Ghost Rider : Spirit of Vengeance

The concept of the Ghost Rider remains pretty much the same. The only difference being that this time around the Rider knows that he is one and it doesn’t come as a surprise to him. But the rest of the cast has changed hands and the story is obviously a new one. The special effects team, I would guess has remained unchanged considering the quality and the end product. The look and feel doesn’t seem vastly different. So for those who found the build up to the Ghost Rider series (that released 3 years back if memory serves me right) to be good, you are bound to enjoy this one as well.

For those who didn’t think that the first one was remotely good movie making – avoid this one even if someone were to pay you watch it. The Devil this time under the garb of Roarke (Ciarán Hinds) has continued with his attempts to generate more and more souls. And in the bargain, he has also bought out the soul of Nadya (Violante Placido) in return for a child that he bears off her. This child is the only one who can defeat the devil and has therefore assumed paramount importance. The only one who can keep the child away is the Rider (Nicholas Cage). And helping him this time is a monk, Moreau (Idris Elba) who has more alcohol than blood in his stream at all times.

Ghost Rider : Spirit of Vengeance is the 4th movie made by the director duo of Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor who have movies like Gamer and the Crank series to their credit. I have seen the 2nd part in the crank series and found it quite literally out of this world i.e. from a different planet (not in the positive sense). The earlier and current Ghost Rider though are very much from this planet luckily. There is, as mentioned earlier little difference in the special effects this time around. The nicer part being that the rider doesn’t leave a trail of destruction with his bike and has learnt to control it a bit more. I somehow found the effects and story of the first part a tad better in fact.

In movies of this genre one cannot really expect too much of acting talent on display. My not so favouritest of actors in the lead once again comes up with some really constipated expressions. I really cannot fault him at this skill set. It is an art that he has mastered better than most people. Nowadays all his expressions seem a bit constipated to me. Now please understand that for some reason he hasn’t impressed me to date and I am biased in my opinion. So sorry Mr.Cage. this is not personal. I am sure you are a wonderful human being but I don’t quite like your acting  for some inexplicable reason.

There is nothing much to write about so I will not drag this review any further, Lest it turns out to be as watchable as the movie. 5 on 10 from my side for this one. Not as good as the first part. Watch if you have nothing better to do. You may like the effects.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2284953881/

The American

Jack a.k.a. Edward (George Clooney) is an accomplished assassin. But he is also a tired one. He, Jack not Clooney, is at the fag end of his career. Not that anyone of us can figure it out. The guy still manages to do a zillion push ups and a few more pull ups every single day. And did I mention the 6 pack? Some guys just have all the luck. Or maybe they just make theirs. Anyways, Jack is chilling out in the mountains of Sweden with his current girlfriend Ingrid (Irina Bjorklund). He is worried about something but puts that aside and goes for a walk with Ingrid. But soon realizes that he had reason to be worried. They are attacked by a bunch of Swedes – is it an obvious assumption that if u are attacked in Sweden then it is by Swedes – but his assassin instinct gets him out of trouble very easily. He asks Ingrid to call the cops and she reluctantly takes a few steps towards the cottage only to be shot in the back of her head by our hero. Assasins do it from behind as they say.

Realising that his life is in danger, Jack takes off and finds himself in Rome where he gets in touch with Pavel (Johan Leysen) his contact (if you have seen enough assassin movies you would know by now that each one has a “contact” – if you haven’t, now you know). Pavel advises Jack to move to a secret location in the mountains of Abruzzo. En route, Jack’s assassin instincts take over and he decides to change location to a nearby village. Once again he calls up Pavel and tells him that he is done for good, that he wants to retire. Pavel, however asks him to do one last job. Again, if you have seen enough assassin movies, you would know by now that assasins don’t retire – they are retired. Not left with much of a choice, Jack agrees to do the job because it doesn’t involve any killing. He has to only build a gun for Mathilde (Thelka Reuten) which would be picked up at the appropriate time. So he goes ahead with the assignment and in the meantime builds something of a friendship with Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli) and also slowly starts falling for a local prostitute, Clara (Violanto Placido).

The American didn’t do quite well in India. And I missed watching it on the big screen about 3 months back. But I now understand the reasons. This is a genre of movies which could only be called Arty Espionage. It is a movie about an assassin directed by a highly acclaimed photographer, Anton Corbijn, better known for his music videos for Metallica and U2. What Corbijn may have realized by now is that directing music videos – different ball game from directing movie. Music video 5-10 mins. Movie – 90 to 120 mins. 30 minute movie will be a short film. So what does Corbijn do? He puts in long unedited shots without dialogues or any movement or any semblance of movement whatsoever. Enough to put a sane man to sleep. Leave alone a heavily jet lagged individual on a comfortable seat in the Emirates flight from Brisbane to Singapore. That would probably explain why I forgot the name or the story of the movie and had to resort to speaking to my close friend from Emirates to give me the movie list so that I could remember the name (read – I am getting older). George Clooney continues to give a performance that is ice cold as always, it has become somewhat of a style I would say. The rest of the cast is almost non existant. Overall, the movie is too darn slow to be called good. I would give it 5 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1131546393/