Despite the failure that the Ghost Rider film was, Nicolas Cage will be reprising the title role. Directing the new movie will be Crank directors Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine. The screenplay will be based on an old draft written by David Goyer.
Film rights to Ghost Rider would have went back to Marvel if Sony didn’t put a movie into production by November 14th, so of course they pushed forward.
As big of a fan Nicolas Cage professes to be, he simply isn’t right for the role. He doesn’t seem capable of portraying the character’s inner struggles, as evident in the prior film.
The first Ghost Rider movie also suffered from the fight scenes. There were no emotional weight behind any of the fights. Nor was there any real sense of endangerment for Ghost Rider. It merely felt like scenes to segue into the next. The villains were ineffectual and didn’t impose a real threat.
If there’s going to be any chance of success, they need to stick to the horror elements that they nearly ignored in the first film. They tried to make it a dark action movie, which ultimately hurt the flick. It should have been filmed in a similar vein to Blade, but with the horror ramped up. Shying away from the violence made the film feel cartoon-like — Ghost Rider is a violent, horror comic book; the feel of the comic should be used for the movies.
[…] In July I expressed disappointment in the fight scenes and the feel of the first movie. The film lacked any real impact. It was merely going through the motions. The villains didn’t feel like a threat. In fact, none of the antagonists felt imposing. […]