2012年2月20日 星期一

Too-tame ‘Ghost Rider’ sequel all caged up

Spirit of Vengeance” is a cinematic triumph, filled with moving performances, believable characterizations and a fascinating plot filled with ambiguity and nuance.Hobby Silicone for mold making moldmaking ,

Just kidding. It’s a movie where Nicholas Cage plays a hellfire skeleton biker.Dear sirs, we are one of manufacturers and exporters of plasticinjectionmold,

Ostensibly a sequel to the 2007 film, “Vengeance” keeps Cage and ditches pretty much everything else. Tasked with tracking down a child who’s being chased down for a ritual to restore Satan’s (Ciarán Hinds) power, stuntman/aforementioned hellfire skeleton biker Johnny Blaze (I hesitate to use a character name seeing as Cage is so content to just be Cage-y here) sets out to rid himself of those flaming headaches.The liquid hardens or sets inside the molds,

There was reason to expect that “Vengeance” could have some fun with all of this. Directing duo Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor seem well suited for making the most out of stupid material. After all, these are the people who took action movies to their absolute extreme with the surprisingly sublime “Crank: High Voltage.”

And obviously the movie wasn’t going to usher in the return of Nicholas Cage, serious actor, but at least Cage circa 2012 would be unhinged enough to match the pair’s usual go-for-broke style. Despite being relatively restrained for most of the movie, Cage gets at least two patented freak-outs that should make for fun YouTube viewing down the line.

But the perfect-on-paper match never quite works out.

Maybe it’s the PG-13 rating. A lot of what made the “Crank” films work were their total and unwavering commitment to some of the most cartoonish violence committed to celluloid. In “Vengeance,” it’s reduced to a series of interchangeable bad dudes charred to CGI ashes.

Making the title character into a Frankenstein-inspired force of pure id rather than the kind of boring diet-Hulk of the first film is a great idea, but doesn’t pay off as all of the action comes across as bland. And every second the Rider is on the screen, the film can’t wrestle any insanity out of Cage.

Even with a few interesting and jumpy editing cuts or cheeky animated interludes, it all feels like higher ups forcing them to tone it town.

There are individual moments that seem lifted out of a much better version of this movie, surprisingly in most of the performances.

Idris Elba continues his tradition of taking movie roles that are far below his station. “The Wire” star plays Moreau, an alcoholic French priest and at least has some fun with a thankless role. Same with Hinds, who must be pretty full with how he chews scenery.

Late in the film, mercenary-turned-devil’s-lackey Carrigan (Johnny Whitworth) is given the power to instantly decay anything he touches. He ruffles around in a lunchbox, pulling out a sandwich that instantly molds and an apple that rots in his hands. He finally reaches for a Twinkie he’s able to chow down on without a problem.Choose from our large selection of cableties,

It all just seems too clever for “Ghost Rider 2,” a movie that could have been pretty great, or at least greatly bad.Our oilpaintingsforsales is the best place to buy art online. But it ends up being something even worse — boring.

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