ciaran Hinds, Idris Elba, Violante Placido, Christopher Lambert, Fergus Riordan, Johnny Whitworth, Spencer Wilding.

THE PLOT: Perhaps unsurprisingly, stunt rider Johnny Blaze (Cage) is having second thoughts about having sold his soul for a life as the fire-belching and brimstone-tyre-melting Ghost Rider, and so, he’s quick to take up the offer of French motorbiking monk Moreau (a green-eyed Elba) - save a little boy, Danny (Riordan), from the devil, and the curse is lifted. Only Danny boy turns out to be the son of the devil’s representative here on earth, Roarke (Hinds)…

THE VERDICT: The studio distributing this sorry mess put an embargo on the world’s press, demanding it not be reviewed until the actual day of release. It’s an old trick, designed to keep the public from smelling a stinker before they’ve had a chance to pay the admission price, but, truth be told, the embargo has merely drawn more attention to the fact that this Ghost Rider sequel sucks the big one. And how. This sort of B-movie is almost enough to give Nicolas Cage a bad name. At this point, he really should consider remaking The Room. RATING: 1/5

• Avg User rating
• Currently 1/5 Stars.

User Reviews

• • Currently 1/5 Stars.

  Mr_Twist

  

  And you thought the first one was bad

• • Currently 1/5 Stars.

  enigmab17

  

  Ah god what a load of dribble. Watching this makes the first one actually look half decent. What Nick Cage was thinking of when he said yes to this is beyond me, for me its done alot of damage to his reputation. While I didn't see the 3D version, I can only imagine that the 3-D is nothing special, given the amount of effort that put into the film story line etc, I would imagine it is. Its just all sorts of bad, what's with the whole jittery neck thing, and the bike, everything just looks bad and poorly done.

• • Currently 1/5 Stars.

  mart

  

  It's a little surprising to see Ghost Rider get such a shoddy sequel. While the original was not a critical favorite, it had a worldwide gross of more than $225 million on a $110 million budget. The sequel's budget was a little more than half of the original—five years later. It's like they set this thing up to fail—and it certainly has, at least on a filmmaking level. It looks awful and plays out horribly, like many recent Cage vehicles.You have the option of seeing the film in 3-D, but I would suggest the option of not seeing Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance at all.

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  blade803

  

  Not as good as the 1st movie, but enjoyable none the less, although it is let down by the 3D, nothing actually stands about it and you sit through the whole movie wondering why they even bothered, Nicolas Cage does his usual mental role lol, not really much else to say about the movie other than save your money and just rent it on dvd/blu-ray when you can.

• • Currently 1/5 Stars.

  jony_dols

  

  A 'good' Nicholas Cage film generally equates to a bad film, and a bad Nick Cage flick results in film-making at it's worst. Some delusional people will defend him to the hilt, but sorry to break the news, but Raising Arizona is the most overrated 'comedy' I have ever seen, and Leaving Las Vegas was a career fluke (See Cher in Moonstruck as another example). Everything else in his shambolic career has been rubbish; to put it mildly. (We all know that Colm Meaney, Steve Buscemi & John Malchovich carried Con Air, whilst Sean Connery & Ed Harris were the true stars of The Rock!). And this cinematic travesty is no exception to the Nick Cage rule. It's direction is amateurish, the action is boring, the 3D is meh, it's humor is cringe worthy & the acting is downright laughable. I can't put all the blame on ol' Nick, because the rest of the nobodies are just as guilty. The first Ghost Rider had Eva Mendes as a saving grace, this sequel/reboot unfortunately has no redeeming features. I can't stress it enough for people to steer clear of GR: Spirit of Vengeance.

• • Currently 2/5 Stars.

  filmbuff2011

  

  Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance sees Marvel's comic book character Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) return to the big screen after an absence of 5 years. Not that anyone really asked for a sequel... Spirit Of Vengeance is bog-standard stuff, as Johnny seeks to protect a kid from a demonic cult led by ex-Highlander Christopher Lambert. A kid? That's the first sign that something's wrong with this film. Whereas the first film was darker, this sequel has been toned down somewhat for a family audience. This is particularly surprising given the usual excesses of directors Neveldine & Taylor, the crazy minds behind the Crank films. Cage is always very watchable but, given his recent output, he really needs to have a word with his agent. At least Ciaran Hinds gets to have some fun as the smarmy Devil. The 3D is pretty much non-existent as well, a result of yet another poor conversion. A big round of applause to E1 Entertainment for not supplying cinemas with an old-fashioned 2D version. Seeing a shoddy 3D conversion just makes the film feel even worse than it actually is...

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  vu1999uk

  

  While not as good as the criminally underated first ghost rider movie, this film is still good fun. Is helped by having a great sense of humour, wacky scenes, and letting Nicholas Cage go full crazy. Is pure enjoyable nonsence.