I saw GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE 3D today! I am still a little overwhelmed, so this is not a polished review, but an 'in the zone' post film first impression.

WOOOAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH Hell YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

Very very cool and very very creepy!!!

I am not going to give spoilers about the plot or key moments in Nic’s performance but  any kind of review is going to be spoilerish to some degree and please bear in mind this is just my experience of it!

suffice to say, none of the clips trailers tv spots or previews do justice to the movie, not the plot, the performances but most notably it’s flavour.  this film is very much experiential, not a cerebral exercise, it truly enters the deepest level both in terms of the frenetic intensity and energy brought by Nic’s performance and Neveldine and Taylor’s signature style and in it’s darkness which is delivered almost symbolically, I am talking beneath the actual  storyline. it bypasses the mind and is like a direct shot into the subconscious…leaves you with a feeling like you woke up from a disturbing nightmare.  

Much has been said about N and T’s filmmaking style and the synergy between them and Nic as an actor, and my god the combination is (literally in my case I actually couldn’t breathe in parts it is so deliciously  extreme) breathtaking, It is was everything I expected and more..

...and the more part is worth talking about…in the months leading up to the film there have been mentions of the word  ‘horror’, but  I was not sure what from that would take, yes there is the epic stunt badass action that makes you punch your fist in the air as you ride on the edge of it with the characters  (with some exceptionally cool Nic bits as both Johnny Blaze and Ghost Rider )  but there is also a glorious almost old school creepiness…and I was not expecting it. It almost had the feel at times of the old horror movies the kind of horror  I love (because i dont get along with slasher horror at all)

I cannot explain it because it is an essence and energy that you feel. And the way Nic moves as the ghost rider yes there is the snake motion but i glimpsed something else ht made me shiver.. almost a scuttling movement, and it reminded me of something  but I couldn’t think of what, then I remembered, it ‘s a little like the insect like movements made by Jeff Goldblum  in the Fly!

The transformation and exorcism scenes both cinematically and in performance had that combination of creepiness and intensity too, I had actual  goosebumps pretty much the whole way through! Ciaran Hinds having an almost early  Christopher Lee vibe about him.. this in the context  of the timeless setting, created something wordlessly atmospheric, something that you would think may have gotten lost in the power of the action and extremely gritty style, and yet the tone is actually multilayered and that is how the film hits you..on many levels all at once, which is of course a trademark of the multidemnsional actor that Nicolas Cage is too.  for me this lends a new and exciting creative layer to Neveldine and Taylor on top of their well known unique style, that I loved and was really impressed by.

It straddled the line between mainstream and an edgy underground vibe which was totally on point for me, and seems just right for this character, but I bet they could all have taken it a lot further and that would also have been fun to see, but this is one hell of an exciting film, for so many reasons..there is really nothing out there like it, today the body of comicbook superhero films genre gained a solid extra limb! 

I love your review, Lula, so much to think about there. I saw it tonight and am not able to write a review yet, need to get my thoughts together first.

Never having seen a Neveldine and Taylor movie before, I was unprepared for it really , even though I had read lots and seen so many clips. It was totally different than what I expected. I knew it would be darker but I guess in my mind I was still expecting a kind of comic book vibe, but this was more graphic novel. Nic was unreservedly brilliant, and he will certainly be showing up in You tube montages with some of his amazing turns as Blaze, I am sure! Nic as Ghost Rider, wow, I am blown away. 

Did you see it in 3-D, Lula, I did, but I am kind of wanting to see it otherwise now.

More later, still puzzling this awesome performance. 

Wow great for you two that you have seen it :D

That is a wonderfull review Lula and thank you for telling about the movie so much without giving spoilers! I can't wait to watch it myself :)

I hope you get to see it soon Quazie, let us know what you think!

wow, great question....I loved the first film as most people here know, for me it has alway been unique, funny, cool and just an aesome film and I am very fond of jelly bean eating Karen Carpenter loving coffee guzzling Johnny Blaze. The new film is, as the filmmakers and Nic himself have been telling us, completely different, in tone, the origins, the story, the characterization and it feels  like a delicious luxury to be witnessing Nic bring this character to life again in a totally diffent way. Plus, we get Nic as the Ghost Rider, which is endlessly thrilling. this film blew my mind and overwhlemed me in a totally blissful way that the first film didn't but the first still left an indelible impressoin upon me and it is a film i enjoy watching over and over. GR:SOV is something that reaches you on a  deep level and has that volcanic impact that special films have, (a little in the same way as Vampire's Kiss, leaving Las vegas, Knowing, have on me too (NOT that these film are in any way similar)) and  have to pick my moment for watching them.

this may seem like a cop out, but for me, neither of them are better, just totally different and both totally brilliant. 

When Spirit Of Vengeance comes to DVD i am going to watch them back to back, that'll be one hell of an experience!

My pleasure Quazie, I can't wait until everyone else has seen it and we can really talk about it! Has your mum seen any other N and T made films? i guess their style is not everyone's cup of tea, and this is just my experience of it!

 It was a thrilling experience for me, lisamarie! look forward to hearing your thoughts on the film !

After reading ev1's post...i'm soooo dieing to see the movie!!

Thank you all for ur input about the movie.You made it even more exciting for me to go see it!! 

Ok..the film has been open for a week now and i am itching to talk about it more!

Lol, i knew i may live to regret giving my first impressions as i think my allusions to The Fly,  and Christopher Lee were very specific to me ...guessing noone else saw it?!

so.....to those who have seen it:

what were your favourite scenes and lines in the movie?!?

My favourite scenes

I have 3 favourite scenes and none of them were in the trailers or clips (in their entirety!)

two are back to back, where Johnnmy Blaze is resisting transformation and has a guy pinned to the wall in a club giving a very epic Terence McDonagh unhinged perfomance

(pic via the offical ghostridermove facebook page)

followed by him on his bike shifting in and out of transformation! (part of this ws in the second trailer but you need to see the whole thing..)

(screen shot of second trailer)

and finally, the exorcism scene! love the whole comic book / horror tone of that scene..no official pics for this yet and quite rightly so. go see it.

My favourite line:

Spoiler

"Scraping at the door, scraping at the door"