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What Went Wrong With Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Spirit of Vengeance has gotten some less than stellar reviews. What went wrong with this film?

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance opened up this weekend with some not so stellar reviews from, well, everyone. According to the LA Times, the Ghost Rider sequel took in $25.7 million it's opening weekend and was beat out by Safe House in its 2nd week and The Vow. The first Ghost Rider film also opened up on President's Day weekend and made $52 million it's first few days. What's so different between these two films? Why did it only make half of what the original film made? Simply put, this film is so awful that it makes the original Ghost Rider look like an Oscar contender for best picture. Why was it so bad though?

I felt like doing this after seeing the movie too.
I felt like doing this after seeing the movie too.

Before I complain about how awful this film was, I guess I should really talk about some of the cool things in this film. Yes, there actually were a few. Ghost Rider looks a bit cooler now. His skull is charred, as well as his jacket, so overall, the character looks a bit better than he did in the first film. The fight scenes were also pretty cool as well.

Connor MacLeod in the year 5430
Connor MacLeod in the year 5430

Best part for me was seeing Christopher Lambert in this film. He plays a tattooed monk of a secret order that has way too much old wine hanging around. During one scene, Lambert's character is holding a sword above a child's head, about to cut it off, and I couldn't help but whisper "there can be only one." I guess it's the little things that get me excited.

This movie also tries to take bits and pieces from Danny Way's GHOST RIDER run from a few years back where Johnny realizes that the demon within him is actually an angel who went nuts. However, the total time they spent on this is about 2 minutes, which he has to use the angel side of the rider to heal a boy.

Directing Team From Hell

Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine were the directors of this flick. You may know them as the directors of The Gamer and The Crank films. Also, they both wrote the screenplay for the Jonah Hex film. Sadly, I didn't know this going in, but realized about 5 minutes into the film that this looked way too much like Crank and that these guy love shaky, hand-held cameras. The last thing I want is a super shaky shot during an action scene. I have no clue what's going on. Seriously, it's like the camera was fed an 8-ball of cocaine before they started shooting.

There's a few key scenes that are just plain awful, but the stand out one is when Johnny and Danny ride Johnny's motorcycle together. It was a good 2 minutes of the directors trying to prove to me that what was on the screen was cool and not pointless in any way. I don't care about popping wheelies and stoppies, get back to the movie please and put the camera on a tripod.

Nicolas Cage

No Caption Provided

I have a love/hate opinion of this guy. I love his serious work (Matchstick Men/Weather Man) and I even love his silly work (Con Air, Face Off), but when he gets behind a movie I actually care about, I worry. He tends to overdo it a bit, and by "bit" I mean a lot, and that's the case in this new Ghost Rider flick. At times, I'll admit, his acting was downright hilarious, like his work in the remake of The Wicker Man, especially during the scene where Blaze is trying to hold back the rider and yells "IT'S SCRATCHING AT THE DOOOOR!" In a way that only Nicolas Cage can scream it.

He's over-the-top and ridiculous the vast majority of the time. I don't know what happened between this film and the first Ghost Rider, but we're seeing a completely different Johnny Blaze now. One that has lost his mind and completely forgotten how to interact with people without screaming.

3D? Really?

I don't think the 3D aspect brought in anyone who wasn't going to see this in the first place. 3D literally did nothing for this film. Sure, there were a few things flying at you from the screen, but that's about it. No extra depth and no real purpose. The only people that got anything out of it was the movie theater when they charged me an extra dollar. Ghost Rider is among the 90% of 3D films that come out that are a prime example of what not to do with a 3D film.

No One Took Making This Film Seriously

It's ridiculous how much no one seemed to care about making a good film... Need some proof?

Does it count as indecent exposure if you don't have genitalia?
Does it count as indecent exposure if you don't have genitalia?

That's Ghost Rider peeing fire. That's right. The film spends a lot of time trying to convince the audience that everyone in this movie and that everything happening is cool. Ghost Rider is cool enough on his own. We don't need the motorcycle wheelie ride, the peeing of fire, and well, everything else. This movie seems like a paycheck to everyone involved and nothing else. There's so much potential in this series, and I feel like it was all thrown away for a few dumb jokes, a potentially good storyline that was ruined by everything else in the film, and tons of CGI.

This film is one of the worst of all the comic book films in the 21st century. There was potential for greatness in it, especially since the first film was a decent start to the series. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is a film that simply doesn't care what you think of it because it's the "cool" kid at the back of the party trying to play acoustic guitar over the stereo and everyone's conversations. At first glance, you might be into it, but if you actually pay attention, you'll realize everything about him is oh so wrong... and the only song he knows how to play is the opening verse to "Santeria" by Sublime... and he's Nicolas Cage.

How do you fix what's already unfixable? Well, reboots seem to be the way to go. It worked for Batman, and although this character isn't as profitable, it could work for Ghost Rider. Just take the film and the character seriously. Is it that hard? There's tons of great Ghost Rider stories to work with, especially the Danial Way run. Start there. Stop being goofy.

