Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 3D

Hell of a Ride

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Rated: PG-13   Intense sequences of action and violence, some disturbing images and language.
Release Date: February 17, 2012
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins

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Director:  Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor

Writers: Scott M. Gimple, Seth Hoffman, David S. Goyer
Cast:  Nicolas Cage, Violante Placido, Ciarán Hinds, Idris Elba, Fergus Riordan, Christopher Lambert, Johnny Whitworth

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SYNOPSIS:  Johnny Blaze, the human vessel for the demonic Ghost Rider, lives off the radar in Eastern Europe in an attempt to contain and purge the Spirit of Vengeance. When he is called upon to stop the devil from taking human form on earth, Blaze must let the Ghost Rider loose to battle the demon in exchange for ridding himself of the Ghost Rider curse for good.

REVIEW: The Crank and Gamer directing team Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor return with their extreme directing and aggressive cinematic style for one of the fringe, but surprisingly powerful, Marvel Comics characters. Based on a story from David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight, Blade), Scott M. Gimple (FlashForward, Chase) and Seth Hoffman (Prison Break, FlashForward) join Goyer on writing duties to bring the motorcycle-riding, flaming-skulled chain-wielding spirit of vengeance back into the popularity it deserves. Can the writing team lead by Goyer, directed by the Neveldine/Taylor extreme team, and reprised by Nicolas Cage do for Ghost Rider what Goyer, Norrington and Snipes did for another fringe Marvel character - vampire hunter Blade?

In the first Ghost Rider, motorcycle circus stuntman Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage, Drive Angry 3D) sells his soul to the devil in order to save his father's life. As with every contract with Lucifer, the small print does not keep Blaze's father from death, only the cancer that was killing him. Years later Blaze suddenly becomes host to the demonic flaming Ghost Rider, an unstoppable engine of vengeance that looks to dish out justice against criminals and demons alike. In Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Johnny Blaze has escapes to Eastern Europe in an attempt to keep the Ghost Rider contained within him. Buy removing himself from reach of criminals and the seedy underbelly elements, Blaze is able to keep the demon from forcing itself out to mettle out vengeance. When a young boy Danny (Fergus Riordan, I Want to be a Soldier) and his mother Nadya (Violante Placido, The American) under the care of a an ancient religious order are attacked by gunrunner Ray Carrigan (Johnny Whitworth, Limitless) and a group of mercenaries, mother and son escape and fall off the radar from both friend and foe. Alcoholic ex-priest Moreau (Idris Elba, Thor) tracks down Johnny Blaze with the promise of removing the Ghost Rider curse if Blaze releases the Ghost Rider to hunt down Danny in order to keep him safe from the devil Rourke (Ciarán Hinds, The Debt) who looks to transfer his own power and essence into the 13-year-old boy he helped to conceive.

Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are a new breed of directors, with origins steeped in videos and low budget efforts that required innovative ways to 'get the shots'. Both have no qualms donning a pair of rollerblades, gripping the back of a pacing motorcycle, letting go and shooting the scene with a camera as they coast along at breakneck asphalt speeds without helmets. The same can be said for their take on this second entry of the Ghost Rider.

The flaming skeleton rider may still don a leather jacket but gone are the shiny metal spikes and black cowhide material, instead replaced by charred and bubbling leather and an ever present length of hell chain. The Ghost Rider's gleaming skull replaced by a blackened smoldering cranium. Even the Ghost Rider's flames, emotive in the first film ranging from brilliant raging reds to subdued saddened blues are replaced by more dangerous yellow angry licks of flames laden with an oily black trailer smoke. For the money, the Ghost Rider looks deadly, more gritty and darker than the demon that graced the screen in the Ghost Rider's first big screen appearance in 2007.

The movie is as good as the first film, only completely different. The Ghost Rider is different, but visually cool. His powers are expanded, still using the chain but also able to 'hellify' any vehicle he commandeers. The Ghost Rider is more manic and crazy each time he is released from the confines of the human vessel Johnny Blaze. The setting is different, moving from the new glass and steel America to a history-rich stone Eastern Europe. Gone is the love interest in Eva Mendes' Roxanne, replaced by mother Nadya only interested in the safety of their son. Head demon Mephistopheles in the form of top salesman Peter Fonda and Wes Bentley's Blackheart are usurped by Ciaran Hinds' elder politican Roarke and Johnny Whitworth's Ray Carrigan who Roarke embodies with a fraction of power to become a creature able to decay anything he touches and create a perimeter field of total darkness to fight in (similar to the Marvel Comics Ghost Rider villain Blackout who used Ray Carrigan as an alias). And in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Highlander Christopher Lambert make an appearance as ancient order high priest Methodius tasked with keeping the boy safe with in his sanctuary.

The story is decent, but still does not do the Ghost Rider the justice and showcase he deserves. The Ghost Rider may not be at the level of the Earth's Mightiest Avengers, but he routinely eliminates the hordes of hell. The best story may be a story that will never see the light of the screen, namely that of the Midnight Sons and the story of Lilith and the Lilan, including appearances by Blade, the Nightstalkers, Danny Ketch's Ghost Rider, a curse free Johnny Blaze, and the vampire Morbius. Not a direct war with the devil, that story would add more characters, tensioned interactions and alliances and a stable of grotesque killers and demons for the heroes to battle.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is a camp-filled hell ride. Nicolas Cage is totally committed to the role of the tortured Johnny Blaze. Fergus Riordan plays Danny with both innocence and a killer stone cold glare. Both Elba and Whitworth are capable, working on opposite sides of the battlefield of good and evil. The 3D is not as impressive as it could be, leading to a recommendation to save a couple dollars by taking in a 2D viewing if possible. Comic fans will be torn by the departure from the source material, but being a second- or third-stringer in the Marvel Universe does allow for more latitude in the story. Appealing as a popcorn movie for action and some horror, Ghost Rider gets points for visual appeal, cool action sequences, and a better villain than in the first film. Otherwise, if you do not care for the Ghost Rider, please do not take your vengeance out of any of the reviewers.

