Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance Review - Special Guest Mad Trivia Podcast

1 00:00:00,930 --> 00:00:02,972 This is a Dynamike Network podcast. 2 00:00:25,006 --> 00:00:30,210 Welcome to the Dynamic Duel Podcast, a weekly show where we review superhero films and debate 3 00:00:30,250 --> 00:00:36,316 the superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters in stat-based battle simulations. 4 00:00:36,757 --> 00:00:43,383 I'm Johnny DC. And I'm his twin brother Marvelous Joe. And in our fourth week of Spooktober, 5 00:00:43,603 --> 00:00:49,509 we are going to be reviewing the spooky film Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance. Spooky good, 6 00:00:49,809 --> 00:00:54,540 right? or spooky in the kind of way where it's like, oh no, I don't want to watch this. It's 7 00:00:54,821 --> 00:01:02,867 because it's kind of spooky and bad. Yeah, you know, there's things I like about the movie, 8 00:01:02,887 --> 00:01:08,210 things I don't. But we are going to be joined in our review by special guest John Storosky 9 00:01:08,251 --> 00:01:12,514 from the Mad Trivia podcast. So look forward to that later this episode. Of course, before 10 00:01:12,554 --> 00:01:16,517 that, we're going to break down the comic book movie news from the past week, which actually, 11 00:01:16,577 --> 00:01:21,875 no, we're not because. There was no comic book movie news from the past week. It's super dead 12 00:01:21,935 --> 00:01:27,957 right now in terms of Hollywood coverage. But we are coming to you with the news of how awesome 13 00:01:28,337 --> 00:01:33,978 the podcast Senjou World is hosted by executive producer of this show, Zachary Hepburn. We're 14 00:01:33,998 --> 00:01:38,460 going to be talking to him later on this episode. As always, we list our segment times in our 15 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,621 episode description, so feel free to check out the show notes if you want to skip ahead to 16 00:01:42,661 --> 00:01:47,546 a particular topic. As our listeners may know, our dual simulator is so advanced that it's 17 00:01:47,586 --> 00:01:52,714 gained sentience and has named itself the Artificial Lifeform for running extensive duels, just 18 00:01:52,734 --> 00:01:58,823 a rather very intelligent Simulator 9000 or Alfred Jarvis 9000. Here's a quick message 19 00:01:58,843 --> 00:02:05,453 for our listeners, so listen up! Why hello there. Do you love listening and chatting about Marvel 20 00:02:05,473 --> 00:02:10,538 and DC? Then become a part of the dynamic dual community on Patreon, where you can choose 21 00:02:10,558 --> 00:02:16,224 from three tiers. The dynamic 2-0 tier lets you listen to this podcast without ads and 22 00:02:16,244 --> 00:02:20,649 gives you access to its Discord chat group, where you can chat with Johnny DC and Marvelous 23 00:02:20,689 --> 00:02:25,475 Joe. The Fantastic Four tier gives you that and more with two bonus episodes each month, 24 00:02:25,896 --> 00:02:30,038 including bloopers and top ten shows where Johnny and Joe count down your favourite Marvel and 25 00:02:30,058 --> 00:02:35,800 DC subjects. The X-Force tier makes you an executive producer of Dynamic Duel, where every month 26 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:40,342 you help the host choose what to review and who to fight against each other. And finally, 27 00:02:40,502 --> 00:02:46,105 the Dynamite Podcast Network tier allows aspiring podcasters to create their own battle-focused 28 00:02:46,125 --> 00:02:48,326 show using this Monte Carlo simulator. 29 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:12,723 Thanks ag9k and thanks to everyone who supports the podcast. Be sure to tune in to the Max 30 00:03:12,743 --> 00:03:18,503 Destruction Podcast, part of the Dynamike Podcast Network. this Wednesday, where this month host 31 00:03:18,563 --> 00:03:24,388 Ken is going to pit some of the spookiest film characters against each other, including Candyman 32 00:03:24,428 --> 00:03:30,233 and Leatherface and Predator vs. the Alien Queen. Yeah, also tune in to Sendrow World this week 33 00:03:30,273 --> 00:03:35,998 to find out who'd win in a fight between the anime characters of Muzaka and Alucard. Visit 34 00:03:36,098 --> 00:03:41,182 dynamicpodcasts.com or click on the link in our show notes to listen to all the shows in 35 00:03:41,222 --> 00:03:48,850 the Dynamike Podcast Network. But with that out of the way... Quick! to the no prize. A 36 00:03:48,890 --> 00:03:53,613 no prize is an award Marvel used to give out to fans. Our version, the Dynamic Dual No Prize, 37 00:03:53,673 --> 00:03:57,795 is a digital award we post on Instagram and in our email newsletter for the person that 38 00:03:57,835 --> 00:04:03,519 we feel gave the best answer to our question of the week. Last week, we asked, what upcoming 39 00:04:03,599 --> 00:04:10,023 television series from Marvel or DC are you most looking forward to and why? Yeah, we got 40 00:04:10,083 --> 00:04:14,225 a few answers, not very many. Actually a little bit disappointed in the quality of the answers. 41 00:04:14,774 --> 00:04:18,636 because none of them were Marvel. They were all DC. Actually, we did get one Marvel answer, 42 00:04:18,997 --> 00:04:22,659 except it was for a non-existent show that's not actually coming out. Someone said that 43 00:04:22,699 --> 00:04:26,082 they were excited for Nova to come out, but that's not really a thing. That was just something 44 00:04:26,102 --> 00:04:31,066 that someone said one time on the internet. So wishful thinking, yeah. Yeah, wishful thinking. 45 00:04:31,486 --> 00:04:36,590 But our first honorable mention goes to Miki Matengian, who said. Hey, what's up guys, this 46 00:04:36,610 --> 00:04:41,233 is Miki. And the first thought that came to my mind was My Adventures with Superman season 47 00:04:41,253 --> 00:04:46,391 two. But I think you guys said series and not season, so I'm gonna go with the Green Lanterns 48 00:04:46,431 --> 00:04:54,715 show. That's gonna be part of the James Gunn DC Comics universe. I think it'll just be really 49 00:04:54,735 --> 00:05:00,897 fun to see like a buddy cop movie and see like redemption for the Green Lantern franchises 50 00:05:00,917 --> 00:05:05,259 and live action. Yeah, so we've been waiting for a live action Green Lantern series for 51 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:10,721 what seems like forever. Of course, with James Gunn and Peter Safran taking the helm of DC 52 00:05:10,761 --> 00:05:17,381 studios, The planned HBO Max Green Lantern series has been scrapped, and I guess it's being retooled 53 00:05:17,861 --> 00:05:21,563 under the direction of the new heads of the studio. Of course, our first Green Lantern 54 00:05:21,704 --> 00:05:26,607 in the universe has already been cast. Nathan Fillion is playing Guy Gardner, but we're not 55 00:05:26,627 --> 00:05:32,118 sure if he's going to be a star in the upcoming Green Lantern's television series. Yeah, Finn 56 00:05:32,158 --> 00:05:36,701 Wintrock was attached to the character of Guy Gardner in the previous iteration of this series, 57 00:05:36,741 --> 00:05:41,563 but this new show set in the DC universe has been described as being akin to True Detective, 58 00:05:41,683 --> 00:05:47,287 which sounds awesome. So, yeah, I can see why Miggie's looking forward to it. Yeah, no words 59 00:05:47,327 --> 00:05:51,309 on our release date yet for that show. Great answer, Miggie. Our next honorable mention 60 00:05:51,349 --> 00:05:57,493 goes to Andrew Shunk, who said, Andrew Shunk here. The show I'm looking forward to most 61 00:05:57,613 --> 00:06:03,591 is Lanterns. With it being a true detective style, it can bring in so much. And having 62 00:06:04,031 --> 00:06:13,414 a group like the Durlins play the main antagonist also then opens up the world of DC and can 63 00:06:13,434 --> 00:06:20,896 bring in Brainiac or the Dominators and really makes it an epic show. Plus, interested to 64 00:06:20,916 --> 00:06:25,257 see who they're going to cast. So Andrew also gave the answer of Lanterns, saying that it's 65 00:06:25,317 --> 00:06:31,290 really going to open up DC's universe. specifically the cosmic universe where we get to meet different 66 00:06:31,431 --> 00:06:36,192 alien characters. And I think that's a great justification for why the show is going to 67 00:06:36,212 --> 00:06:41,513 be awesome, because not many DC movies have taken place in outer space on other planets. 68 00:06:42,054 --> 00:06:45,635 Yeah, Andrew also mentioned that he's excited to see who they're going to cast for the characters 69 00:06:45,675 --> 00:06:49,576 of Held Jordan and Jon Stewart. Jonathan, off the top of your head, who are you going with? 70 00:06:50,056 --> 00:06:56,370 Oh, shit. Well, Channing Tatum has been rumored for Held Jordan, and I don't hate that. Like, 71 00:06:56,570 --> 00:07:01,432 I would totally accept that. I kinda hate that. I don't know. What? No, get out of here. And 72 00:07:01,452 --> 00:07:07,096 then to pair with Channing Tatum, I'd go with, I don't know, John David Washington. There 73 00:07:07,116 --> 00:07:11,778 you go. That wouldn't be bad. Great answer, Andrew Schunk. Thanks to Nate Mantineo for 74 00:07:11,818 --> 00:07:15,280 taking the time to visit our website and leave an answer. But the winner of this week's No 75 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:21,944 Prize is Christopher Manotti, who said. Hi guys, Christopher Manotti. I'm really looking forward 76 00:07:22,004 --> 00:07:28,488 to the Penguin TV show. I really like. Colin Farrell's The Penguin in the Batman, and I 77 00:07:28,528 --> 00:07:33,471 really wanna see more of that character. I think it would be cool to see more of his empire 78 00:07:33,591 --> 00:07:39,616 and see how much control he actually has over Gotham. Plus, this could be a good way to introduce 79 00:07:39,696 --> 00:07:45,339 more of Batman's rogues gallery, like Black Mask or even Deadshot. Absolutely, I cannot 80 00:07:45,399 --> 00:07:50,423 wait for this series to come out. Of course, the series is a sequel to the Batman film that 81 00:07:50,463 --> 00:07:55,650 came out last year. Colin Farrell totally killed it as The Penguin, Totally unrecognizable, 82 00:07:55,730 --> 00:08:00,694 did a fantastic job, and I can't wait to see more of that