I liked the first Ghost Rider and collected comic books for years. I say that to let the reader know that I am also a fan of comic book movies normally and am not a stickler about a movie sticking to comic book canon. My problems with this movie have nothing to do with it being a comic book movie.
The special effects in the movie are very bad. I saw it in 2D since I do not like 3D but I do not believe that makes a difference. The new version of the burning skull is much worse than the original. Now, there is tons of smoke most of the time and it is hard to see anything. Like watching polar bears have a milk fight in a blizzard but in black instead of white. The excess smoke and a skull that sometimes blazes but often is just impossible to see in the smoke combine to remove some of the "cool" factor of Ghost Rider. In addition, the motorcycle and costume that were cool in the first one are gone. Replaced with a motorcycle that is hard to see (hello smoke) most of the time and when you can see it, it is basically an old motorcycle on fire. Not the awesome chrome and blazes chopper you would expect. The outfit is old leather that appears to be melting when you can see it through the smoke. I suppose that would be fine if you are going for more of a rotted zombie look but that is not Ghost Rider.
One of the main bad guys appears to be one of the ghost twins from the Matrix films and is about as interesting although he does have a cool power that the actor does a good job of appearing to enjoy. Sadly, he is on the screen far too seldom and is far too often in GR's smoke.
Which brings me to the acting. Normally, I like Nicholas Cage but here he is different. His face is chunkier and he has replaced acting with turning his head sideways. Apparently, someone told him that instead of snappy patter or doing cool things, he would appear so much more menacing if he started just turning his head sideways. So he does it A LOT! As GR, he barely talks except for a few very poor one liners that are akin to Arnold's "I let him go" in Commando.
In case the poor acting, distracting special effects and poor story are not enough, they also added annoying camera work. At times it has the hand-held shaky method so wonderfully annoying and at other times the director falls in love with closeups that add to confusion when you want to see what is going on.
In the first Ghost Rider, he could throw fire, he could use a Pennance (or Soul stare) Gaze. He could defy gravity with his awesome chopper. He made quips and was a hero. They did away with all of that and replaced it with....Nic Cage turning his head sideways. I know that he does gaze at a bad guy but although some might claim that is the Pennance Gaze, nothing seems to happen.
Finally, just in case all of the aforementioned was not enough, they made sure to have lots of people talking with odd accents to help make sure the mumbled dialog was harder to understand. An awful movie that I have 2 stars only because of my respect for comic book movies in general and I am glad someone tried to make a sequel. If only they would give the rights back to Marvel and let us get a decent Ghost Rider movie again.
The special effects in the movie are very bad. I saw it in 2D since I do not like 3D but I do not believe that makes a difference. The new version of the burning skull is much worse than the original. Now, there is tons of smoke most of the time and it is hard to see anything. Like watching polar bears have a milk fight in a blizzard but in black instead of white. The excess smoke and a skull that sometimes blazes but often is just impossible to see in the smoke combine to remove some of the "cool" factor of Ghost Rider. In addition, the motorcycle and costume that were cool in the first one are gone. Replaced with a motorcycle that is hard to see (hello smoke) most of the time and when you can see it, it is basically an old motorcycle on fire. Not the awesome chrome and blazes chopper you would expect. The outfit is old leather that appears to be melting when you can see it through the smoke. I suppose that would be fine if you are going for more of a rotted zombie look but that is not Ghost Rider.
One of the main bad guys appears to be one of the ghost twins from the Matrix films and is about as interesting although he does have a cool power that the actor does a good job of appearing to enjoy. Sadly, he is on the screen far too seldom and is far too often in GR's smoke.
Which brings me to the acting. Normally, I like Nicholas Cage but here he is different. His face is chunkier and he has replaced acting with turning his head sideways. Apparently, someone told him that instead of snappy patter or doing cool things, he would appear so much more menacing if he started just turning his head sideways. So he does it A LOT! As GR, he barely talks except for a few very poor one liners that are akin to Arnold's "I let him go" in Commando.
In case the poor acting, distracting special effects and poor story are not enough, they also added annoying camera work. At times it has the hand-held shaky method so wonderfully annoying and at other times the director falls in love with closeups that add to confusion when you want to see what is going on.
In the first Ghost Rider, he could throw fire, he could use a Pennance (or Soul stare) Gaze. He could defy gravity with his awesome chopper. He made quips and was a hero. They did away with all of that and replaced it with....Nic Cage turning his head sideways. I know that he does gaze at a bad guy but although some might claim that is the Pennance Gaze, nothing seems to happen.
Finally, just in case all of the aforementioned was not enough, they made sure to have lots of people talking with odd accents to help make sure the mumbled dialog was harder to understand. An awful movie that I have 2 stars only because of my respect for comic book movies in general and I am glad someone tried to make a sequel. If only they would give the rights back to Marvel and let us get a decent Ghost Rider movie again.