![]() These are movies about a motorcycle stuntman who's given a dark power to enact vengeance throughout the world, along with a hellish bike and that signature skull for a face. Well, sometimes they don't, but when these two movies are really cooking, they succeed by embracing the sheer pulpy power of their source material. So, how does the Ghost Rider films get around that dilemma? After all, for huge swaths of these movies, Ghost Rider is there as a flaming head in a leather jacket, so we can't see Cage's face, and Ghost Rider's voice doesn't sound like him. He's always been one of those actors you just want to keep watching, which in many ways made him an ideal candidate for a superhero movie, but with Ghost Rider in particular, there's a catch. Built on the sheer visual power of a guy in a leather jacket with a flaming skull for a head, these films arrived just as superhero movies were changing for what feels like forever, and yet all these years later, they still play like their own wild ride.Ī lot of this is, predictably, thanks to Cage, who throws his own creative choices through both films like confetti, imbuing even the silliest scenes with a sense that something demonic and unhinged really is going on behind those eyes just before they burn out and are consumed by Ghost Rider's skull. Though they weren't exactly greeted with widespread critical acclaim upon their release, and very often gain attention now thanks to the presence of star Nicolas Cage, these films exist in our present-day superhero landscape as an interesting bridge between the world that was and the world that is. Which brings me to 2007's Ghost Riderand its 2011 sequel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. We're used to it now, but at the time it was a fascinating and sometimes frustrating thing to watch, and it was made all the more fascinating by the continued existence of standalone comic book adventures that existed completely outside of the new era that was about to launch. Within just a couple of years, the whole landscape would change, and shared universes would become the driving force of superhero cinema, so much so that even relatively self-contained movie universes would do their best to expand and adapt to the new model. ![]() RELATED: Remembering the time Nicolas Cage channeled voodoo for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was sticking with what worked, namely more Batman movies. Meanwhile, the newly empowered Marvel Studios was off working on films that starred B-and-C-list heroes like Iron Man, and Warner Bros. The boom of the early 2000s that gave us Spider-Man and X-Men wasn't over exactly, but it did feel like it was maybe losing steam. You may have to select a menu option or click a button.In retrospect, 2007 was a really interesting time to release a new superhero film based on a character never previously adapted for the big screen. Follow the instructions for disabling the ad blocker on the site you’re viewing.You may have more than one ad-blocker installed. You’ll usually find this icon in the upper right-hand corner of your screen. Click the icon of the ad-blocker extension installed on your browser.When it turns gray, click the refresh icon that has appeared next to it or click the button below to continue.Click on the large blue power icon at the top.Click the UBlock Origin icon in the browser extension area in the upper right-hand corner.It will turn gray and the text above will go from “ON” to “ OFF”. Click on the “ Ad-Blocking” button at the bottom.Click the Ghostery icon in the browser extension area in the upper right-hand corner.Switch off the toggle to turn it from “ Enabled on this site” to “ Disabled on this site”.Click the AdBlocker Ultimate icon in the browser extension area in the upper right-hand corner.“ Block ads on – This website” switch off the toggle to turn it from blue to gray.Click the AdBlock Plus icon in the browser extension area in the upper right-hand corner. ![]()
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