Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: February 17, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
34
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
13
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
IGNScott ColluraOct 4, 2017
Directed by the team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the new film brings all the cartoonish insanity of the pair's Crank saga to the -- let's face it -- cartoonishly insane concept of the Ghost Rider, a burning skeleton in leather who rides an equally fiery motorcycle. It's a match made in, er, hell. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 5, 2017
A goofy, gonzo thrill ride, “Vengeance” is a bad movie sequel so bad it’s good, a bad movie that’s almost a great bad movie. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderBen SachsFeb 23, 2012
This doesn't lack for crazy charm, particularly when Nicolas Cage (in his go-for-broke Bad Lieutenant mode) and Ciaran Hinds (playing the devil) try to out-weird each other with broad, even cartoonish performances. Read full review
60
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerFeb 17, 2012
The film, though, has some redeeming qualities, including the presence of Idris Elba as the obligatory good guy, who encourages Johnny to get Danny into the protective custody of a religious order. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallFeb 17, 2012
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance offers Cage plenty of opportunities to tap his inner circus geek, to twitch, cackle and flail without shame, going full tilt batwing crazy. Not since he danced in a pagan bear suit in The Wicker Man has Cage appeared this unconcerned about what the audience will think. Read full review
50
MovielineAlison WillmoreFeb 17, 2012
The smugness of the film grows wearying long before the end. Just because the people on and behind the camera are willing to acknowledge what we're watching is ridiculous crap doesn't really change the fact that, well, it is. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriFeb 17, 2012
Spirit of Vengeance is so focused and, as a result, so impoverished that you actually feel bad for Cage. The actor tries to bring the weird (though at this point one wonders if he can even do anything else) but the film more often than not leaves him high and dry, saddling him with standard-issue action hero lines and boilerplate action set-pieces. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNick PinkertonFeb 17, 2012
Cage-ophiles will find some delectable freakouts in Blaze's transformation - or near transformation - scenes. Otherwise, the committee-penned script combines yokel-friendly haw-haw irreverence (non-sequitur cutaways to the Rider pissing in a flamethrower pattern) and sweaty monologues about "controlling the Rider" (the character is basically a mean drunk's superhero). Read full review
50
Boxoffice MagazineTodd GilchristFeb 17, 2012
So it's a half-certainty, half-shock that Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is both good and bad, a sequel that's hungry for thrills but bereft of the cohesiveness - and budget - to be a full meal. Read full review
40
VarietyAndrew BarkerFeb 20, 2012
The picture is still much too rickety, slapdash and surprisingly dull to qualify as a good barrel-bottom pleasure. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanFeb 17, 2012
With his (Cage) over-the-top delivery and operatically intense facial expressions, there's no way anyone could accuse him of phoning this one in. Read full review
40
Time OutBen KenigsbergFeb 17, 2012
Alas, unlike the duo's Crank films - also about a hero on the verge of explosion - Spirit of Vengeance lacks a solid gimmick to unify their transgressive gambits. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenFeb 17, 2012
The first "Ghost Rider" film, directed by Mark Steven Johnson, was sort of a fizzy goof, the kind of movie where you don't expect much and then think, "Hey, that was actually kind of fun." Spirit of Vengeance, though, is undone by increased expectations, as promising more only makes it feel they are somehow delivering less. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeFeb 17, 2012
A water-treading sequel offering just enough kooky color to keep less-discerning funnybook fans occupied, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance nudges its obscure hero's mythology forward a bit without seeming to care much how it gets there. Read full review
40
EmpireHelen O'HaraFeb 16, 2012
Like "Ghost Rider: Low Voltage," this is a surprisingly underpowered excursion into Marvel's mad world by Neveldine and Taylor. More purgatory than hellfire. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubNathan RabinFeb 17, 2012
The charismatic Idris Elba debuts in a key role as an alcoholic priest who recruits Cage's unique services. Yet instead of elevating the franchise, Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance ends up squandering even more potential. Read full review
33
Entertainment WeeklyAdam MarkovitzFeb 17, 2012
Most of the movie's action-horror set pieces play like lame Gwar music video outtakes, and Cage's signature mix of irony and off-the-rails mugging only works when you can see the actor's face. In Ghost Rider form, his character is just a skeletal automaton with neither a tongue nor a cheek to put it in. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovFeb 23, 2012
This time out, the action is in 3-D, which amounts to a few shots of flaming motorcycle parts comin' at ya, but little else. Read full review
25
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 18, 2012
For acting to be this bad in movie not directed by Michael Bay or George Lucas, it has to be intentional. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle SmithFeb 17, 2012
The only part of this movie anyone's ever going to remember is the pair of scenes in which Ghost Rider pees flame. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineFeb 17, 2012
To question where things went wrong feels somehow strange, as the project seems to have been ill-conceived from the very start. Read full review
0
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 17, 2012
One look at the dreadful mess that is Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance will turn your whisper into a primal Cage scream: MAKE THIS MOVIE STOP! Read full review
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