Fans of Marvel Comics’ Ghost Rider didn’t have much to fall in love with in February of 2007, when Columbia Pictures released the first film in what it thought would be a new blockbuster franchise. Everything was off, from the casting of comic book lover Nicolas Cage in the title role to the inept direction of Mark Steven Johnson, resulting in a glossy bore of an action film.
Luckily the studio went back to the drawing board with the sequel: a lower budget, new director(s) (Crank’s Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor) and a supposedly darker script from Batman Begins‘ David Goyer, but what I’m seeing in the just-released second trailer for the film is only a tad bit more promising. We’re still being lured by an eclectic cast (as we were with the original) and expensive visual effects, but the occult-centric plot seems like more of the same.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m rooting for this film. I want to see Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance succeed not only at the box office, but with fans of the demonic soldier as well. There’s a wealth of internal struggle to mine from Johnny Blaze, which could result in a big-budget winner that doubles as a soul-searching character piece. I’m just not sure that Neveldine and Taylor are into psychoanalysis.
Have a look at the new trailer below and tell us what you think.
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance rolls into theater on February 17, 2012.
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