Ghost Rider : Spirit of Vengeance

Rating : 3/10
Release Date : 17th February, 2012 (India)
Time : 95 minutes
Director : Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor; Writer : Scott M Gimple, Seth Hoffman, David S Goyer; Music : David Sardy
Starring : Nicholas Cage, Ciaran Hinds, Violante Placido, Fergus Riordan, Idris Elba, Johnny Whitworth, Christopher Lambert

A real yawn inducing film with a wafer thin plot, sleepwalking in place of acting and nothing new in terms of presentation with visuals similar to the previous film.

The devil, Ciaran, is interested in a boy, his son, Fergus. The mother, Violante, and Cage try to protect him and keep Ciaran at bay, aided and abeted by Idris. Ciaran also has a helper, Johnny, who changes form midway through the film.

Once the novelty of Cage transforming into a skeleton on fire & riding a bike goes away, there is precious little the film has to offer. And we see the above visual so many times, in close up and from afar, that there is zero excitement left post the halfway point.

The end, when it arrives, is weak & tame. Nicholas Cage looks old and bored (don’t know which is worse). The others fail to excite. The music, in the rock realm throughout, desperately tries to rouse some enthusiasm but only ends up grating on the nerves.

The film seems to have been made simply because a sequel made commercial sense even though it lacks a core, enticing idea. The entire movie is shot in a grey, black palette and that very much sums up your mood as you leave the hall.