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
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
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