Ghost Rider:Spirit Of Vengeance Movie Review

Ghost Rider Spirit Of Vengeance has gotten an awful amount of backlash recently, with several critics and audiences bashing it for its lack of a deep story and even going as far as saying that the first one was better. In my honest opinion is think these negative claims do not do this movie justice, and I thought the movie was a tremendous amount of fun. The films directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have offered a fun, stylish and action packed thrill ride that is made even more entertaining by the awesomely over the top performance of Nicholas Cage as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider, the films main character.

The story is about Johnny Blaze, a man who made a deal with the devil to save his father from death, and ended up cursed in the process. This curse is the curse of the Ghost Rider, a demon with a flaming skull and body which Johnny transforms into from time to time and causes him to lose control and become a destructive soul consuming monster. Johnny has exiled himself to Eastern Europe and it has been 8 years since he was first cursed. He is approached one day by a man named moreau who offers to rid him of his curse in exchange for a job that he wants him to do. He wants Johnny to protect the life of a boy called Danny, who along with his mother are being pursued by the devil himself. The devil in human form as a man named Roarke needs the boy for his own purposes and uses mercenaries for the job. Johnny must keep the boy from danger at all costs and complete his task so that he can finally be rid of his curse.

This movie movies story is simple and effective and doesn't pad its self out with unnecessary plot choices. The story gives the Ghost rider a lot more screen time in this one compared the first film, which is defiantly an inprovment.

The films action scenes are one of the films strongest points, as they are just simply awesome. The first Ghost Rider film had a bad lack of good action scenes and failed to show off the potential of the characters powers. This film however is a completely different story. The Rider has much more exciting action scenes is this film that are shot well and feature great special effects. One of the films best action sequences comes in the form of a battle on a road featuring the Rider in pursuit of a truck convoy. Its fantastic seeing the rider actually engage a convoy of trucks while riding his flaming hell cycle.

Another one of the films strongest points is the portrayal of Johnny Blaze and Ghost Rider compared to the first film. In the first film Johnny was a fairly goofy character and you didn't really believe that this man was having a struggle with his curse. The film changes that by having Johnny being isolated at the start of the film, knowing full well that his curse puts everyone around him at great risk. Nicolas Cage is clearly having a blast playing this character and it is really entertaining watching the scenes where Johnny transforms into the Ghost Rider because Nicholas Cage really throws himself into the moment and just goes completely nuts.

The rider is also a lot better is this film, and at times is actually very intimidating and sometimes scary. The scene where the Rider first appears perfecly demonstrates how much darker this film is compared to the first one. The rider has also had a bit of a redesign, because now the skull is more grey and burned compared to the clean white skull of the first film. The rider also has less dialogue this time, which creates the sense of a very silent and creepy character.

The CGI work for the Rider is also fantastic and is also fantastic is other parts of the film. The film also has a very great sense of humor, and the film doesn't take itself too seriously. The film is fully aware of its self and it aims to be a fun entertaining film, and its succeeds.

Overall I thought the film was a amazing amount of fun and I would say that this goes along with Daredevil as a very underrated comic book movie. The backlash and bad press for this movie seems to miss the point and doesn't understand that the film is supposed to be a entertaining action flick that doesn't take its self too seriously. There are times when the film actually seems like a old road trip movie and the locations combined with the action scenes reminded me a little bit of the Road Warrior. People expected too much out of a story involving a guy with a flaming head fighting the devils hired mercenaries on a road while riding a flaming motorbike, and that's why it has been unnecessarily bashed. This film is way superior to first film in my opinion, and the style of this film should have been what the first film was like to begin with. Its action is superior, the characters are superior, the direction is superior, and the Ghost Rider himself is without a doubt way superior and is actually intimidating this time around rather than a goofy bland dissapointment that spewed out bad dialogue.

I highly recommend this movie and I would love to see a sequel that hopefully also brings back the directors.

