The sequel to the forgettable Marvel comic adaptation provides more juvenile absence of thought, albeit some funky set pieces.
Following on from the 2007 original Nicolas Cage plays Johnny Blaze, an ex-stunt bike rider who is cursed with the spirit of a demon many know as The Rider. Now he is wanting rid of the curse, and while protecting a young boy from a prophesied fate, he could get his wish.
I know little about Ghost Rider (and remember little about the first film) but in watching this I genuinely find the character quite interesting... An irregular Marvel character as he acts more like an anti-hero. After his transformation he will hunt down anyone who has done wrong, and kill anyone in between. The film tries to account for this clashing duality.... badly.
The film's tone is all over the place; going for comedy, then zany-but-is-this-actually-supposed-to-be-unsettling-comedy all the way to surprisingly dark visuals, with people getting shot, torn in half, even rotted into ash.
The story is quite glib too. We have a prophecy child who can save or destroy the world and the forces of darkness are out to claim him. Oddly, the forces of darkness are limited to human mercenary lackeys, unlike the first film and its horde of demons. We have got the plague-ridden antagonist Ray Carrigan, but asides a pretty funny Twinkle joke, he isn't anything more than a standard boogeyman. Johnny Blaze is a bit ambiguous too; his only motivation here is to have the curse lifted, and anyone could tell you that this means two things can happen, a: he doesn't get his wish, or b: he has it removed, only to get it back in time for the finale.
So is there anything good in the film? Well, asides the CGI effects taking a tumble from time to time (sometimes looking like storyboard or pre-rendered effects...) the visuals are pretty sweet. Ghost Rider's ability to turn any vehicle he drives into a flaming hell-engine is always fun (especially when its a giant earth-mover!) and the flaming skull can look impressive. Also, no mandatory romance! But I guess that's difficult even for Hollywood to pull off when your hero's face bursts into flames.
It is a shame because the character probably deserves a lot more than this... but it takes brave creative minds, minds that dare to make it less marketable but as dark as it should be, to allow it to have its own identity.
I can't say its worth watching, unless you want to know all the Marvel adaptations at the moment, and the possible future potential. But I'm almost hoping for a remake in this case...
Dreamworks newest animated outing held a lot of promise in my mind, from a promising trailer showing some gorgeous landscapes, colourful creatures and good laughs. Yet while these are present, it didn't play out as well as I'd hoped.
The Croods are a prehistoric caveman family and the father, Grug (Nicolas Cage) protects them by being overly paranoid about anything "new" or adventurous. His daughter Eep however (Emma Stone) is rebellious and curious, and after sneaking from the safety of their cave she uncovers a new world... just as their world begins to end. Literally.
This film has some gorgeous animation. I want to stress this first as there was one specific moment where I was slack jawed; where the Croods dive and swim in water. The water effects were so startling and realistically implemented that the cartoon characters looked real by proxy! Does this one moment carry the film? A little bit, yeah!
There are some good laugh out loud moments, my cinema's audience were getting into it, especially the younger audience. The characters have disfunctional family traits that are rewarding as the film progresses (Gran is a particular favourite). The animation is dynamic and rapid-fire, almost like a Looney Toons cartoon at times, while the humour is often based around anachronisms and plays on modern living (but not unbearably so)
But, for all these good things... the story and plot just weren't there for me. Dreamworks has stunned me in recent years with some awesome storytelling and compelling character development (How to Train Your Dragon, principly) and instead The Croods... just feels like a sequence of unfortunate events; a scene happens, it ends, a scene happens... it ends (including the aforementioned water sequence...)
The characters are either one dimensional and sadly a little soulless, or very predictable. The characters themselves simply aren't interesting or unique to carry the film, and they are all we have, since this is effectively a road trip movie. There were really heavy emotional moments that simply died on me (and I'm a sucker for getting involved in movies normally!) The son and the mother, I barely know who they were except "the dumb one" and the... uhm... "supportive one?" respectively.
I don't know, but The Croods was a little too primitive for my tastes, despite how gorgeous it can look and how fun some of the moments are. A fun day out for the family perhaps, but I wouldn't be surprised if older audiences kinda shrug it off as yet another random cartoon venture.
Additional Marshmallows: And I have to add, I was really distracted by the... multi-coloured tiger/sabertooth creature. It had a weird, oversized head! It just looked wrong, I couldn't see it as a functioning creature; its head was the same size as its entire body almost!
Okay so "Nicolas Cage movie" is a genre of its own and perhaps I shouldn't have expected much from Season of the Witch... but really, this was the best they could do?
I like Nicolas Cage, in a nonsensical way, I also like Ron Perlman who's alongside him, and they are playing two outcast knights of the Church given the task of escorting a witch so she can stand trial. But is this woman really a witch? Is her innocence merely a façade of evil?
Yes.
The problem with this movie is that there's opportunity for character morality and development. We have five men escorting a woman who may, or may not, be evil and the cause behind the Black Plague. While there's disagreements, no one ever sides with her (not even Cage's character, who tries to kill her several times!) mostly they agree she cannot be trusted. It is made worse by the film opening with witches clearly turning evil and murdering people, removing almost all sense of doubt the film might try and establish later.
The film eventually runs out of this "padding" and has its climax with silly winged demons incinerating people, zombie priests and the line "We are going to need more holy water." Yep, I suppose the Plague wasn't caused by witches so much as demons of the Underworld.
There isn't much going for it, I'm sure actors like Perlman and Cage could have better chemistry than this. While I enjoyed Sorcerer's Apprentice because it was silly, Season of the Witch just feels predictable. Heck, even Black Death was better than this.
So yes, the combo of Perlman and Cage doesn't work as well as it should here, the plot is transparent and the climax uninspired. I'd look elsewhere!
Having made an explosive escape from Hell, a vengeful man returns to Earth to extract revenge on a satanic cult leader who had destroyed his family. Meanwhile another man gives chase, intent on returning him to the underworld.
All within the southern states of America and with fast pure-bred muscle cars.
Overall that sounds pretty awesome! Add Nic Cage for his over-the-top acting to match, but why then do I feel a little short changed by it?
A lot of the narrative comes from the perspective of a beautiful blonde waitress, who gets swept up into the whole affair, and while she is tough and doesn't pull her punches, I never really felt she was necessary. There are a lot of throw-away characters too, which betrays a script lacking in integrity.
Also I wasn't convinced there was enough supernatural stuff happening. Whenever William Fichtner was on screen, or the wonderfully archaic "god-killer" gun, I was excited to see more, and yet the pay-offs weren't quite satisfying. Maybe it was the sometimes kooky SFX and greatly silly 3D bits flying at me.
There are some funny bits though; Nic Cage shooting a bunch of rednecks while having sex with a naked woman? I did not expect to see that.
Overall it wasn't quite as satisfying as the premise would suggest, but if you like Nic Cage movies or television's Supernatural, or your fast cars, you'll probably enjoy it a little.