character in his own series where, 83 00:08:00,794 --> 00:08:06,038 yeah, you're right, we may be introduced to more of Gotham's criminal underworld with characters 84 00:08:06,118 --> 00:08:11,621 like maybe Harvey Dent, Black Mask, maybe even Harley Quinn. That would be cool. Yeah, those 85 00:08:11,781 --> 00:08:15,944 characters would all certainly be interesting set within the very realistic grounded world 86 00:08:15,964 --> 00:08:20,087 that Matt Reeves set up in the Batman movie. So great answer, Christopher Manotti, you win 87 00:08:20,107 --> 00:08:23,898 this week's No Prize. If you the listener want a shot at winning your own No Prize... Stay 88 00:08:23,918 --> 00:08:27,827 tuned to later on this episode when we'll be asking another question of the week. But with 89 00:08:27,847 --> 00:08:29,772 that out of the way, onto the news! 90 00:08:35,374 --> 00:08:40,699 Alright, so there's no news this week, but we are going to in a moment here get Zachary Hepburn 91 00:08:40,859 --> 00:08:45,884 on the line Who is the host of the Send Your World? Anime action podcast which is part of 92 00:08:45,904 --> 00:08:50,468 the dynamite podcast network, but leading into the interview We want to hit you guys with 93 00:08:50,508 --> 00:08:51,289 a question of the week 94 00:08:55,786 --> 00:09:01,649 Which Marvel or DC character do you think would make for the most awesome anime series, and 95 00:09:01,729 --> 00:09:06,011 why? Yeah, since we're gonna be talking to Zack about his show, which is about anime, we thought 96 00:09:06,031 --> 00:09:10,354 this was an appropriate question. Of course, there already have been some Marvel and DC 97 00:09:10,374 --> 00:09:15,416 characters that have had animes, such as, uh, I guess Superman, with the recent My Adventures 98 00:09:15,436 --> 00:09:20,299 with Superman show. Also Wolverine, the X-Men, Blade. So none of those guys that have already 99 00:09:20,339 --> 00:09:24,681 had animes. We're talking about, like, new characters that have not had animes, movie, or series 100 00:09:24,701 --> 00:09:29,431 yet. Right. Recording your answer at dynamic duel dot com by clicking on the red microphone 101 00:09:29,471 --> 00:09:33,072 button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, which will prompt you to leave us a 102 00:09:33,112 --> 00:09:37,733 voicemail. Your message could be up to 30 seconds long. And don't forget to leave your name in 103 00:09:37,773 --> 00:09:42,755 case we include you on the podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer and award that person a 104 00:09:42,855 --> 00:09:48,057 dynamic duel no prize that will post to Instagram and our email newsletter. Be sure to answer 105 00:09:48,097 --> 00:09:53,978 before October 28th. Alright, let's get executive producer Zachary Hepburn on the line to talk 106 00:09:54,018 --> 00:09:59,340 about his podcast, Senjo World. Hey Zach, glad to have you on the show since you were last 107 00:09:59,460 --> 00:10:04,601 on for our amazing Spider-Man review. It's good to be back. I'm excited. It's been a while. 108 00:10:05,021 --> 00:10:09,623 It has been a while. For those who don't know, Zach is an executive producer of Dynamic Duel 109 00:10:09,943 --> 00:10:15,264 and as we launched our Dynamike podcast network, Zach came to us right away pitching a show 110 00:10:15,304 --> 00:10:19,365 where he would use the Monte Carlo simulator to see who would win in fights between anime 111 00:10:19,405 --> 00:10:24,612 characters. And without hesitating, Jonathan and I were like, absolutely. You know, he has 112 00:10:24,652 --> 00:10:30,055 podcasting experience. He's extremely knowledgeable about not just anime, but literally everything. 113 00:10:30,115 --> 00:10:35,418 Pop culture, really. I think out of anyone, Zach, you probably could have created a show 114 00:10:35,438 --> 00:10:39,560 about anything like because you game more than anybody I know. Like, you know, everything 115 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:43,703 about video games. You have an insane movie collection. You know, everything about movies. 116 00:10:43,743 --> 00:10:47,345 You read tons of comics. You know, you're a big fan of superheroes. And of course, you 117 00:10:47,365 --> 00:10:52,739 watch a lot of shows. both animated and live action. So I guess starting off, out of everything 118 00:10:52,779 --> 00:10:58,180 you could have made a show about, what made you decide on anime? To be honest, it was one 119 00:10:58,220 --> 00:11:03,261 of those phases I was going through. I kind of go through phases of what I really get into. 120 00:11:03,742 --> 00:11:09,303 And at that point it was anime, but at the same time I was like, anime would be perfect for 121 00:11:09,343 --> 00:11:16,765 this, right? And I was actually talking with one of my guests and he also listens to Dynamic 122 00:11:16,785 --> 00:11:22,648 Duel. And... When he first heard you guys talk about the new level for the Patreon where you 123 00:11:22,668 --> 00:11:26,910 make your own podcast, he was like, oh, I want to do an anime one. And then like the next 124 00:11:26,991 --> 00:11:33,554 episode, like my podcast got announced. So lead him to the punch. Yeah. Right. So but yeah, 125 00:11:33,654 --> 00:11:39,838 no, it's it just fits. Right. And the internet is just full of people just fighting and arguing. 126 00:11:40,238 --> 00:11:45,081 You know what I mean? So it's like, let's do the math. Let's get the actual results. You 127 00:11:45,101 --> 00:11:50,827 know, it was perfect. I feel like I see more people arguing about anime characters than 128 00:11:50,927 --> 00:11:56,288 I do like Marvel versus DC or comic book characters in general. Like I feel like everyone's always 129 00:11:56,328 --> 00:12:01,330 talking about who would be Goku or someone like that, you know? Pretty much. Yes, definitely 130 00:12:01,350 --> 00:12:06,191 a passionate fan base for sure. Oh yeah, like I've shown you guys like how they talk to each 131 00:12:06,231 --> 00:12:11,152 other. It's very toxic if you guys, if people don't agree. So I try and stay on the, you 132 00:12:11,172 --> 00:12:16,270 know, on the edge, but like it is what it is, but it's fun. It's very fun. And of course, 133 00:12:16,290 --> 00:12:20,353 there's nothing more objective to determining who would win these fights than math, right? 134 00:12:20,373 --> 00:12:24,196 You can't really argue with math. So I kind of feel like you're the last word on this subject, 135 00:12:24,256 --> 00:12:31,382 whether people want to admit that or not. Pretty much, right? So Senjou World is releasing its 136 00:12:31,542 --> 00:12:37,506 15th episode this week. It's going to be Alucard versus Muzaka for Spooktober. And plus, you've 137 00:12:37,526 --> 00:12:42,582 broken down some amazing matches in the past, like Yusuke from Yu Hakusho. versus Tangiro 138 00:12:42,602 --> 00:12:47,587 from Demon Slayer, you've done Alan Walker from D. Greyman versus Edward Elric from Fullmetal 139 00:12:47,707 --> 00:12:53,112 Alchemist, and most recently, you did Denji the Chainsaw Man versus D. O'Brando from Jojo's 140 00:12:53,152 --> 00:12:58,236 Bizarre Adventure. Out of all the episodes you've done, what episode so far without spoiling 141 00:12:58,316 --> 00:13:05,242 anything would you say has been your most surprising? Most surprising would probably be the Devilman 142 00:13:05,262 --> 00:13:11,298 episode. I had a guest on for that one as well and... We were just amazed how great the matchup 143 00:13:11,338 --> 00:13:16,240 actually was. So, yeah, I would have to say probably the Devilman versus Kaguya episode. 144 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:22,221 Nice. I am highly fascinated by the character of Chainsaw Man. I remember seeing him a while 145 00:13:22,241 --> 00:13:26,082 back when the anime first started coming out and I was like, what the heck is this? I got 146 00:13:26,102 --> 00:13:29,783 to check this out because it's just, I don't know, the imagery of a guy with a chainsaw 147 00:13:29,803 --> 00:13:36,565 for a head is quite alarming. But I think one of the best qualities of Centro World for people 148 00:13:36,585 --> 00:13:41,933 like myself who aren't necessarily that well versed in anime is that Senjou World is almost 149 00:13:41,953 --> 00:13:46,616 like a gateway drug I think for those who are curious about what anime is out there. My favorite 150 00:13:46,636 --> 00:13:51,921 episode of Senjou World so far has been Alan Walker vs Edward Elric, largely because I've 151 00:13:51,961 --> 00:13:57,025 seen Fullmetal Alchemist, but the story of D. Greyman sounded just fascinating. My favorite 152 00:13:57,045 --> 00:14:02,489 episode was probably Gaara vs Akutagawa. I know I totally butchered that. I always butcher 153 00:14:02,509 --> 00:14:07,673 the names. Akutagawa. Yeah. The guest you head on for that. Just listening to you guys geek 154 00:14:07,773 --> 00:14:12,508 out. over anime. It was just fun to listen to. It's fun to listen to people who are passionate 155 00:14:12,848 --> 00:14:18,211 about the genre talk about it. Yeah, no, that is definitely one of the awesome parts about 156 00:14:18,251 --> 00:14:23,114 getting some of these guests, right? And it's putting me a little bit further into the anime 157 00:14:23,154 --> 00:14:28,357 community where I can, you know, branch out a little bit more, even just expand my own 158 00:14:28,417 --> 00:14:33,580 knowledge base. It's really dope. Like I'm loving it. It's clear that you are really knowledgeable 159 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:37,474 about the characters because when you go into your battle speculation, It seems like you 160 00:14:37,494 --> 00:14:42,957 have a solid grasp of not only what the characters can do, but also what they would do. And that 161 00:14:43,077 --> 00:14:46,499 can be a fine line because knowing what they would do requires a greater understanding of 162 00:14:46,539 --> 00:14:51,702 the characters and the characterization that they have. So kudos on that. I'm always really 163 00:14:51,722 --> 00:14:57,245 impressed by your battle speculations. Oh, I appreciate that. As an anime fan, what type 164 00:14:57,265 --> 00:15:01,427 of anime shows or movies are you most drawn to? And what would you say are some of your 165 00:15:01,467 --> 00:15:08,919 all-time favorites? It's kind of cliche, but... I'm definitely a shonen guy. Shonen is more 166 00:15:09,299 --> 00:15:14,281 action based. A lot of shonen follows the same kind of tropes and that's why a lot of people 167 00:15:14,301 --> 00:15:20,003 kind of hate on them. But I don't know, I find a lot of the best fights come from shonen. 