Final Score 4/5
-Great action
-The Ghost Rider is much better this time
-Nicolas Cage is clearly enjoying himself and makes the film more enjoyable
-The films sense of humor fits very well with its style
-Tremendous amount of fun

The live action Akira movie, a sign of even more Hollywood incompetence.

The synopsis for the america live action Akira movie was recently released, and it brings a few unwelcome changes to the source material along with it. here is the synopsis.

"Kaneda is a bar owner in Neo-Manhattan who is stunned when his brother, Tetsuo, is abducted by government agents led by The Colonel. Desperate to get his brother back, Kaneda agrees to join with Ky Reed and her underground movement who are intent on revealing to the world what truly happened to New York City thirty years ago when it was destroyed. Kaneda believes their theories to be ludicrous but after finding his brother again, is shocked when he displays telekinetic powers. Ky believes Tetsuo is headed to release a young boy, Akira, who has taken control of Tetsuo’s mind. Kaneda clashes with The Colonel’s troops on his way to stop Tetsuo from releasing Akira but arrives too late. Akira soon emerges from his prison courtesy of Tetsuo as Kaneda races in to save his brother before Akira once again destroys Manhattan island, as he did thirty years ago."

The first change that is clear is the changing of Kaneda from a teenage delinquent to a bar owner. This was probably done due to the actors being older, but that doesn't mean he still cant be the leader of a biker gang. The opening bike sequence from the anime is a fantastic display of kinetic action and brute force on bikes. It demonstrated the harsh gang violence situation plaguing Neo-Tokyo, and at the same time further conveyed Akira's themes. Changing Kaneda to a bar owner possibly means a sequence like this will not be appearing, but also means that some of the source materials themes will be missing, which is very disappointing.

The other disappointing change is that the film be be set in Neo-Manhattan rather than Neo-Tokyo. once again this removes the heavy Japanese themes form the manga and anime. The setting of Neo-Tokyo explores themes ranging from the atomic bombing of japan all the way to its post war crisis. You cant just abolish those themes in favor of a different setting, because in the process you make the prevalent themes form the source material completely pointless.

Tetsuo's role is also different. He is Kaneda's brother and he is being used to release Akira, rather than going on a rage fueled rampage due his inferiority complex. He did seek Akira in the source material, but it was because of his own curiosity on the powerful being. This synopsis seems to suggest that the colonel and military want Akira to be released, while in the source material they are hell bent on stopping it. It says "Kaneda clashes with The Colonel’s troops on his way to stop Tetsuo from releasing Akira but arrives too late.". Why would the troops stop him from preventing Akira's release? do they want Neo-Manhattan destroyed?. This also changes an aspect of the colonel's character. His character dislikes what his country has become, but he will do anything he can to stop its destruction. Here it seems like he is trying to release Akira to destroy Neo-Manhattan for unknown reasons.

The synopsis doesn't mention any of the political aspects of Akira, such as the revolution and the failure of the country's leaders to maintain the country's economic problems. If this means that those aspects will be also absent then it is another set of themes that will be missing.

In conclusion this short synopsis reveals a huge amount of things that have been changed and abolished. So far this film seems like a huge insult to all of Akira's fans and its legacy. It also seems like Hollywood doesn't understand the films themes, or why they resonate with an audience. Its seems like they saw the keywords "government" and" destruction" and pieced together the plot from that. Akira is a lot more than just a story about a rage fueled teenager using his powers to destroy things, its also about the nature of civilization and how tampering with a greater power or failing to control one can lead to civilizations destruction. It portrayed the apocalypse as the end of a civilization, but also as the start of a new one, where society can rebuild as long as competent people lead the revolution.

 It almost showed destruction and economic turnmoil as not being the ultimate end, but being the a way into a new beginning. It treated it like a cycle where the end is still followed by a beginning in which a new society rises from the ahses and rebuilds itself. The manga and anime's themes still have meaning today, with economy's in disaster, revolution in the streets, and the military crossing the line. only time will tell if the film will be any good, buts whats for certain is that Hollywood is about to E.X.P.L.O.D.E.