Did you guys see this film? What did you like or dislike about it?

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TheForgottenHero

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Edited By TheForgottenHero

I'ma throw my two cents in, as a Ghost Rider nerd:

I went in expecting it to be good and still came out somewhat satisfied. It was forever ago, but I remember the animation scenes being really...irritating. They bugged me the most. The scenes with Blaze and Danny made me happy and fuzzy. And the peeing fire...I wanted to leave. The humorous one-liners amused me. The freakout scene and the bike-riding scene right after that freaked me the hell out - which, I guess, was the original intention. But after I saw it once, when I saw it again, I couldn't stop giggling because of Cage's facial expressions.

In the end, I was in love with the CG and the fighting stunts. I think we all agree, that was the best part. But the storyline was crap. Europe? Really? And the new body for the Devil? Um...what? Granted, the gypsy's story was good. So was the Blackout dude. But everything else - the monks, the kid, the ceremony - um. No. Just no.

Characters. Oh God don't get me started. The gypsy lady, I was okay with. Idris, I was okay with his character. That Blackout guy? Uh-uh. Big no. Danny, the kid? Cute, but totally unnecessary. Danny's not the Devil's child. Not in my mind. Sorry. The Devil...eh, he was okay. And...I'm sorry. But I feel like someone's rubbing my hair the wrong way when someone says "Blaze" and they reference to Nicolas Cage's acting. He isn't, under any circumstances, a Johnny Blaze. Am I saying he has to look and act exactly like the Johnny Blaze from the comics? No, not necessarily. But when you think of Johnny Blaze, no one thinks of a man in his 40's with a balding head and some serious mental issues. (Note, I'm a big Cage fan. But he's not a Johnny Blaze. Sorry.)

Now, continuing with the terrible filming. I kept getting headaches from the awful camera angles in this movie. When the shot would snap, it felt like someone was making my neck snap. Maybe I just don't approve of the directors' editing and shooting styles, but I really, really, hated the camera work in this movie.

All in all, I'm gonna say this movie needed some work. But it wasn't atrocious; it had its perks. It's far from the worst - but far from the best.

Also, update on those who are saying this movie grossed less than it spent - untrue. It gained 150% of its original budget internationally. Not the best; close to the bottom of the scale...but hey, better than what it originally could have gone for.

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daredevil21134

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Edited By daredevil21134

This was one of the worst movies I ever seen

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Delphic

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Edited By Delphic

@daredevil21134 said:

This was one of the worst movies I ever seen

Meh, the Cage fits kind of made it slightly entertaining for me.

HE'S SCRATCHING AT THE DOOOOAAAARRRRR!!!!!!

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GR2Blackout

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Edited By GR2Blackout

I wish they could've scrapped the sequel just to make a GOOD G.R. movie. Even if it took them an extra few years to make this movie, it's what G.R. needs. Nicholas Cage must HATE Ghost Rider.

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Lord_Rain187

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Edited By Lord_Rain187

this is the absolutely WORST comic book movie i have EVER SEEN! i actually thought this was going to be a continuation of the first movie! To say i was disappointed is the understatement of the millinium!! the spirit of vengence is a PRIME example of movies that should not have been thought up let alone MADE!! really WTF WERE THEY THINKING!?!?

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rokkwarr

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Edited By rokkwarr

Ventriloquist dummy head... nuff said. Look close. The Rider's head isn't even CGI, it's a dummy head. Especially with that twitchy "intimidation" scene it's extremely visible. In the first one the skull always had flames ALL OVER... this one, you get a lick of flame here and there, nothing as major or cannon as the first.

Seems they blew their wad on the strip miner.

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me46375

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1.his skull was black...when was his skull ever black!?!?!?

2.they got red of the original panhead (Johnny's bike in human form)

3. They got red of that astounding chopper from movie 1 (in demon form)

4. They got red of that sweet jacket from number one.

5.they got red of the sweet gloves from #1.

6. They got red of the sweet boots from #1.

7. They changed his voice... Why is he whispering?

8. They made Danby ketch a kid.

9. They gave blackout the wrong powers.

10. They took peter Fonda away! I was so pissed when I found that out!!

11. They took Roxanne Simpson away. Not a big deal.

12. And the penance stare kills people. The penance stare never killed anyone!

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Blued-and-Tattooed

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While the movie wasn't too bad it could have been far better. They pretty much killed the rider in this one. I mean honestly. They screwed up the bike, should have kept the chopper bike. And then the messed up the look that we saw in the first one. Sorry charcoal does not make me see hero. And while I can understand the character change over all the makeover fell flat. The supposed cobra like movements where a horrid choice. They looked robotic and half dead. Question... Is there any way to revive the Ghost Rider? It was pretty good comic.