“It doesn’t matter how far you run… there are some demons you can’t escape.”
Apparently, that goes for turds as well.
In Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Nicholas Cage reprises his role as the Marvel Comics’ anti-hero Ghost Rider (hence the title). Given Mr. Cage’s need for more paychecks, it’s obvious as to why he would return to the flame-skulled character he portrayed so poorly in the first movie. What’s not so clear is why we would want to watch him do it.
So let’s see if I can make a case for it.
A selfie done right.
Ghost Rider, for the uninitiated, was a stuntman who rides a motorcycle. After selling his soul to the Devil, he found that he was embued with a spirit (the metaphysical kind, not the liquor kind Mr. Cage would undoubtedly prefer). This ‘spirit of vengeance’ turns him into a flaming skeleton in leather and chains. Why? Because it can. And with the powers (as well as a ridiculously long chain) of the Ghost Rider, the reluctant hero takes on other evil forces and stuff that are doing their evil force thing in the world. Or something. In this particular instance, the Devil has taken a young boy to become his vessel on Earth. The mom of the boy is clearly upset. Ghost Rider reluctantly goes after him. There’s a fight on a highway or two. There’s fire. Really, does it matter? Are you still reading this?
“What’s the safe word? WHAT’S THE SAFE WORD?!”
So let’s break it down: leather, chains, skeletons, flaming evil, the abduction of young boys… there’s a disturbing sexual subtext here that I’m not sure I want to examine too closely.
If you’d like to get to the bottom of it, go see the movie. For those not into sado-masochism, save yourself the pain and just look up videos of people getting hit in the crotch on YouTube.
I give this movie 1 Broken Trailer Hitch.
The Fourth Wall, Broken: This is a review of the entire movie based solely on the trailer and my imagination. Any spoilers are unlikely and coincidental.