Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Nicolas Cage returns as Johnny Blaze, a cartoon character who is having a very hard time translating to the big screen. The first film was an origin story, establishing the fact that Blaze sold his soul to the devil. This one picks up a few years down the road with Blaze not adjusting well to the life of a guy whose head occasionally explodes into flames. He's hiding out in Eastern Europe, has let his hair grow out and—because he is being played by Nicolas Cage—suffers from crazy mood swings. This time out, it's as if directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor realized they had a dud on their hands and told Cage to go into psycho mode to attract his diehard fans. This results in random scenes of Cage doing his patented cuckoo act, something that can be amusing on some levels, but seems odd and out of place when poorly directed. This time out, it's odd and out of place.