168 00:15:20,344 --> 00:15:24,845 But don't get me wrong, there's a whole bunch of other ones that are just as good. But if 169 00:15:24,925 --> 00:15:30,528 I would have to say anything, it would probably be shonen, action, martial arts. That's usually 170 00:15:30,588 --> 00:15:36,378 like my wheelhouse. Anything that has that definitely draws me in right off the bat. which is totally 171 00:15:36,398 --> 00:15:43,721 fitting for a fight podcast. Exactly. I'm still waiting for you to do like Neon Genesis, Evangelion 172 00:15:43,761 --> 00:15:48,383 versus Gundam, because you and I have had debates about that. And I will totally fight you on 173 00:15:48,423 --> 00:15:53,485 that one. Yeah. As a guest on that one. For sure. 100 percent. I just don't want to like 174 00:15:53,525 --> 00:15:58,727 break your heart when it when it really comes down to it. You know, so we'll see. Jonathan 175 00:15:58,747 --> 00:16:03,549 gets his heart broken all the time on our show, so don't worry about it. About half the time. 176 00:16:03,569 --> 00:16:10,068 That's true. I just have to find the right Gundam to go up against it. But to be honest, I would 177 00:16:10,268 --> 00:16:16,431 probably bring the guy from DerLogin, that big robot. I think that would be a better matchup. 178 00:16:16,911 --> 00:16:19,552 That's a deep cut. I've never heard of that. I'm never going to take your word for that 179 00:16:19,632 --> 00:16:25,234 one. I'm going to have to look that up now. For sure. That one's so good. Can you tell 180 00:16:25,274 --> 00:16:30,457 us the origin of the name for your show, Senjou World? How did you come up with that? Well, 181 00:16:30,817 --> 00:16:36,283 to be honest, I just... kind of went on Google and I'm like, hmm, what would be some cool 182 00:16:36,723 --> 00:16:42,164 names, right? And then I was like, Battle World. So I looked up like, okay, how do I say battle 183 00:16:42,244 --> 00:16:48,586 in Japanese? And then it was just like, Batool. And I was like, okay, well, that's kind of 184 00:16:48,626 --> 00:16:55,108 stupid. So I was searching around and everything and then I was like, okay, let's try two words 185 00:16:55,148 --> 00:17:02,562 together because in Japanese, they'll have a completely separate word for that, right? battle 186 00:17:02,602 --> 00:17:07,925 arena and that's where Senjou came up and it was one of the first things that actually popped 187 00:17:08,025 --> 00:17:12,727 up because I know we talked about it we had a couple different spellings for it at the 188 00:17:12,767 --> 00:17:16,950 beginning right? That's right. So Senjou also has multiple meanings depending on how you 189 00:17:16,990 --> 00:17:21,772 spell it. Right yeah I think if you spell it with just the O didn't it mean like fairy or 190 00:17:21,812 --> 00:17:27,236 something? Fairy? Yeah. But every time I hear the name Senjou World I always want to pronounce 191 00:17:27,296 --> 00:17:34,620 it in a that heavy anime style where I'm like Senjou! but Jonathan won't let me. Um. Senjou. 192 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:39,725 You have to say like deep. You have to say deep. Well, it depends on what anime archetype you 193 00:17:39,745 --> 00:17:45,409 are, I think. I consider myself like the burly, like excitable big guy, you know? Really. Okay. 194 00:17:45,590 --> 00:17:51,555 I do not see that. Well, I'm definitely not like the skinny, like long-haired pretty boy 195 00:17:51,595 --> 00:17:57,079 type. I feel like that's just not how I see myself. So. No, you're like the like the short 196 00:17:57,119 --> 00:17:59,781 punk ass kid with glasses and like the messy hair. 197 00:18:03,610 --> 00:18:08,153 Well, Senjo World is an awesome show. You should be super proud of it, Zach. We're super proud 198 00:18:08,193 --> 00:18:12,695 to have it as part of our Dynamike network. Listeners, if you love anime and want to see 199 00:18:12,755 --> 00:18:17,398 who mathematically would win in Zach's matchups, and if you're interested in hearing the stories 200 00:18:17,458 --> 00:18:22,401 of your favorite characters and perhaps discovering new favorites, be sure to listen to Senjo World. 201 00:18:22,461 --> 00:18:29,025 That's S-E-N-J-O-H World. Anywhere you listen to podcasts or by visiting dynamicpodcast.com. 202 00:18:30,274 --> 00:18:33,875 Zach, thanks for joining us. It was great to have you. And yeah, look forward to listening 203 00:18:33,895 --> 00:18:38,376 to more Sinjo World in the future, especially this upcoming episode. Sounds awesome. Yeah, 204 00:18:38,416 --> 00:18:43,697 thanks a lot guys. And tell John I said what up. Oh yeah, for sure. This episode is almost 205 00:18:43,717 --> 00:18:47,819 like a media night with the boys reunion. That's the cool thing too, like, cause I just had 206 00:18:47,859 --> 00:18:52,880 John on my show and it's pretty cool that, you know, we're on the same episode. We might not 207 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,781 be together, but we're still on the same episode. Yeah, yeah, I think John's taken over. 208 00:19:05,230 --> 00:19:08,694 With that being said, let's go ahead and say goodbye to Zach and get on to our main event 209 00:19:08,755 --> 00:19:14,262 where we review the 2012 movie by Sony Pictures, Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance. 210 00:19:31,970 --> 00:19:37,331 Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance came out in 2012, directed by Mark Neveldeen and Brian 211 00:19:37,351 --> 00:19:44,173 Taylor and starring Nicolas Cage, Idris Elba, Johnny Whitworth, and Kieran Hines. The movie 212 00:19:44,213 --> 00:19:49,435 is a quasi-sequel to the 2007 film directed by Mark Steven Johnson and also starring Nicolas 213 00:19:49,455 --> 00:19:53,736 Cage as Johnny Blaze, but it doesn't really keep anything else in regards to continuity. 214 00:19:54,196 --> 00:19:59,546 I used to struggle with these reboot sequels, or requels as it were. But now that the concept 215 00:19:59,566 --> 00:20:04,888 of the Marvel multiverse exists, it's easy to see this film and the 2007 Ghost Rider as parallel 216 00:20:04,928 --> 00:20:10,251 timelines where some things change, but some things, like Johnny Blaze, remain the same. 217 00:20:10,671 --> 00:20:16,373 But speaking of badasses named Johnny, and I sure as hell do not mean Johnny DC, I'm talking 218 00:20:16,413 --> 00:20:22,836 about MadTrivia John, aka executive producer of this show, John Staroski, from the MadTrivia 219 00:20:22,876 --> 00:20:24,257 Podcast. Say hi, John. Hi, John. 220 00:20:27,566 --> 00:20:32,088 I had to, I had to, I'm sorry, take that one. Thanks for having me on, guys. It is a pleasure 221 00:20:32,108 --> 00:20:37,250 to be back after so very long. Yeah, you last joined us for the amazing Spider-Man review 222 00:20:37,290 --> 00:20:42,113 that you did with Zack, who was on this episode earlier when you guys were doing the Media 223 00:20:42,133 --> 00:20:48,015 Night with the Boys podcast. Since that time, you've put out the Mad Trivia podcast, which 224 00:20:48,295 --> 00:20:53,157 marries the concepts of movie discussions and trivia. So tell us a little bit about that 225 00:20:53,197 --> 00:20:58,836 show. Yeah, so as you well know, because I've actually had you on as a guest already, it 226 00:20:58,896 --> 00:21:05,259 is essentially a trivia game for my guests and a little bit of a mad lib as well at the end. 227 00:21:06,059 --> 00:21:10,681 My guests provide me their five favorite movies of which I pick one without their knowledge. 228 00:21:11,622 --> 00:21:16,104 I then do a good amount of research to find as many good questions as I can, narrow it 229 00:21:16,184 --> 00:21:21,710 down to 10 with 11 possible answers. Of course, one of those being a two answer question. And 230 00:21:21,730 --> 00:21:25,954 then I pretty much always something because I go really hard in the paint when it comes 231 00:21:25,994 --> 00:21:31,418 to research You found out the hard way with fight clubbing. Yeah, I think I only got about 232 00:21:31,458 --> 00:21:36,903 half the questions, right? Something like that. Yeah, five or six. Yeah, it's a fantastic concept 233 00:21:36,923 --> 00:21:42,487 for a podcast I never would have thought to marry mad libs with trivia and movies. It's 234 00:21:42,607 --> 00:21:48,492 it's phenomenal. I love it. Yeah, thank you and then as the mad libs go I actually I love 235 00:21:48,512 --> 00:21:53,187 doing that more than the trivia because I love taking those scenes that people love from those 236 00:21:53,227 --> 00:22:00,109 movies and making them unknowingly ruin it and the result is usually just hilarious. Those 237 00:22:00,149 --> 00:22:03,851 mad live surprises are some of the best parts of the show. I think also it's great just to 238 00:22:03,891 --> 00:22:10,313 hear people talk passionately about their favorite films. Absolutely. So, I remember you enjoying 239 00:22:10,353 --> 00:22:14,935 The Amazing Spider-Man back when we reviewed it on the show and I believe you really enjoyed 240 00:22:14,995 --> 00:22:19,497 Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance which is why we wanted to bring you on board for this review. 