As enjoyable as riding a flaming bitch seat...

Comic book movies are such a hit or miss affair.  Sometimes you have a great movie from a character that isn't all that well known like Blade or The Crow.  Sometimes you get a complete turd of a movie from a character that is very well known like Wolverine or The Hulk.  And sometimes, you get Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, which is somewhere closer to Punisher: War Zone.

 

Razzie Award nominee, Nicolas Cage reprises his role as Johnny Blaze; a man who made a deal with the devil and now has to ride a flaming motorcycle as the Ghost Rider.  Honestly, I have seen Cage do a worse job at acting than this and he wouldn't be too bad overall if not for the crazy laugh and the stupid, stupid facial expressions.  The plot of the movie centers around Blaze being in Eastern Europe for no good reason and having to save a boy that happens to be the spawn of Satan so that Blaze can be freed of the curse of the Ghost Rider...who happens to be a crazy angel or something.

Still there?  Yeah, I was making that face too.  The story is pretty much there just to get you from point A to point B and give Cage the opportunity to chew the scenery a lot.  There is Idris Elba (who clearly needs a better agent), Christopher Lambert (who clearly needed the money), and even Anthony Head (who clearly did a favor for someone).  The characters were all pretty standard and throw away and no one was ever really a threat...even Satan..err...I mean Roarke was a bit of a pussy. 

As for the movie itself, I saw it in 2D and I don't think I missed anything.  For some reason, there was a lot of up close cinematography that was just too jarring and there were many times that I had no idea what was happening because of it.  Additionally, Cage does NOT need to be filmed that close up at this point in his career, especially in the age of HD.  Also, there were a lot of odd mannerisms, camera tricks, and cuts that I am sure were suppose to make Ghost Rider more scary, but it didn't.  It just looked hokey.  That said, there was some good use of CGI and I really liked the look of the bike and the way things actually looked burned.  Also, they did a good job of dealing with the fire and smoke realistically, especially in the chase scenes with the motorcycle.  There were cool touchs when he "hellified" things that he rode as well.  But sadly, no Ghost Rider sex scenes, so no hellifying of a lady...maybe in Ghost Rider 3: Highway to Hell.

So...how was it?  It was ok.  I liked it better than the original, I think, but it was nothing all that special.  His powers were really tamed down in this one, though he really didn't need much other than his chain.  The effects are worth seeing, but not much else.  Oh and there is nothing after the credits other than your wishes for a better movie.  Enjoy kids!