The Exploding Skull Cage

Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengence(2012)

Directed By Mark Neveldine And Brian Taylor

Director duo Neveldine/Talyor continued their Four Loko fueled headlong action sprints into derangement in the lastest Ghost Rider film. 

Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengence finally gives Nicholas Cage room to act as his trademark man unhinged before the CGI flaming skull takes over. 

The Ghost Rider in this sequel is more demonic, inventive, and all together more interesting to watch than the stiff original.

The story involves Cage as Johnny Blaze a burned out ex motorcycle driver and host to the spirit of vengence that feeds on evil (from war crimes to "illegal downloads"), living in the shadows and ruins of Eastern Europe, lured out of his self imposed exile by a drunken priests claims of redemption provided he prevent a young boy from becoming the anti-christ-the usual super-hero stuff. 

The real spectacle lies with Cage's performance in one gloriously sweaty interrogation scene where special effects showing Cage's face teetering on morphing into a hollow skull can barely keep up with the actors natural manic facial controtions. 

If your not laughing during this scene, than you will know this is not the movie for you. 

Neveldine/Taylor have never feared veering into bieng crude or obnoxious from Crank's repeated public sex scenes, to Gamer's masturabory virtual reality, and finally in Ghost Rider pissing flame.

The flaming piss, for what its worth, is not something that actually happens in the film per say, but is a flash of imagination from the young Satan spawn, when questioning Cage about what its like when the demon of vengence takes over. 

Later it flashes back on screen when Satan describes his mortal body as just bursting with power, and the soon to be anti-christ equates the ultimate power with an old man needing to piss.

 

Whether or not the director's channelling their inner Takeshi Miike or Cage's scenry chewing will be enough to earn this the new cult classic space it deserves is uncertain.

This version is Ghost Rider as a road movie, which plays to the characters limited stregnths, but for what little there is to work with here everyone involved does their best. 

Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengence is a sequel that far exceeds the original film but as a movie its just okay. 

I can't think of much more a Ghost Rider film could possibly be or hope to accomplish, but if Neveldine/Taylor stuck with the franchise , I'd imagine it would at least would be worth watching.-Joe

Getting Crunk

Crank 2: High Voltage directed by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor

Beyond the valley Ridiculous in the shadow of Mt. WTF, lies Crank 2: High Voltage. I have not seen the first Crank, and so had no idea what I was getting into. The first scene is of two 2d videogame characters fighting while falling through the sky, an abrupt cut later and we are in the film, with Statham falling out of the sky and bouncing thirty feet off of a car and onto the pavement, where he is immediately thrown into a van and taken away.

Then his heart is removed and replaced with an artificial one, but when it comes time to remove Statham's penis, he jumps off the table and fights his way out of wherever he is onto the streets. His heart battery wears out and he has to give himself continous electrical shocks (from tasers, car batteries, and even human friction from skin rubbing together...)to keep himself alive. Chinese and Mexican gangsters are after him, and so is wild eyed running through the streets screaming crazy Bail Ling who has become obsessed with him for some reason.At one point unnanounced and with no reference to anything else in the movie, Statham and a bad gut he is facing are suddenly morphed into Godzilla like versions of themselves, with fake oversized heads and a model version of a city beneath them as their arena. They Godzilla fight for several minutes, and when the fights done the movie is back to normal, no mention, no bump on the head induced hallucination, its buisness as usual in Crankland. And what buisness it is.
This movie has no connection to reason, logic, or sense, it's one crazy episode after the next; from public sex on the middle of a race track(with thunderous applause from a cheering crowd) to bieng so overcharged with adrenalynn you cant comprehend your entire body is on fire(as the skin on your face flakes off like ash), to facing the preserved head of your enemy in a jar, there is nothing Statham can't or won't do. I for one like the un-serious approach, action films could do with more levity and less text-book dramatic intensity. It's silly, but too silly to be ignored. If you were able to get the joke in "Shoot Em Up" and "Punisher: War Zone", "Crank 2", is jolt of genre life, you have been waiting for.