241 00:22:20,490 --> 00:22:25,092 Tell us, I guess, your history with this movie. Like, when did you first see it, and what do 242 00:22:25,112 --> 00:22:30,895 you think about it overall? OK, so I am a Marvel fan, very long term. I've been following Marvel 243 00:22:30,935 --> 00:22:36,158 since the early days. Blade, obviously, as everyone knows, Blade kind of paved the way for everything, 244 00:22:36,198 --> 00:22:41,881 so to speak. And I just started falling in love with the characters that they had. And then 245 00:22:42,041 --> 00:22:48,765 Ghost Rider came out in, I suppose, 2007. And Nicolas Cage is so cheesy, but you just have 246 00:22:48,805 --> 00:22:54,305 to love him. And the way he delivered the performance in the first one, I kind of like it was new 247 00:22:54,325 --> 00:22:58,609 to me because I'd never seen that kind of character. And he was so unique that I just kind of always 248 00:22:58,649 --> 00:23:03,933 had like this love for Ghost Rider in a way that is, you know, it's always there and hoping 249 00:23:03,953 --> 00:23:09,057 that something good comes along. And I remember seeing it in theaters. I remember loving it. 250 00:23:09,337 --> 00:23:13,321 But I remember loving that one specific line in the middle of the movie while around the 251 00:23:13,341 --> 00:23:18,084 middle of the movie about eaten souls. We'll get there when we come to the review. I know 252 00:23:18,104 --> 00:23:23,847 you know what I'm talking about. Yeah. I'm going to leave the rest of my thoughts for during 253 00:23:23,867 --> 00:23:29,970 the review because I haven't seen it in a long time. Okay. And things have changed. Oh, interesting. 254 00:23:30,250 --> 00:23:34,772 This was actually my first time watching the movie and it was so unbelievably different 255 00:23:34,812 --> 00:23:38,753 from what I was expecting. I don't know why because I had heard that it was, you know, 256 00:23:38,834 --> 00:23:44,496 kind of out there from other people who have seen it, but it kind of defied my expectations, 257 00:23:44,536 --> 00:23:49,190 which I didn't think was going to happen. Defied them in a good way or a bad way? in a just 258 00:23:49,290 --> 00:23:55,736 fucking weird way, just like Nick Cage's performance, how completely different it was from the first 259 00:23:55,816 --> 00:24:01,181 movie and just like the one liners from Ghost Rider that he delivered. And just like even 260 00:24:01,201 --> 00:24:05,604 like the animation that they would incorporate to the movie and stuff like that. It was interesting. 261 00:24:05,945 --> 00:24:10,569 And I don't know if that's interesting in a good way. I think it's in a good way. You know, 262 00:24:11,009 --> 00:24:15,873 the directors Mark Neville Dean and Brian Taylor are very different types of filmmakers than. 263 00:24:16,338 --> 00:24:22,361 Mark Steven Johnson who directed the 2007 film. I remember being fascinated that Mark Neville 264 00:24:22,381 --> 00:24:26,923 Dean and Brian Taylor were announced to direct this movie back when they announced that even 265 00:24:26,943 --> 00:24:31,205 though I've never seen the crank franchise or the movie gamer or any of their other films, 266 00:24:31,625 --> 00:24:37,048 but I knew of the reputation of creating movies that had gritty adrenaline packed action. And 267 00:24:37,068 --> 00:24:42,174 I was like, yes, that would be perfect for Ghost Rider because I also remember reading that 268 00:24:42,435 --> 00:24:47,018 even though they're the directors, they do most of the camera work on their films themselves, 269 00:24:47,378 --> 00:24:52,822 using handhelds while riding on rollerblades, which was this insane concept. It's like almost 270 00:24:52,842 --> 00:24:56,544 like they're stunt guys themselves. So I thought it was fitting that they were put on a film 271 00:24:56,644 --> 00:25:01,288 about a former stunt writer. Yeah, absolutely. I remember in lead up to this film, just seeing 272 00:25:01,348 --> 00:25:07,252 sort of behind the scenes promotional material showing them like riding behind trucks on their 273 00:25:07,292 --> 00:25:12,546 rollerblades. That's dangerous stuff. And that's very admirable that you have these guys who 274 00:25:12,586 --> 00:25:18,168 are so ballsy and willing to take risks to get the shot that they really are envisioning in 275 00:25:18,188 --> 00:25:23,369 their head. I remember seeing this and not having any association to the directors whatsoever. 276 00:25:24,090 --> 00:25:29,451 I think that's a really interesting perspective to have given this movie. For sure. Yeah. And 277 00:25:29,491 --> 00:25:33,932 not only the camera work, but also like the gritty visual tone that they chose. They set 278 00:25:33,952 --> 00:25:37,986 the movie in Eastern Europe. I think they were trying to go for some kind of like... I think 279 00:25:38,006 --> 00:25:43,847 David Escort described it as Da Vinci Code-esque setting where you have the main protagonist 280 00:25:43,887 --> 00:25:49,409 of that movie and this movie over in Europe kind of going on this adventure involving these 281 00:25:49,489 --> 00:25:53,530 monks and stuff like that. I know this movie is kind of like a far cry from the Da Vinci 282 00:25:53,550 --> 00:25:57,752 Code, but it is interesting that they have those kind of parallels. I think Eastern Europe was 283 00:25:57,772 --> 00:26:02,273 a fantastic setting for this film, not just because of the tone that it brought, but also 284 00:26:02,453 --> 00:26:07,536 the grittiness. It's cool because we don't typically see Eastern Europe and a lot of superhero films. 285 00:26:07,856 --> 00:26:12,359 I sort of feel like that was another motivation for them to do this film there, because not 286 00:26:12,399 --> 00:26:17,542 only was it probably cheaper than filming in a lot of major cities where typical superhero 287 00:26:17,562 --> 00:26:23,246 films take place, but I totally get the Da Vinci Code connection because this film definitely 288 00:26:23,326 --> 00:26:28,829 looked very different from other films in the genre. Yeah, the story was written by David 289 00:26:28,949 --> 00:26:33,632 S. Goyer. who is yes, the very same David S. Goyer who wrote and directed the last film 290 00:26:33,652 --> 00:26:40,255 we reviewed, Blade Trinity. And while I don't think the story here was bad, like overall 291 00:26:40,335 --> 00:26:45,358 I actually think that Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance has a decent Ghost Rider story, I 292 00:26:45,378 --> 00:26:51,862 will admit that it does feel a little bit cliché and the dialogue was pretty terrible, I'll 293 00:26:51,882 --> 00:26:56,984 say that. But I think that the schlocky tone was maybe what the directors and the writer 294 00:26:57,004 --> 00:27:04,302 were going for. Grindhouse appeal when you combine the dialogue with the gritty visuals. But I 295 00:27:04,322 --> 00:27:08,085 will say that if that was what they were going for, I don't think they took it far enough. 296 00:27:08,165 --> 00:27:13,450 I think a true Grindhouse ghostwriter film would be epic. But you know, straddling the line 297 00:27:13,490 --> 00:27:19,254 between a schlocky gritty monster movie and a modern superhero action film just leads to 298 00:27:19,294 --> 00:27:24,339 something that can feel kind of almost half-hearted and occasionally silly. Yeah, I agree with 299 00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:27,121 that. And now that you mentioned Grindhouse, I'm wondering how this would have looked if 300 00:27:27,201 --> 00:27:33,552 it's a... Is it Robert Rodriguez, the greenhouse director? Yes. I would love to see his version 301 00:27:33,572 --> 00:27:37,554 of a Ghost Rider film. Now that I'm thinking about that. Oh, man. Oh, he and Guillermo del 302 00:27:37,594 --> 00:27:43,116 Toro would be at the top of my list in regards to the most ideal directors for a Ghost Rider 303 00:27:43,156 --> 00:27:47,878 film. I think I would place Robert Rodriguez over Guillermo del Toro just because he's a 304 00:27:47,918 --> 00:27:52,420 little bit more gritty and a little bit more like rubber meets the road, leather jacket 305 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:56,101 kind of style with machine guns blazing and stuff like that, explosions in the background. 306 00:27:56,810 --> 00:28:02,191 He would be so perfect for that. That's true. I do sort of feel like, you know, if the writer 307 00:28:02,231 --> 00:28:07,193 and directors were trying to make something that was a little bit grindhouse, I feel like 308 00:28:07,213 --> 00:28:11,794 they definitely got direction from the producers to, hey, make the cheapest possible film you 309 00:28:11,834 --> 00:28:17,116 can, you know, because the story is so simple. And I agree, it's not a terrible story for 310 00:28:17,176 --> 00:28:21,797 Ghost Rider. You know, it feels very much like a comic book story to me. Like this is a comic 311 00:28:21,817 --> 00:28:26,440 book arc in the Ghost Rider comic. But you're right, it's very cliche, it's very simple. 312 00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:32,205 And I love David S. Goyer as a writer. So I was actually very surprised to see that he 313 00:28:32,525 --> 00:28:36,368 wrote this film, because I didn't know that previously. That kind of made me be like, oh 314 00:28:36,408 --> 00:28:41,012 yeah, this is gonna be awesome, only to be severely disappointed. I actually think this is probably 315 00:28:41,052 --> 00:28:45,716 my least favorite film that I've seen of his, next to Blade Trinity, of course. I would say 316 00:28:45,937 --> 00:28:50,941 this is better than that. I can't say that I agree or disagree on that one. I liked Blade 317 00:28:50,961 --> 00:28:55,796 Trinity. When I initially saw it, I haven't rewatched it recently enough to know if I dislike 318 00:28:55,856 --> 00:29:00,538 it now. Yeah, I don't know if I would put this above or below Trinity. Alright, Joseph, you've 319 00:29:00,558 --> 00:29:05,221 got to break the tie. What's worse, Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance or Blade Trinity? Well, 320 00:29:05,281 --> 00:29:09,603 definitely Blade Trinity. So if you compare each movie to the previous installments in 321 00:29:09,623 --> 00:29:14,506 their respective franchises, comparing Blade Trinity to the first two Blade films is like 322 00:29:14,606 --> 00:29:20,709 comparing a cheap beer to a fine wine, you know, and comparing Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance... 323 00:29:20,994 --> 00:29:28,537 to the first 2007 Ghost Rider is not that drastic of a comparison, but I do like the darker gritty 324 00:29:28,577 --> 00:29:33,819 tone that this sequel decided to go with. I think it's the best thing it has over the original. 325 00:29:34,039 --> 00:29:38,381 There are a few things about the original I like a little bit more. I do think it set up 326 00:29:38,681 --> 00:29:43,763 the origin story for the character in a kind of groundbreaking way for the comic book character 327 00:29:43,783 --> 00:29:49,205 of Ghost Rider, but Spirit of Vengeance is more in line with what I would hope to see from 328 00:29:49,245 --> 00:29:55,375 a Ghost Rider film, I think. It shouldn't be your standard superhero action adventure story. 