Since I am a Marvel fanboy I give every Marvel Movie a chance. Well, this was a movie were I actually regretted having spent 13 Euro on it. Very rarely does that happen. In 95% of the cases I find myself able to somehow get some enjoyment out of the film, even when I dont like it so much. With this film it was different. After this movie I really wanted to walk up to the theater Box Office and demand my money back for having shown such a bad movie to audiences. It should be considered a crime to make or show such abortions.
Look, I really wanted to like this movie, but it was just impossible. Ghost Rider SOV is a bad film in almost every aspect. I am not too familiar with the character in the comics, and I am also not very fond of the first film.
When it was announced that the Crank Directors Neveldine/Taylor would be directing the sequel I was like "Yeah, good choice, at least they will do better than the first one!" I was so wrong!
I dont even now what to begin with with. The screenplay is a clustered mess incoherently scrambled together by 3 screenwriters (one of them being the "oh so great" David S. Goyer). Goyers version was actually the starting point for this movie.One more proof that Goyer alone cant write for a darn.
The story...well, the Devil comes to earth because he needs a new body. He is trying to achieve that by using the body of a 12 year old boy. An occult ritual has to occur to do so. The Ghost Rider has to stop him. And all that happens in...wait for it...EASTERN EUROPE. Sure thing, where else should it happen?
Thats it. Sounds great, huh? But this is no major gripe, since a movie like Ghost Rider doesent need a deep story. It CAN work with a thin screenplay.
The characters are laughable thin, as well. There is not a single character in the movie that could somehow be considered multi layered or mysterious. For example, this movie shows us the dumbest and weakest and most laughable incarnation of the Devil ever put to film. Ciaran Hinds is not a bad actor, but what he did here is just awful.
Many defenders of Nic Cage say that his overacting is part of his "Charme". I dont see that. To mee its just bad acting. I also dont get what so "hilarious" about it, like many people say. I find it embarrasing.
Many films these days do shooting in Eastern Europe. It is cheap. Thats why studios go there. Which is okay as long as the cheapness doesent sneak into the movie. Unfortunatly that is what happened here. Everything about this movie screams CHEAP. The locations, the set design, the way the story is told (aka "pacing"), even the CGI!!! I really dont see the often mentioned improvment of CGI in this film. The skull of the Rider looks a bit rougher than in the first one, but overall the CGI is still DtV standard.
Now lets look at the action. This is actually the point about which I was most disappointed. I really thought having Neveldine/Taylor directing would leas into crazy and untamed Comic-Action which uses strange camera angles and top notch editing. I thought that this was exactly the game of those directors. They failed. I dont know how much they were held back by the studio, but still...this is unforgiveable. Even the first movie had better action. The action in this film only contained mindless shoot outs and straight forward biking. Every director can do that.
Tha ultimate fact which makes this movie so despiseful is not that it trys to be a masterpiece, ending up being a mediocre CBM... it is because this movie aims VERY LOW to begin with, and STILL MISSES THE MARK.
This movie is a stinker in every aspect. Not even the most hardcore Marvel fanboy should be able to get joy out of it. I cant drink enough beer to have fun with this piece of garbage.
Bad, bad film making.
At least there is one good thing about it: Two stinkers, two Box Office fails, yep, I think this franchise has successfully been killed for the forseeable future. No more Ghost Rider. Thats good. I endured enough ****ness with this character.
