First Reviews For GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE Hit

Little White Lies:
It’s sad to report that Spirit of Vengeance has little of the boisterous Xbox vitality of their Crank-ed up finest, but plenty in common with the slack narrative, confounding characters, bromidic dialogue, shaky SFX and palpable ambition-to-budget shortfall of the Jimmy Hayward-directed atrocity, Hex.

The lack of conviction brought to the story echoes throughout the entire production, with dumb character reveals, disjointed scenes, drab locations and stranded pauses in the middle of action sequences. The occasional flash of directorial bravado, such as Cage burning headlong toward camera whilst being rocked by a dose of the Jacob’s Ladder face-shakes, or a minimalist Saul Bass-y dream sequence, exists in empty space that one would be tempted to describe as airless if it weren’t so very, very loud.

You'll no doubt hear it said elsewhere, but, by comparison, this really does make the first Ghost Rider seem like stone-baked gold.

Rating: 1/5

Financial Times:
It’s all a bit ITV drama premiere. (One keeps expecting Trevor Eve to appear in a bomber jacket.)

Ghost Rider ... cannot claim to say much about human nature, but who could not love this actor?

Rating: 2/5