The original “Ghost Rider” wasn’t just the worst Nic Cage movie of the last decade, or the worst comic book movie, but one of the worst movies, period. Ill-conceived, badly written, horrendously directed and dreadfully acted by every single person in the cast (particularly Wes Bentley, who at least had the excuse that he was on heroin the whole time…), you’d think it would have killed the potential franchise stone dead. Right?
We should be so lucky. Between Cage’s tax problems and the fact that if Sony didn’t put the film into production by November 14th, the rights to the character would revert to Marvel (the same reason we’ll see Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four movies every few years until the end of time, regardless of whether anyone wants to see them or not), “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” goes into production, in 3D, no less, in the fall, and the film now has a release date.
Box Office Mojo reports that February 17th, 2012 is the date to mark in your diary, and then avoid like the plague: personally, this writer has already arranged to visit a Nepalese monastic retreat for two months either side of the release date, in order to minimise the risk of contamination from the picture. Take any precautions you deem necessary.
“Crank” writer/directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are in the director’s chairs, so one might hold out hope that there’ll be a certain degree of gonzo fun to be had, but nothing in that film’s sequel, or “Gamer,” or “Jonah Hex” (because for all their bluster, their script wasn’t much better than the finished film) suggests that it’s really a possibility. Cage is the only cast member set to return, mainly because neither Eva Mendes nor Donal Logue owe the U.S. government $13 million.