329 00:29:55,535 --> 00:30:00,536 It should have a little bit more of a darker tone and feel. And I appreciate that. That's 330 00:30:00,636 --> 00:30:05,737 fair. That's true. I didn't even think about how I would compare this film to the first 331 00:30:05,837 --> 00:30:10,879 Ghost Rider film. And I guess I would agree with you in that I do think that I liked this 332 00:30:10,979 --> 00:30:16,460 one more just because it felt, like I mentioned earlier, almost like a comic book. And I really 333 00:30:16,500 --> 00:30:22,563 liked that. I do wish it had a harder edge. It was only PG-13. could totally go rated R 334 00:30:22,583 --> 00:30:26,926 with this character and I think they should have. Like to me Ghost Rider should be a horror 335 00:30:26,966 --> 00:30:32,910 character. A horror Ghost Rider film without any comedy whatsoever to me is how a Ghost 336 00:30:32,950 --> 00:30:38,774 Rider film should be. I could be wrong, but I would love to see that. Well, I would definitely 337 00:30:38,814 --> 00:30:44,158 say that the ideal Ghost Rider film would keep the jokes to a minimum. I mean, in an ideal 338 00:30:44,198 --> 00:30:49,181 world, a Ghost Rider film would be very much in the horror genre, I think. Horror action 339 00:30:49,341 --> 00:30:53,867 for sure. But let's go ahead and get into the character breakdown. Starting with Ghost Rider, 340 00:30:54,167 --> 00:31:00,050 AKA Johnny Blaze, who's played by the one and only Nicholas Cage. And talking about the guy's 341 00:31:00,150 --> 00:31:05,832 acting skill and performance ability is no small task, I'll say that. On one hand, you have 342 00:31:05,872 --> 00:31:10,254 people who consider him one of the greatest actors of his generation, with films like Adaptation 343 00:31:10,294 --> 00:31:14,355 and Matchstick Men proving their point. On the other hand, you have people who consider him 344 00:31:14,495 --> 00:31:18,917 one of the worst actors ever, with films like Wicker Man and Vampire's Kiss proving their 345 00:31:18,957 --> 00:31:24,021 point. I think fittingly, his performance in Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance straddles both 346 00:31:24,081 --> 00:31:28,845 viewpoints where at times I think he delivers a vulnerable real performance, such as when 347 00:31:28,865 --> 00:31:33,268 he confesses his selfishness being behind his deal with the devil, and other times when he 348 00:31:33,288 --> 00:31:38,012 goes incredibly over the top, such as when the writer is trying to break through while interrogating 349 00:31:38,132 --> 00:31:42,436 one of Kerrigan's contacts. I think either way, whether you love him or hate him, at the very 350 00:31:42,476 --> 00:31:48,020 least you have to admit that his performances are interesting at worst and fun at best, or 351 00:31:48,060 --> 00:31:53,627 at least you can tell he has fun. while performing. Yeah, I can say with the utmost confidence 352 00:31:53,667 --> 00:31:56,968 that Nicolas Cage is the actor of all time. 353 00:32:00,349 --> 00:32:06,410 That's true, for sure. No, I did not love his performance in this movie. I wanted it to feel 354 00:32:06,430 --> 00:32:12,072 like it was interesting, but there were just so many unbelievably weird moments that I feel 355 00:32:12,092 --> 00:32:16,613 like he's kind of the worst aspect of this film. Like I feel like this might have been a good 356 00:32:16,653 --> 00:32:21,872 Ghost Rider film. if someone besides Nicolas Cage played him. OK, OK. John, what do you 357 00:32:21,912 --> 00:32:26,516 think? I don't think he was great, but I don't think it was his fault. I think the lines that 358 00:32:26,556 --> 00:32:31,199 he was he was given were just it was like they weren't written for anyone to read. They were 359 00:32:31,219 --> 00:32:36,322 just there to throw out on the page. Like it just it didn't feel like he was given the right 360 00:32:36,362 --> 00:32:44,288 script. Who can deliver a line like I will eat your stinking soul? No one can do that. I almost 361 00:32:44,368 --> 00:32:50,560 wonder, though, if like he intentionally wanted those lines added. Something about his performance 362 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:56,263 just makes me think that he wanted this character to be so much more weird than the first movie. 363 00:32:56,523 --> 00:33:01,006 You know, I feel like the line delivery was something like roadkill. You know, it's just 364 00:33:01,066 --> 00:33:06,589 so cheesy, sort of in the same way that his performance was cheesy. So I don't know if 365 00:33:06,709 --> 00:33:10,572 it's the writing. I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, he just delivered those lines ad-libbed 366 00:33:10,892 --> 00:33:15,190 while they were performing. It almost felt that way to me. That wouldn't surprise me because 367 00:33:15,230 --> 00:33:19,373 he does make a lot of strange choices. You know, in the first Ghost Rider movie, he was the 368 00:33:19,494 --> 00:33:24,297 one who wanted to be drinking jelly beans out of martini glasses and things like that. Just 369 00:33:24,337 --> 00:33:29,341 these little weird idiosyncrasies that he thought would help inform his portrayal of Johnny Blaze. 370 00:33:29,761 --> 00:33:34,985 What's kind of funny is that Nicolas Cage in this movie, Spirit of Vengeance, he allegedly 371 00:33:35,085 --> 00:33:40,869 invented a new acting technique when playing the character of Ghost Rider called Nuvo Shamanism. 372 00:33:41,122 --> 00:33:46,184 where he painted his face black with a white skull, kind of like Baron Semity, and he sewed 373 00:33:46,224 --> 00:33:51,826 some ancient Egyptian trinkets into his leather jacket to try to invoke some kind of supernatural 374 00:33:51,886 --> 00:33:56,969 energy into his performance. You could definitely see it, I think, in the character of Ghost 375 00:33:57,009 --> 00:34:02,611 Rider because there's a lot of times during the film where I'm like, what is Ghost Rider 376 00:34:03,072 --> 00:34:08,050 doing? Like, why is he acting that way? Like, he's swaying back and forth. just standing 377 00:34:08,090 --> 00:34:13,331 there and acting creepy. You know, it's not a traditional approach that Nicolas Cage took 378 00:34:13,431 --> 00:34:18,173 to this for sure, but I do think his version of Ghost Rider was more creepy here than the 379 00:34:18,213 --> 00:34:22,294 first film, which I think means it's better. He definitely came off as a bit more creepy, 380 00:34:22,374 --> 00:34:29,156 albeit very stale at times. It was like he went from not moving at all, and then he was swaying, 381 00:34:29,196 --> 00:34:33,357 and then he was just fast and in your face. Like it did kind of catch me off guard. I think 382 00:34:33,377 --> 00:34:37,711 they were intending for jump scares in those scenes and... It didn't scare so much as it 383 00:34:37,911 --> 00:34:44,736 just kind of shocked that it went from nothing to burst of speed. Yeah, I feel exactly the 384 00:34:44,776 --> 00:34:49,039 same way. And I know exactly what you're talking about. And it makes me think that the film 385 00:34:49,259 --> 00:34:54,803 also suffered from poor editing, because I think if they would have cut down those weird slow 386 00:34:54,843 --> 00:34:59,086 moments and just kept him as this, like, frightening in your face creature, he would have been a 387 00:34:59,106 --> 00:35:04,942 lot more effective. I agree. Yeah, totally. Now, the character of Johnny Blaze. has always 388 00:35:04,982 --> 00:35:10,383 been a tragic one in the comics, where his superpower is really a curse and a burden, similar to 389 00:35:10,423 --> 00:35:16,385 the Hulk, where his powered form is a separate being of wanton destruction. At the start of 390 00:35:16,405 --> 00:35:21,546 the film, Johnny Blaze is essentially in self-exile, but when given the opportunity to remove the 391 00:35:21,586 --> 00:35:28,308 demon, he takes it, which is understandable. But Johnny Blaze lives with this guilt of his 392 00:35:28,388 --> 00:35:32,749 selfishness, and he claimed to Meroe that it led him to make the deal with the devil in 393 00:35:32,789 --> 00:35:37,963 the first place. And despite this weight that he feels, what he learns after the fact of 394 00:35:38,003 --> 00:35:43,004 removing the curse is that maybe he's not as selfish as he once thought because he chooses 395 00:35:43,204 --> 00:35:49,186 to potentially sacrifice his mortal self to save the boy, Danny. He chooses to take back 396 00:35:49,266 --> 00:35:55,508 the curse and he revives the boy from death. In the end, he discovers he's actually quite 397 00:35:55,568 --> 00:36:00,469 a selfless, heroic person despite what he may have thought earlier. And like the ghost rider 398 00:36:00,509 --> 00:36:05,564 itself, perhaps... he finds himself as an angel in disguise. I like that description. I do. 399 00:36:05,844 --> 00:36:11,627 I think that kind of validates a lot of how it played out. Yeah. His arc, I think, was 400 00:36:11,747 --> 00:36:16,870 actually really well done in this movie. I love at the beginning when Moreau and Johnny blaze 401 00:36:16,910 --> 00:36:21,752 our first meeting. And, you know, Moreau is like, you have to save this boy. And Johnny 402 00:36:21,772 --> 00:36:26,735 is like, I don't save people. But by the end, you see that, like you mentioned, he actually 403 00:36:26,795 --> 00:36:33,519 does the whole reveal, the whole secret that he chose to save his father even though his 404 00:36:33,579 --> 00:36:39,963 father had accepted the fact that he was cancer stricken was an element to Johnny Blaze's story 405 00:36:39,983 --> 00:36:44,426 that was surprising to me and I thought very heartfelt and very interesting for the character. 406 00:36:44,847 --> 00:36:50,130 What did you think of the revelation in this movie at least that Xerathos was once an angel 407 00:36:50,190 --> 00:36:55,274 who was tortured in hell and transformed from an angel of justice to a spirit of vengeance? 