Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance Review

Rating 3 out of 5

TITLE: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

DIRECTOR: Mark Nevelidine, Brian Taylor

STAR(S): Nicolas Cage, Ciaran Hinds, Violante Placido, Idris                  Elba, Fergus Riordan

WRITER(S): Scott M. Gimple, Seth Hoffman

RATING: PG-13

GENRE(S): Action

            As a fan of the comics, I was very disappointed over the 2007 cheese fest that was the film Ghost Rider starring Nicolas Cage. The dialog was embarrassing, the story was a mess, the villains were uninteresting, and many of the performances ranged from being too over the top to blatantly phoned in at times. So you can imagine that when I first learned a sequel was in the works, my hopes weren’t very high. That all changed though when I saw the trailer for Spirit of Vengeance. It looked darker, grittier, and holy sh!t the action looked intense. Plus when I discovered that this film was being directed by the same guys responsible for the, “Crank” series I figured it was a safe bet that viewers were in for a wild ride.

            While “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” is more of a reboot of the franchise instead of a true sequel, it does still maintain the basic continuity from the first film’s origin story. Cage reprises his role as Johnny Blaze and does a much better job bringing the Rider to the big screen this time around. We learn that he is on the run because the curse that he was so sure he could control at the end of the first film has proven to be too much to handle causing him to avoid human interaction whenever possible. Despite his efforts, he is visited by a stranger named Moreau, (played by Idris Elba) who comes looking for Blaze’s services. He explains that a young boy named Danny; (Fergus Riordan) is being pursued by Blaze’s old Nemesis Roarke (Ciarán Hinds) and is in danger of becoming the anti-christ. At first Blaze is reluctant, but after Moreau promises that he’ll lift his curse of the Rider, Blaze sets off in search leaving nothing but a trail of fire behind him.

Most of the action takes place on desert roads.

I’ll come straight to the point. Spirit of Vengeance’s story fails as a super hero blockbuster but instead triumphs as a road action flick. Most of the story unfolds out on the highways, as battles with convoys rage on through desert roads instantly giving off a sort of Mad Max vibe to it. Despite the fact that this is a story about fighting the devil, monster designs never stray far from human form and seem rather uninspired. With that said, Ghost Rider’s new look is the exception looking simply amazing looking in comparison to the first film. There are many times that the Rider becomes genuinely creepy at times due to the way it moves and stares which is a feeling I never got from the previous film.

The story suffers from some continuity problems still, despite it staying true to the origin story as far as how the Rider affects Blaze. At one point the Spirit of Vengeance gets hit by a missile sending Blaze to the hospital only to later on take rocket after rocket without so much as a scratch, leaving the question if Blaze can die due to the Rider’s wounds unclear. Overall though the story is much more solid this time as the film even manages to have a sense of humor about itself many times throughout. The characters overall are much more likable in this installment especially Moreau, who is just full of charisma and honestly stole the scenes every time he was on. I honestly wanted to learn more about his character and wished there was a spinoff of his back-story somewhere.

Moreau shows that even french brothers can rock the classic leathers.

            Dialog is so much better this time around as well. The script gives Cage the freedom to act crazy as expected without going too overboard. Everyone talks in a believable way and relationships seem a little more real this time. The little boy Danny I found to be an interesting character because despite him being chosen to become the anti-christ, he never feels truly evil. He shows that genetics and destinies don’t guarantee the kind of person you will become personality wise and the relationship he grows with the rider is an interesting concept. The Rider doesn’t talk no where near as much as he did before which is a blessing because last time every time it spoke it resulted in me feeling embarrassed for it due to the cheesiness.

Danny shows that deep down all children can be evil.

            The sound in “Spirit of Vengeance” is what one would expect. It’s a piston busting, gasoline igniting boom fest that keeps you in your seat when the action heats up. The noise that Rider made always got under my skin whenever I heard it, proving that one liners do not make a character intimidating.

            The 3D was mediocre at best as it never blew me away but never made my eyes hurt either. Honestly most of the time I forgot I was watching a 3D film and odds are that’s due to all the night time scenes.

           

Mayhem has nothing on Blaze.

