Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance / Ghost Rider: L'Esprit de vengeance - [DVD]

In its best moments, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is an amusingly gonzo popcorn movie fueled by the combined manic energy of its star, Nicolas Cage, who reprises his turn as the tormented Marvel Comics antihero, and directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank, Gamer). The trio's performances in front of and behind the camera seem to indicate their wish for Spirit of Vengeance to be regarded not as a sequel to the wan 2007 Ghost Rider film, but rather an entity unto itself, and in truth, the picture does work overtime to distance itself from its predecessor, from its fast-and-loose origin rewrite at the picture's opening to its tonal shift towards darker, meaner territory. That doesn't entirely translate into a better film: though the script, based on a story by David S. Goyer (Blade, Batman Begins), bears greater resemblance to its comic book origins than its predecessor, its story, which sends the Ghost Rider on a mission to protect the son of Satan (Ciar