408 00:36:55,854 --> 00:37:01,610 Honestly, I don't know how it compares to the comic book origin of Xerathos, I do like that 409 00:37:01,730 --> 00:37:06,132 he's kind of like this fallen angel character. It gives him a little bit more depth that you 410 00:37:06,172 --> 00:37:11,014 otherwise wouldn't have, especially considering in the first movie, there was no delving into 411 00:37:11,314 --> 00:37:16,336 Zerathos' history or background or anything. There was no nothing really to him. He was 412 00:37:16,416 --> 00:37:23,119 just the entity inside of Johnny Glaze. So that little bit more perspective that we got, even 413 00:37:23,179 --> 00:37:28,341 if it is only just a small amount, it does give the character more depth that you didn't get 414 00:37:28,381 --> 00:37:33,496 to experience. gives more of an understanding as to where the hatred's coming from. And I 415 00:37:33,536 --> 00:37:39,461 think that makes him more relatable. Yeah, definitely adds interest to the character for sure. I 416 00:37:39,481 --> 00:37:43,965 thought it was badass that they went the angel route with the Zerathos. Like you mentioned, 417 00:37:44,225 --> 00:37:49,189 John, they didn't mention Zerathos in the first movie. I'm really glad that they did this route 418 00:37:49,209 --> 00:37:54,133 because it does add a little bit more dimension to not just Johnny Blaze, but the character 419 00:37:54,213 --> 00:37:59,858 of Ghost Rider. At the very end when he goes blue. I thought that was a really cool way 420 00:37:59,898 --> 00:38:04,220 of showing that he's sort of like become this redeemed figure in a way. He's fighting for 421 00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:08,903 justice now, you know, not just vengeance. Yeah, the blue fire aspect is an interesting one 422 00:38:08,923 --> 00:38:14,546 that comes from the comics. This film was heavily inspired by the Road to Damnation storyline 423 00:38:14,606 --> 00:38:18,749 from the comics, which was written by Garth Ennis, which was a fantastic run. Yeah, really, 424 00:38:18,869 --> 00:38:24,032 I highly recommend that one. The art was incredible alone. So the second person to be Ghost Rider 425 00:38:24,312 --> 00:38:29,516 was Johnny Blaze's brother, Danny Ketch. who in the comics at one point lost his powers 426 00:38:29,897 --> 00:38:37,384 and he was offered to take them up again by an angel named Zadkiel. And when Zadkiel bestowed 427 00:38:37,424 --> 00:38:42,069 upon him the powers, he had blue flame. So it was like he was the angel writer. But in the 428 00:38:42,169 --> 00:38:46,353 end, it turned out that Zadkiel was actually an evil angel who was looking to overthrow 429 00:38:46,493 --> 00:38:51,690 heaven. But it was interesting how they kind of took that blue fire aspect. which is the 430 00:38:51,810 --> 00:38:56,072 angels fire, you know, and then applied that to Johnny Blaze at the end of this movie. When 431 00:38:56,092 --> 00:39:01,334 he was able to, you know, like tap into Zerathos' former angel powers. Yeah, that was really 432 00:39:01,374 --> 00:39:06,876 cool, I thought. I do think that the character of Ghost Rider is so much better looking, or 433 00:39:06,936 --> 00:39:12,319 at least more believable, I should say, in this movie than in the first film, largely because 434 00:39:12,339 --> 00:39:17,181 of that black skull. For some reason, even though in the comics, Ghost Rider's flaming skull 435 00:39:17,201 --> 00:39:21,060 is depicted as white. It just doesn't look as real in live action like how it did in the 436 00:39:21,100 --> 00:39:25,284 first movie. And you could see the difference when comparing the two ghostwriters from the 437 00:39:25,324 --> 00:39:29,428 two films. Ghostwriter Spirit of Vengeance just looks more realistic. The same can be said 438 00:39:29,448 --> 00:39:34,734 about the leather. I mean, it's got that bubble boiling, you know, firstly burned look to it. 439 00:39:35,474 --> 00:39:41,120 And it definitely seems like they invested more of their budget into the look of Ghostwriter 440 00:39:41,140 --> 00:39:45,018 in this movie. I completely agree with that. Yeah, I'm really glad they updated his look 441 00:39:45,118 --> 00:39:49,060 for this film, and I didn't even know it needed updating, but apparently it did because this 442 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:54,102 was way more hella cool than the first movie. I'll say, however, that the design of the hell 443 00:39:54,142 --> 00:39:59,365 cycle in the first movie was leaps and bounds better than this motorcycle in spirit of vengeance. 444 00:39:59,625 --> 00:40:03,786 Like Ghost Rider needs to be writing, you know, like some kind of demonic chopper, like in 445 00:40:03,826 --> 00:40:08,428 the first film or some kind of souped up Danny Catch style techno crotch rocket or something 446 00:40:08,669 --> 00:40:12,871 interesting like that. But not just some standard. You know, Yamaha Cruiser like he had in this 447 00:40:12,911 --> 00:40:16,072 movie. I thought that was really disappointing. I do think you need something a little bit 448 00:40:16,112 --> 00:40:20,575 more stylistic or cool. Got to be a chopper. It's got to be a chopper. I don't know. I don't 449 00:40:20,635 --> 00:40:26,798 know much about motorcycles. I actually liked this more than the chopper, and I feel like 450 00:40:26,858 --> 00:40:31,721 I'm about to be jumped by like a biker gang of guys who are like, fuck you, choppers are 451 00:40:31,741 --> 00:40:37,124 the best. I don't know. That's I guess it's just my aesthetic. I lean more crotch rocket 452 00:40:37,304 --> 00:40:43,586 than chopper. Personally, I think they're cooler. And not that this was a crotch rocket, but 453 00:40:44,847 --> 00:40:51,568 I hate it. Let's go to move on to Moreau, who is played by Idris Elba. Now, Idris Elba is 454 00:40:51,629 --> 00:40:55,870 actually better in this movie than he had any right to be. You know, the first time I saw 455 00:40:55,890 --> 00:41:01,671 the film where, you know, from the very opening scene, he's portrayed as this badass character, 456 00:41:02,071 --> 00:41:07,593 French and drunk, leaping down staircases, ripping turns on his motorcycle and slow motion shooting 457 00:41:07,633 --> 00:41:12,147 tires off cars while falling to his apparent death. I just remember being like, who the 458 00:41:12,468 --> 00:41:18,393 F is this guy? You know, perhaps the story gave too much agency to him and maybe gave him too 459 00:41:18,433 --> 00:41:23,418 big of a role to a guy who isn't even from the comics. But part of me doesn't even care because 460 00:41:23,538 --> 00:41:30,285 Idris Elba crushed it. He crushed this role. The French accent kept throwing me because 461 00:41:30,405 --> 00:41:36,430 Idris Elba has such a distinct like British accent, you know. I thought he was great in 462 00:41:36,450 --> 00:41:40,452 the role, don't get me wrong. I could have sworn he was from the comics, but as big of a role 463 00:41:40,532 --> 00:41:44,955 as he had. Like I was ready to hear all about him during this review. Yeah, you think he 464 00:41:44,975 --> 00:41:49,518 would be from the comics, but no, he's a completely original character that they made for this 465 00:41:49,578 --> 00:41:54,661 film, who just happened to be kind of a superhero in his own right. You know, a superhero monk, 466 00:41:54,821 --> 00:42:00,144 as it were. Yeah, yeah. I also think, by the way, that I agree that he was badass in this 467 00:42:00,184 --> 00:42:05,398 movie. There was no question about that whatsoever. Yeah, and every bit the hero that Ghost Rider 468 00:42:05,438 --> 00:42:10,280 was, you know, he ended up sacrificing himself at the end just to buy Johnny a chance at saving 469 00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:15,302 the kid. So maybe one day he will make an appearance in the comics. But speaking of the comics, 470 00:42:15,322 --> 00:42:20,565 let's go ahead and move into our villain, Blackout, aka Ray Carrigan, played by Johnny Whitworth. 471 00:42:20,825 --> 00:42:24,386 This movie, I think, is the first and only time I've ever seen Johnny Whitworth in anything. 472 00:42:24,886 --> 00:42:31,049 My first impression was that just like Idris Elba, Carrigan was more character than was 473 00:42:31,489 --> 00:42:36,243 necessary for the film. I don't want to be misconstrued as advocating that actors should be generic 474 00:42:36,323 --> 00:42:42,446 in their roles, but when a movie presents somebody that is clearly like someone but doesn't really 475 00:42:42,586 --> 00:42:47,288 delve into who that someone is beyond a surface level, it does leave viewers with a lot of 476 00:42:47,348 --> 00:42:51,930 questions and I think that could be a little bit frustrating. Beyond the very surface level 477 00:42:52,070 --> 00:42:57,153 exploration of Kerrigan, I did think that he was cool and a convincing enough mercenary 478 00:42:57,353 --> 00:43:02,595 asshole type character. Although I'll say I didn't find the actor quite as convincing as 479 00:43:02,695 --> 00:43:08,037 Blackout when he's in a super villain form. I think just because of how like not menacing 480 00:43:08,177 --> 00:43:13,759 and goofy the character looks. Yeah, that hair was rough. The way his skin was kind of like 481 00:43:13,819 --> 00:43:17,901 peeling around the edges. I mean, I know that the intent was there because of his ability 482 00:43:17,941 --> 00:43:24,484 to decay, but I don't get decay from Bleach Blonde. So I was really pulled away from that. 483 00:43:24,984 --> 00:43:29,746 Yeah, what's interesting is that in the comics, he doesn't have the power of decay. So the 484 00:43:29,786 --> 00:43:36,209 fact that they gave him that power in this movie and then kind of based his makeup look around 485 00:43:36,409 --> 00:43:42,251 this decaying figure was a strange choice for sure. What does he do in the comics? So in 486 00:43:42,271 --> 00:43:47,253 the comics, Blackout is a half demon character. He's the grandson of Lilith, who is the mother 487 00:43:47,273 --> 00:43:53,036 of demons, and he has enhanced strength and durability and speed like a half demon would. 