So I bit the bullet and went to see Nicolas Cage reprise his role in the sequel to Ghost Rider, for those who haven’t seen the first Ghost Rider let me fill you in on the back story of Ghost Rider.
Five years ago Nicolas Cage brought Marvel Comics Johnny Blaze to the big screen the stunt bike rider that made a pact with the devil (Peter Fonda) so that he could save his father’s life, but any deal made with the Devil is going to go bad!
And so the Ghost Rider was born and we had a rather enjoyable, if not daft, movie from the Marvel stables, now five years on we now have the sequel Spirit Of Vengeance.
Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance 3D – Blazing Minds Movie Review
Shot in 3D, Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance takes us to Romania and Turkey where we find Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) Â and a motorbike riding monk (Idris Elba) trying to protect a young boy from the clutches of the devil and Blaze trying to save his soul and getting rid of the “Rider” once and for all.
What we have here is a bit of fancy 3D to try to soften the blow that the sequel isn’t really that good, ok the special effects are slightly better than the previous movie and the 3D is really good, but the movie just seems to lack something, having seen the previous Ghost Rider I was even surprised that scenes from that one were re-filmed.
Such as the scene of Blaze signing the contract with Roarke, originally played by Peter Fonda, now replaced with Ciaran Hinds!
Although there are some well-known names with small roles in the film such as Christopher Lambert and Anthony Head, the flow of the film just didn’t seem to go as well as it could have done, though it was nice to see Spencer Wilding (@BigSpenWilding who I met at the Apollo Winter Weekend) with a little more screen time than usual 😉
I do honestly think that Ghost Rider has had a bit of raw deal and is possible the worst of the Marvel screen adaptations, I really don’t think Cage is right for the part and the screenwriters have almost took it on themselves to just throw something out and say “There that’ll do!”
Sadly Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance reminds me of one of those “straight to DVD” movies and that’s coming from someone who loves Marvel movies, but let’s be honest, the first movie was quite bad as well!
Overall Thoughts For Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance
If you did like the first Ghost Rider, then by all means go and see this, if you’re expecting the same Marvel experience as Captain America or Iron Man, then you’re not going to get it. But on the plus side the 3D is very well done and works well 😉
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