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WORTH: Matinee or DVD (for the fans)

The Woman In Black

Subtle Ghost Story Scares

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Rated: R Thematic material and violence/disturbing images.
Release Date: February 3, 2012
Runtime: 1 hr 35 min

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Director: James Watkins
Writers: Susan Hill (novel), Jane Goldman
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Sophie Stickey, Janet McTeer, Ciarán Hinds

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SYNOPSIS: A young lawyer travels to the remote village of Crythin Gifford to deal with the closing of the estate of a reclusive deceased widow. Shunned by the villagers, he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the village's children.

REVIEW: Author Susan Hill wrote the thriller "The Woman in Black" in 1983 about a vengeful ghost that haunts the small English town of Crythin Gifford, appearing as a warning before the death of the town's children. Adapted in a still-running stage play and a TV movie in 1989, Eden Lake and The Descent: Part 2 director James Watkins conjures up the Susan Hill novel through a script by Jane Goldman, known for her collaborative writing efforts on Kick-Ass, The Debt, and X-Men: First Class.

Young widowed lawyer and father Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2) travels to the remote town of Crythin Gifford to settle the estate of an old reclusive widow. Upon his arrival, he is rebuffed by both the town solicitor and the hotel owner. Parents scurry their children away and indoors as Kipps passes by. Only the wealthy Samuel Daily (Ciaran Hinds, The Debt) is unaffected by Kipps' arrival to the village, chalking up the others reaction to superstitious nonsense. Tasked with settling the estate and going through the extensive documentation of the widow Alice Drablow at her island-esque and secluded Eel Marsh House set in the middle of the boggy marsh and cut-out from the rest of the village with every high tide, Kipps starts to uncover strange documents and letters that provide clues to the elusive widow and her family that none of the villagers will disclose to him. After witnessing the death of a young girl at the constable's office, Kipps stays at the Eel Marsh House to continue his work, now distracted by strange noises, flitting shadows and forms, and unexplained visions. As he digs deeper into the paperwork, Kipps also digs deeper into the history of the house, its residents, and the evil that seems to surround the Eel Marsh House estate an the village of Crythin Gifford.

The Woman in Black is a ghost story, pure and simple. Situated in the cobwebbed and strangely decorated house, Arthur Kipps faces the bumps in the night and the strange happenings alone by using only his wits and his desperation to keep his solicitor's position by taking this assignment in the first place. The pale woman shrouded in mourning black and gauzy lace is little more than wisps caught out of the corner of the eyes. Dread mounts each time the Nine Lives Causeway and the surrounding marshes are covered by high tides. Some of the scares are obvious, some catch you off-guard. Director  Watkins uses classic sights, sounds and anticipation to maximize the scares, switching from Kipps view to an unearthly perspective with quick edits. London, the last eastbound train to Crythin Gifford, Crythin Gifford itself, the marsh, and the Eel Marsh House hide behind wispy ground fog, overgrown and unattended vines, and grey peeling paint to offer a dense, layered, foreboding environment.

The Woman in Black is a one-man show, or a one-man and one-woman show. Daniel Radcliife, trying to break out of his Harry Potter persona, has smartly diversified with stints on Broadway with 'Equus' and the more recent 'How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying', as well as this new big screen role. With the different period attire and hair, and a scrag of whiskers on his young face, Radcliffe does much to shed his humble wizarding beginnings. Unfortunately, the addition of the Hinds character Samuel Daily doesn't help matters when Radcliffe's Arthur calls him Sam - so close to Ron for some audible reason. All in all, Radcliffe works enough angst and magic (no pun intended) to deliver a strong first post-Harry performance.

The other characters in the film, Samuel Daily (Hinds) and his affected wife (Janet McTeer), and the rest of the suspicious and angry villagers, and all of the children who have died or whose parents fear for their lives, add a oily film of creepiness to the story. Part Children of the Corn, part Village of the Damned, the children and their guardians despise the mere fact that Arthur Kipps has come to town and insists on going to the Eel Marsh House. 

The Woman in Black does its best to unnerve, even as a more abstract ghost story thriller. No time is spent on gore or splattering scares. Radcliffe's film may not be as structured or complicated as Kidman's The Others, but it does its best to rattle you. In the climactic finale, even my horror genre jaded heart skipped a beat or two. Those who are looking for the cheap thrills or quick scares do not need to apply. For those looking for a subtle story of fear, vengeance and hatred in the form of a pale, wasted woman wrapped in black, The Woman in Black may fit the bill. 

POEMS: 

During afternoon tea, there’s a shift in the air.
A bone-trembling chill that tells you she’s there.
There are those who believe the whole town is cursed.
But the house in the marsh is by far the worst.
But she wants is unknown, but she always comes back.
The specter of darkness, the Woman in Black.

Have you seen her? The woman in black?
She once lost her boy and now shes come back.
Our parents all worry they make such a fuss
For if she cant find him she'll take one of us.

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WORTH: Matinee or DVD