488 00:43:53,316 --> 00:43:58,090 But he also has razor sharp fangs and claws. He's kind of like vampiric. in that regard, 489 00:43:58,210 --> 00:44:04,452 but his main power is to extinguish light and generate this type of darkness that deprives 490 00:44:04,512 --> 00:44:09,953 victims of all their senses. So of course that type of power would be really hard to replicate 491 00:44:09,993 --> 00:44:14,535 on film where audiences need to actually, you know, see and hear what's going on. But I do 492 00:44:14,575 --> 00:44:19,236 think the movie did an okay job of portraying it as more of like this psychic darkness of 493 00:44:19,276 --> 00:44:23,677 sorts, where his victims, like minds kind of go into this shroud of darkness and they only 494 00:44:23,717 --> 00:44:28,565 see him. but you know, it allows the audience to still see what's going on. I do think that 495 00:44:28,585 --> 00:44:35,431 this was an interesting concept for like a henchman type secondary bad guy. But I'm also with you, 496 00:44:35,471 --> 00:44:40,795 Joseph, like I didn't quite think the performance was menacing enough at the end. It was it was 497 00:44:40,835 --> 00:44:47,661 more silly than anything I felt. Yeah, for sure. Speaking of silly, let's go to move on to Mephisto, 498 00:44:48,121 --> 00:44:53,425 a.k.a. Rourke for some reason, played by Kieran Hines. I'll come out and say it right away. 499 00:44:53,750 --> 00:44:59,313 The first movie did it better when it comes to the devil because Peter Fonda was so cool 500 00:44:59,474 --> 00:45:05,318 in the first Ghost Rider movie and seeing Kieran Hines take over the role was just so disappointing. 501 00:45:06,098 --> 00:45:11,882 I don't think he brought anything to the role other than being a man in his later years with 502 00:45:11,922 --> 00:45:16,185 a deepish voice. You know, almost anyone could have done this role, I feel, but it should 503 00:45:16,205 --> 00:45:20,348 have been Peter Fonda and that way you could have had that greater sense of continuity between 504 00:45:20,388 --> 00:45:25,767 films. Yeah, I agree. I don't know this actor. I just kind of thought he was like Stephen 505 00:45:25,807 --> 00:45:33,371 Fry's stunt double. Well, you know this guy, he played Steppenwolf in Justice League. Well, 506 00:45:33,391 --> 00:45:39,615 he did the voice for Steppenwolf. Oh, and the mocap, I believe. I doubt that. But Rourke 507 00:45:39,735 --> 00:45:43,477 towards the end, when his face is melting, it just looked really bad. And they should have 508 00:45:43,757 --> 00:45:47,679 went a different route, I think, with that effect. They probably could have showed his like skin 509 00:45:47,719 --> 00:45:51,561 cracking or something like that. But instead, they decided to make him look like he had the 510 00:45:51,621 --> 00:45:56,628 mumps. which was a bad call for sure. Yeah. How do you guys think you would have gone about 511 00:45:56,768 --> 00:46:02,071 portraying visually the idea that his body is succumbing to its own power? I don't know. 512 00:46:02,151 --> 00:46:06,854 I think you could have gone a route similar to Ghost Rider and that like he sort of has 513 00:46:06,894 --> 00:46:12,237 this fire emanating from him, at least turn his skin red. So he looks a tad bit like Mephisto 514 00:46:12,257 --> 00:46:17,160 from the comics, you know. I didn't mind that Kieran Hines played this role, though, because 515 00:46:17,180 --> 00:46:21,810 they did kind of establish the fact that Mephisto the devil. has taken on many forms through 516 00:46:21,830 --> 00:46:26,913 the ages. To me, this was just sort of like his next form after Peter Fonda. I do agree 517 00:46:26,933 --> 00:46:32,396 that Peter Fonda did it better, but I didn't really mind the actor swap. Thinking about 518 00:46:32,416 --> 00:46:38,259 it for me, I think I would have much rather seen him not cracking, but like almost losing 519 00:46:38,540 --> 00:46:43,562 like structure. Like his bones started showing, his skin started getting tight around his bones 520 00:46:43,722 --> 00:46:47,585 on certain spots of him. I think that would have been a better representation, like almost 521 00:46:47,605 --> 00:46:51,716 like rapid aging in certain areas. That would have been a cool effect too, for sure. Both 522 00:46:51,756 --> 00:46:56,380 of those ideas are better than what they did. Let's go ahead and move on to Nadia Kecs, who 523 00:46:56,400 --> 00:47:01,024 was played by Violante Placido, I think is how you pronounce that. She's an Italian actress, 524 00:47:01,104 --> 00:47:05,629 I've never seen her before. And she hasn't been in too much. The only other notable thing I 525 00:47:05,649 --> 00:47:09,772 saw that she was in was Transporter, the series. But I thought she was good for what the script 526 00:47:09,792 --> 00:47:14,717 called for. I do think she was a believable badass. I do find myself kind of wishing that 527 00:47:14,737 --> 00:47:18,968 there was... more romantic tension, I guess, between her and Johnny Blaze, because I think 528 00:47:19,008 --> 00:47:24,332 that could have brought more of an overt father-son-like dynamic to the story. Wait, because I just 529 00:47:24,392 --> 00:47:29,215 caught on to something that I didn't catch when I was watching the movie. Her last name is 530 00:47:29,295 --> 00:47:35,939 Ketch? So this is Danny Ketch? This is his mom? Yeah. Yeah, this is in fact Danny Ketch. The 531 00:47:35,959 --> 00:47:39,922 boy is Danny Ketch from the comics. I guess we could just jump right into him. He's played 532 00:47:39,942 --> 00:47:46,062 by Fergus Riordan, who, you know, he's a kid actor. He's fine. He did fine. It is weird 533 00:47:46,082 --> 00:47:49,325 how they made him Danny Ketch though, because fans of the character will know that Danny 534 00:47:49,345 --> 00:47:53,649 Ketch is Johnny Blaze's brother, who in the comics, as I mentioned, became the second version 535 00:47:53,669 --> 00:47:58,973 of Ghost Rider. Here, there's no relation between Danny and Johnny, but I do think that maybe 536 00:47:58,993 --> 00:48:04,938 they were going for like a brotherly type dynamic between the two characters when Johnny is trying 537 00:48:04,999 --> 00:48:09,602 to kind of relate to the kid and tell him that the power they have comes from a dark place, 538 00:48:09,663 --> 00:48:14,654 but it doesn't make them bad. It was almost like he was a mentor. Which is kind of cool. 539 00:48:14,714 --> 00:48:20,378 Like you never see Ghost Rider really as a mentor. But as cool as it is, I do kind of wish now 540 00:48:20,458 --> 00:48:26,783 knowing that this is fucking Danny Ketch that they would have cast the role older. Yes. Yeah, 541 00:48:26,803 --> 00:48:30,926 it would have been great if he was in his teens or something. Yeah. If he was just like five 542 00:48:30,946 --> 00:48:35,629 years older, you could have had like a cool like Terminator 2 dynamic kind of mentorship 543 00:48:35,649 --> 00:48:40,452 going on. I think that would have been cooler than what we got here. I think that that's 544 00:48:40,472 --> 00:48:46,687 a good call. Have him older. more capable even because as a, what do they say, as like nine, 545 00:48:46,787 --> 00:48:52,630 10, 11 years old, something like that. Yeah. To give that kind of an aged child, that kind 546 00:48:52,670 --> 00:48:59,913 of power seems extraordinarily irresponsible. Yeah, like if Rorke's plan was successful, 547 00:49:00,173 --> 00:49:04,355 then he would have been like this little twerp kid now with the power of the devil. You would 548 00:49:04,395 --> 00:49:09,917 think that Mephisto would at least wanna transfer his power into a young adult man at the very 549 00:49:09,957 --> 00:49:14,168 least, you know. Yeah, like early 20s, at least someone who's gone through fucking puberty. 550 00:49:14,228 --> 00:49:19,037 Come on. Right. That's a great point. 551 00:49:27,422 --> 00:49:33,425 Alright, let's go ahead and move into our story highlights. In Eastern Europe, probably Romania, 552 00:49:33,625 --> 00:49:38,468 I'm guessing, an alcoholic monk named Mereu tries to warn a monastery that a boy they're 553 00:49:38,488 --> 00:49:44,551 harboring, Dani Kec, is not safe there and he's wanted by the devil. A group of mercenaries 554 00:49:44,611 --> 00:49:50,574 led by Kerrigan arrive to take the child, causing Dani and his mother Nadia to flee. I actually 555 00:49:50,594 --> 00:49:54,957 kind of thought this was a really cool setup for the movie. I was very intrigued by it. 556 00:49:54,977 --> 00:49:59,324 I expected to see Ghost Rider. like right off the bat, but to see this Muro character, I 557 00:50:01,045 --> 00:50:04,909 thought it was really cool. It was just a pretty bad scene, I thought. Yeah, the whole like 558 00:50:05,029 --> 00:50:09,833 getting knocked off of his motorcycle and shooting his gun in slow motion, shooting out the tire 559 00:50:09,913 --> 00:50:13,456 while falling to his death was quite the opening action scene. Yeah, I thought he was dead. 560 00:50:13,476 --> 00:50:17,620 I thought they were going to kill him off. Yeah, I was like, well, what was the point of that? 561 00:50:18,401 --> 00:50:23,545 Right. So after a brief animated reintroduction to Johnny Blaze, Muro seeks him out for help. 562 00:50:23,982 --> 00:50:28,363 promising that if he escorts the boy to his order, he will help remove the Ghost Rider 563 00:50:28,383 --> 00:50:33,645 curse. Nadia and Danny are captured by Kerrigan and his men, prompting Ghost Rider to find 564 00:50:33,685 --> 00:50:38,447 them and kill several of the mercenaries, using the pendant stare on one of them. He's knocked 565 00:50:38,487 --> 00:50:42,969 out with several grenade launchers, however, and Kerrigan escapes with Danny. I remember 566 00:50:42,989 --> 00:50:47,991 being so pumped for this scene in theaters when we see Ghost Rider launch his motorcycle over 567 00:50:48,211 --> 00:50:54,866 everybody's heads and land and do a donut. I thought he was immediately going to So when 568 00:50:54,906 --> 00:50:59,448 he just started standing there and rocking I was like what the fuck is happening kill somebody 569 00:51:01,449 --> 00:51:07,031 I Also thought the pennant stare in this movie if you didn't know what the pennant stare was 570 00:51:07,392 --> 00:51:12,514 you'd have no fucking idea What was going on for one it took way too long to implement and 571 00:51:12,554 --> 00:51:16,596 two there were no visual cues exactly as to what was going Gone, he was just holding their 572 00:51:16,656 --> 00:51:22,054 head and they started screaming and then they had burst into flames, but It seems so unnecessary 573 00:51:22,094 --> 00:51:26,456 because Ghost Rider clearly demonstrated the ability to make anyone burst into flames upon 574 00:51:26,516 --> 00:51:31,918 contact with either him or his chains. So why would he leave himself vulnerable for so long 575 