A review of Ghost Rider 2

Yes, I realize I'm a little late on the whole watching of ghost rider. OK, A LOT! But if you are me you either don't have the finances for $10.50 a ticket when blockbusters come out, can't see 3D movies, or don't have the travel means to see a movie and get to watch everyone enjoy themselves while you are stuck at home wishing you could go.

With that explanation out of the way, here's what I thought. The movie itself looked like a completely different one from start to finish. I read somewhere this was supposed to be their way of doing a reboot since the first didn't go over so well. Personally I loved the first one so I don't understand people's complaints. I guess that's why I felt somewhat confused from the beginning of the film.

***Spoilers Don't read if you haven't seen Ghost Rider 2***

Totally disliked the Danny Ketch tie in. Making him half demon instead of a potential new rider in the third film pretty much ruins the end of Johnny Blaze if there ever is to be one in the future. Would be nice if he was given rider powers instead because he made a similar deal that Johnny did. I realize things will be different because this is a movie but it still makes more sense than what they did.

What was strange and creepy at first, but eventually grew on me, was the scare factor in this film. There  definitely was more of a horror aspect in this film which I thought was good. Ghost Rider should always keep everyone on their toes. Plus seeing Cage flip out every two seconds trying to control the rider from unleashing was pretty amusing.

Didn't really like the look of the Rider this time around, although more realistic in many ways I thought the skull looked oddly pointy, and I miss the shiny black jacket with spikes. This one looked old and crusty with not enough flash to it.

Very saddened by how the penance stare was played off this time around. He looks into their eyes and they explode? Liked the old way when they just appeared as a soul-less body.

Miss the flashy bike too. This one looked old and rickety. What can I say, I guess I'm a fan of flashy when it comes to being a biker, in my opinion that's what makes an awesome biker.

One improvement that I applaud is they included more of Cage's voice when he actually was Ghost Rider. So I give them credit for attempting more realism of the character this time around.

As far as supporting characters, none of them really impressed me, until I saw Christopher Lambert as one of the Monks. That was amazing.

Overall I'd say the movie was alright, there were parts I loved, like when Ghost Rider turned a whole Machine into a fiery blaze as if it was one giant bike. But there were a lot of parts where it lagged too and the main villain (especially the actor) was not peaking my interest as much as the first movie villain.

So it didn't quite live up to expectations after all this waiting. But it did surprise me in many ways and introduced me to looking at the character differently which is always good. Still I'll always be a bigger fan of the first movie and I hope there is a third film to cap it off.