            Overall, “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” is not the epic Marvel heroes tale we’ve been hoping for to stack up with the great Avenger movies. It is instead a gripping and entertaining road flick that left me feeling very satisfied. If you liked “Drive Angry” you’ll like this one. It is a phenomenal improvement over the first film, and I hope that another sequel will spawn out of this reboot. Who knows, the next one might be the epic demon fighting tale fans have been waiting for.

Ryan Pierce

First Impressions: Road Rage #1

Title: Road Rage #1

Writer: Stephen King, Joe Hill
Illustrator: Nelson Daniel
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Pages: 24

WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS.

One of my favorite comic series is Locke & Key written by Joe Hill. He showed me that when it comes to character writing and depicting horror to a sequential art format that he is among the best in the business. Being the son of renowned author Stephen Kings, (Also no stranger to the comic scene) I wouldn’t expect any less. Now if you put these two minds together on a project you’ll have my attention, but if you have them working on a story paying homage to one of the most iconic thriller films of all time, then the fan boy in me comes out at maximum overdrive. No pun intended. Road Rage is a mini series paying tribute to the classic film Duel, which was Stephen Spielberg’s debut project as a director. It will also adapt to another novella called, “Throttle” which I must admit I never heard of but after reading this, am already hunting it down.

            The story focuses on a band of outlaw bikers who call themselves the Tribe. No fair weather riders or, “Wild Hogs” shenanigans here as these guys are the real deal. They’re rough, violent, and have no qualms killing if you piss them off. We meet them riding through the desert, heading to a place called Show Low to seek retribution for a business deal that went sour, putting them 60k in the negative. Throughout the book we see two of the main characters, Vince and Race are constantly bumping heads as to what the appropriate actions are to take on their current situation with no peaceful agreement looking to show.

            Taking a break at a rest stop the gang prepares to head out again when Vince notices an old vintage tanker truck just looming over them in the lot, but thinks nothing of it after it departs and has everyone get back on the road. Miles rack up and before the gang suspects anything suspicious, the mega rig suddenly attacks them by ruthlessly running over members and grinding both flesh and chrome into the asphalt. It is a high speed fight for survival as one by one the casualties add up and without knowing who the driver is or their reasoning for the carnage unfolding, the men have no clear idea on how to deal with their assailant other then to keep moving.

            The artwork in “Road Rage” is amazing as illustrator Nelson Daniel puts just the right amount of details in the right places. The bike designs are all unique and the character designs all have characteristics that make them stand out from each other. Given the fact that we are dealing with an all male cast wearing their insignia colors riding cruiser style bikes, that couldn’t have been an easy feat. The truck design and scale of it at times really brings out the monster in an otherwise normal mundane machine that we see every day. Just take a look at that mechanical beast towering over the three main characters and you’ll see what I mean. The Exaggerated size is perfect way of depicting the terror you got from watching Duel.

            One of my gripes with the art, (although this could be a story fault) is right from the start we are introduced to nine characters which like that truck on the cover can be intimadating to readers at first. Luckily though by the end of this book that number is cut in half as members become chunks of meat on the roads or stains on the truck's grill, leaving us with a more manageable cast. The other complaint is how the truck is drawn jumping through the air. While some pull off the terror element well, some just look odd as if it’s bucking like a bull. I’m sure was the intention but to me, seeing a truck bend like that, depicts it as crashing not chasing. 

            The dialog and overall story is easy to follow apart from the broken English but given that’s how your average biker talks I wouldn’t have it any other way. The narrator’s dialog always confused me on one aspect because throughout this book, we never learn who he/she is telling the story. It reminded me of the older silver age format of story telling which you don’t see too much today. The revenge plot was a solid enough ground to begin on but since everyone is running for their lives by the end of this first issue, we’ll have to wait and see if it remains the main plot device.

            Overall “Road Rage” was a very satisfying first issue of this mini series. It got a lot of story done in this book and has a cliff hanger that leaves me chomping at the bit for more. It’s clear that this father and son collaboration have a lot of passion for this project and I must say it imitates the atmosphere of Duel well. I can’t wait to read the next issue.

Ryan Pierce