It’s been nearly six years since Nicolas Cage’s superhero flop ‘Ghost Rider’, of which the only good thing you could say would be… um… well, he wore a nice jacket. He’s back with The Rider once more, directed by ‘Crank’ filmmakers Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, and like so many second entries this time we’re promised bigger, darker, 3D-ier things. But will these promises be fulfilled?
Now hiding out in Europe, Johnny Blaze (Cage) tries desperately to control, and perhaps one day flee, the curse of the Rider. However, a man named Moreau (Idris Elba) approaches Blaze with an offer- he must lead a woman whose son is wanted by Blaze’s nemesis, The Devil himself (Ciaran Hinds) to a monastery where he will be safe. However, Beelzebub is on his heels, along with his henchman (Johnny Whitworth) to capture the child, as he holds the key to the destruction of the world.
Whereas the first film tried (and failed) to evoke the ‘X-Men’/’Spider-man’ style of big budget superhero action, this leans heavily on Neveldine and Taylor’s kinetic, violent, music video method of filmmaking, yet bizarrely the film is just as awful, albeit in a different way. The script is laughable, some of the special effects amateur (particularly the confusing scenes where Whitworth’s demonic character attempts to ‘rot’ his victims), and the plot complete lunacy. It starts with little twists to the formula that don’t make sense (The Rider apparently now judges everyone on the slightest misdemeanour), before descending into a wider apocalyptic scenario which oddly lacks urgency given how few developed characters there are.
Cage is no stranger to taking a role for a paycheque (why else would he have done ‘Season of The Witch’?), but it’s clear he has a great affection for the character. The problem is his performance suffers from schizophrenia- half the straight faced daredevil of the first film; half the madcap looney we’ve seen in some of his best work (think ‘Bad Lieutenant’). Either way you look at it, it’s far from the darker, more serious approach we were promised, indeed the lack of coherence only takes away from the character’s credibility. Elba forges on valiantly with the most likeable character in the film, however is buried beneath a French accent and the script. The usually wonderful Hinds is far too hammy as ‘The Dark One’, and Whitworth makes for a poor henchman.
Just as awful as the first, with none of the camp retrospective value, ‘Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance’ shows that Cage’s stock is steadily diminishing, as although he continues to make an eye-watering number of movies, the good ones are getting further and further apart.
'Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance' in 3D is in cinemas now.
Entertainment News