Before Marvel changed Hollywood forever with the launch of Iron Man, superhero movies had a sequel problem. For every Blade, there was a Blade Trinity, Superman gave us Quest for Peace, and Spider-Man 3 has been reclaimed now, but we’ll never forget the Evil Peter dance sequence.
When Ghost Rider, the last of the pre-MCU movies, turned into a surprise hit and a sequel was announced, fans were excited and pumped for more of undead Nicolas Cage. That lasted until 2011 when the film hit theaters, and from the very first scene, it was clear that Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was either the result of thousands of wrong choices or it was sent by Mephisto to punish us, but now it’s somehow become a top ten hit upon showing up on Netflix.
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is a standalone sequel that has no connection to the first film except Nic Cage’s Johnny Blaze, the motorcycle stuntman cursed to be the vessel for the Spirit of Vengeance. Now wandering Europe, Johnny’s recruited by a drunken monk, Moreau, played by Idris Elba to keep a young child, Danny Ketch (in the comics, the second Ghost Rider) out of the clutches of Roarke, a wealthy businessman who wants to transfer his spirit into the child’s body. Roarke is shown using the power of Hell to corrupt his henchman, giving him the power to stand against the Ghost Rider as Blackout, a villain from the comics that he shares no connection with other than name and a similar appearance.
The Ghost Rider comics of the 90s didn’t become some of the best-selling in the industry for their deep plots. They featured the very cool-looking flaming Rider against the forces of Hell, and thankfully, that’s what the majority of the film focuses on with a series of extended chase sequences. In the film’s best scene, Johnny Blaze takes control of a massive mining machine and infuses it with the power of the Rider, creating a 20-ton Hell Beast, but as cool as the moment is, it’s not worth taking up the entire budget so that they had to film the first draft of the script.
I don’t know if that was actually the case, but the writing in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is on par with a good piece of fan fiction. The screenplay was written by David S. Goyer, a talented writer who worked on the Blade trilogy, every Christopher Nolan Batman film, and he’s behind AppleTV’s Foundation. So what went wrong to turn the Ghost Rider sequel into a boring slog that isn’t even a fun watch in the “so bad it’s good” way of Sony’s movies?
The answer is right there in the credits: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor directed Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and you may not recognize those names, but the pair wrote and directed Jason Statham’s Crank, DC’s Jonah Hex, and the Gerard Butler cult hit Gamer. That explains why the film ignores concepts like character development and plot to focus almost entirely on the action. Still, it’s clear that the VFX-heavy Ghost Rider put a damper on the madhouse kinetic style of their earlier films. It’s a great lineup of talent on paper, but in practice, it feels like everyone is moving at half speed.
Nicolas Cage does get one of his greatest freakout moments, but it’s at the cost of abandoning all the character development from the first film. Instead of the grim, determined Blaze who rode off into the night after defeating Legion, the Blaze of the sequel is an unhinged lunatic barely in control. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance tries to explain the change, and as absurd as it may seem, it’s fairly comic-accurate (unless there was another retcon I missed), but it doesn’t help the constant feeling that the film is slightly off, and maybe something was missing in editing, or it’s entirely composed of first takes.
Ghost Rider wasn’t an amazing film, and it’s missing the hallmarks of the MCU that came about only a year later, but Wes Bentley as Legion and Sam Elliot as an old, gunslinger Rider made it fun. Spirit of Vengeance can’t strike the right balance between dark action and slapstick, leading to an uneven tone from scene to scene. Get ready to watch Ghost Rider pee fire.
With a box office haul of only $150 million, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is one of the worst-performing Marvel movies this century, and even The Marvels or Ant-Man: Quantumania have appeal as freak side show attractions that at least tie into a larger narrative. The adventure of Johnny Blaze is a complete standalone that wishes it had the offbeat appeal of Morbius. It’s such a strange movie that the marketing team didn’t know how to handle it, and in an effort to cram in every moment of the Rider in action, wound up showing the very last moment of action in the trailers.
Johnny Blaze hasn’t been seen since, but there are rumors that he could be part of the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars, alongside everyone (except for Edward Norton) who has ever stepped foot on a Marvel set. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had an amazing half-season story arc with Gabriel Luna as Robbie Reyes, the most recent host for the Spirit of Vengeance, but he’s been stuffed in the same closet as the rest of the team, never to be acknowledged by Disney. It’s a shame Ghost Rider hasn’t stuck around as the character is very cool, but then again, making brief appearances and being ignored for years is the most comic-accurate part of the live-action hero.
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is now on Netflix.
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