00:51:31,978 --> 00:51:36,240 taking such a long time to consume this guy's soul? It just seemed weird. They should have 576 00:51:36,260 --> 00:51:40,161 had at least some kind of visual cue with the eyes like they did in the first movie, where 577 00:51:40,381 --> 00:51:44,043 you could actually see the people living out their crimes and stuff like that. There was 578 00:51:44,063 --> 00:51:48,185 nothing like that here. Or at least do something with like the eyes glowing like they did in 579 00:51:48,205 --> 00:51:53,683 the opening animation for this movie. Yeah. I agree. The going back to the first movie 580 00:51:53,703 --> 00:51:59,907 that was much, much better than this movie with Penn and Stair. And I mean, he even said stuff 581 00:51:59,947 --> 00:52:03,789 in the first one when he was doing the Penn and Stair. This may just kind of looked creepily 582 00:52:03,809 --> 00:52:09,212 with his head tilting left and right like he was a dog hearing a funny sound. Right. That's 583 00:52:09,252 --> 00:52:15,295 a great way to describe it. I just want someone to like make a supercut of like him moving 584 00:52:15,335 --> 00:52:19,397 and like swaying back and forth to like some music. That would be hilarious. That would 585 00:52:19,437 --> 00:52:23,836 be hilarious. Waking up in the hospital, Johnny confronts Nadia who took him there and she 586 00:52:23,856 --> 00:52:28,919 wants to know if he can use Ghost Rider to find Danny. However, the devil aka Rourke places 587 00:52:28,959 --> 00:52:34,543 a spell on Danny through Kerrigan's phone that prevents Ghost Rider from tracking him. Johnny 588 00:52:34,583 --> 00:52:39,447 learns that Nadia sold her soul to the devil to keep from dying in exchange, burying the 589 00:52:39,487 --> 00:52:45,611 devil's son Danny. This is where we saw the second animatic of the movie where we got an 590 00:52:45,651 --> 00:52:51,843 explanation on how the devil uses the power of his deal. to conduct business on earth or 591 00:52:51,884 --> 00:52:58,149 to get things done. There was a really strange moment during this scene where they seem to 592 00:52:58,189 --> 00:53:05,476 imply that Jerry Springer was the devil. Yes. Now this movie came out in 2007 and I think 593 00:53:05,516 --> 00:53:11,161 Jerry Springer lost relevancy somewhere like in 2001, the year 2000. Definitely his peak 594 00:53:11,181 --> 00:53:15,284 was in the 90s, you know. So it was such a dated reference. I don't understand why they went 595 00:53:15,304 --> 00:53:20,389 with Jerry Springer given that joke was probably made about a decade too late. This movie came 596 00:53:20,449 --> 00:53:25,533 out in 2012, you said 2007. Oh shit, yeah, this movie came out in 2012. I meant 2012. So even 597 00:53:25,593 --> 00:53:32,219 later, the first movie came out in 2007. So by 2012, the Jerry Springer joke was way too 598 00:53:32,259 --> 00:53:37,664 late. Nadia takes Johnny to one of Kerrigan's contacts at a gambling gring where, as Johnny 599 00:53:37,684 --> 00:53:41,579 tries to constrain Ghost Rider, They learn that Kerrigan is meeting with an arms dealer at 600 00:53:41,599 --> 00:53:47,242 a quarry. They go there and Ghost Rider destroys everyone using a big ass mining machine while 601 00:53:47,262 --> 00:53:52,025 Nadia rescues and escapes with Danny. Ghost Rider catches up with them and turns on Nadia, 602 00:53:52,405 --> 00:53:57,087 about to use the pendant stare on her, but reverts to Johnny when Danny commands him to stop. 603 00:53:57,488 --> 00:54:05,452 So this is where we get the infamous Nicholas Cage beating down the door performance. A lot 604 00:54:05,472 --> 00:54:09,598 of times when I watch this movie, I just love it. I laugh my ass off. But I remember the 605 00:54:09,678 --> 00:54:14,101 first time I watched it, I was like, what the fuck is he doing? As over the top as it was, 606 00:54:14,161 --> 00:54:18,605 I loved it. You can tell he at least has fun. Like he's really trying to go for something. 607 00:54:18,865 --> 00:54:24,048 Pretending that Ghost Rider is attempting to crawl out from him. Essentially, I will say 608 00:54:24,088 --> 00:54:28,372 that I did really like the effect that when he was about to turn into Ghost Rider, like 609 00:54:28,412 --> 00:54:32,574 his eye sockets would suck in, like his face is turning into a skull. Thought that was a 610 00:54:32,615 --> 00:54:37,498 pretty cool, horrific idea. I mean, as fake as it looked, I guess it was cool. You say 611 00:54:37,518 --> 00:54:42,781 that Nicolas Cage had fun, but part of me feels like he was taking this super seriously as 612 00:54:42,801 --> 00:54:47,684 an actor. Like this is his art form, you know? I don't know if he had fun with it. I don't 613 00:54:47,784 --> 00:54:52,547 think he did. I think part of me just feels like sometimes he's oblivious to what the hell 614 00:54:52,587 --> 00:54:57,770 he's doing and thinks he's doing something brilliant. And maybe he is. I have no idea. I don't think 615 00:54:57,810 --> 00:55:03,633 this is one of those times. Well, it's one of two things, right? Either he's super not self-aware. 616 00:55:04,142 --> 00:55:10,645 Or he's very self-aware and he has this kind of like weird sense of humor where he doesn't 617 00:55:10,685 --> 00:55:15,168 really care about what people think about him and just does whatever he wants to on the day 618 00:55:15,188 --> 00:55:21,511 because he thinks it's fun. I think either option is plausible, but for the sake of the actor 619 00:55:21,531 --> 00:55:26,254 himself and kind of the respect that I have for the good performances he has given in the 620 00:55:26,294 --> 00:55:31,437 past, I like to think he just has a weird sense of humor. An auteur, okay. That's fair. That's 621 00:55:31,477 --> 00:55:35,063 absolutely fair. What did you guys think about the big ass mining machine? I thought that 622 00:55:35,083 --> 00:55:40,805 was really cool. It's rare that you see Ghost Rider take over other types of vehicles. We 623 00:55:40,846 --> 00:55:44,307 learned, you know, in the comics later on that he could do it because, you know, Robbie Reyes 624 00:55:44,447 --> 00:55:49,009 vehicle of choice is his car. But the idea of the character of Ghost Rider being able to 625 00:55:49,049 --> 00:55:54,372 take over any vehicle and turn it into a hell vehicle is so cool when that vehicle is, you 626 00:55:54,392 --> 00:56:00,143 know, five stories high and weighing thousands of tons. I mean, we kind of saw in the first 627 00:56:00,183 --> 00:56:04,147 movie that anything that the rider rides is going to be a hell vehicle with Carter Slade's 628 00:56:04,187 --> 00:56:11,934 horse. Right. But I do got to say the badass mining machine, I thought that him turning 629 00:56:11,974 --> 00:56:18,600 into basically a quasi chainsaw was pretty cool. Yeah, that was so badass. That was really cool. 630 00:56:19,100 --> 00:56:23,925 Yeah. If you guys could put Ghost Rider on any vehicle besides a motorcycle or a car, what 631 00:56:23,945 --> 00:56:27,139 do you think would be cool to see? I'm going to go with the funny one first, and I'll come 632 00:56:27,179 --> 00:56:31,361 back to a serious one. The funny one is going to be him on a horse and carriage. Yeah, that 633 00:56:31,381 --> 00:56:34,824 would actually look pretty cool, I think. Yeah, I think the horse and buggy with him on the 634 00:56:34,864 --> 00:56:39,166 buggy would be pretty fantastic. What's the not funny one? A Tesla. It's got to be a Tesla. 635 00:56:40,607 --> 00:56:46,271 An electric self-driving hell vehicle, for sure. I want to see him ride a helicopter, just having 636 00:56:46,331 --> 00:56:51,658 like a flaming freaking fan on top. That'd be cool. That would be cool. You broke me when 637 00:56:51,678 --> 00:56:56,320 you said helicopter and the first thing that came into my head is hell a copter. Yeah, that's 638 00:56:56,340 --> 00:57:01,302 how it would have to be spelled, right? Yeah, well then I'll have two hells instead of the 639 00:57:01,403 --> 00:57:05,444 one. I go two ways with this question. Like part of me would love to see him write something 640 00:57:05,484 --> 00:57:10,207 ridiculous, like a kid's tricycle and turn it into like a hell tricycle. But the other part 641 00:57:10,247 --> 00:57:14,029 of me goes the completely opposite direction and like I would like to see him in like the 642 00:57:14,069 --> 00:57:19,823 space shuttle or something like that. just this massive like rocket. That would be badass. 643 00:57:19,843 --> 00:57:25,366 That would be awesome. He would just like ride around like slim pickings from Dr. Strangelove. 644 00:57:25,666 --> 00:57:30,828 That'd be great. Yeah. Back to the story, Johnny, Nadia and Danny meet up with Muro on their 645 00:57:30,848 --> 00:57:36,371 way to his monastery. Meanwhile, Rourke resurrects Kerrigan as Blackout who steals an ambulance 646 00:57:36,411 --> 00:57:43,070 to track down Danny. Johnny and the group arrive at Muro's order led by Methodius. Who freaking 647 00:57:43,110 --> 00:57:46,492 knew that Christopher Lambert was going to be in this movie? Because I did not the first 648 00:57:46,512 --> 00:57:51,515 time I watched it. I was like, holy crap, it's freaking Highlander Raiden guy. I was very 649 00:57:51,555 --> 00:57:56,477 surprised when I saw him. But then I was like, should I have been? Because like I just held 650 00:57:56,497 --> 00:58:02,461 by Nicolas Cage. It seems like the kind of film that Christopher Lambert would love to be in. 651 00:58:02,481 --> 00:58:06,943 My favorite gag in the whole movie is during this part where we see Blackout riding in the 652 00:58:07,003 --> 00:58:10,825 ambulance and he's looking for something to eat. But everything he touches decays in his 653 00:58:10,845 --> 00:58:16,697 grasp. until he grabs the Twinkie, which just stays static. And he's like, oh, okay, pops 654 00:58:16,737 --> 00:58:20,981 it in his mouth. I thought that was hilarious. Yeah. That was funny, but it left me with questions. 655 00:58:21,041 --> 00:58:25,864 He was pulling things out of the lunchbox. They were decaying. How was he driving the ambulance? 656 00:58:26,285 --> 00:58:31,048 That's a great question. You would think that like how the sword started rusting that he 657 00:58:31,108 --> 00:58:36,492 touched later on, that anything metal that he was touching like the car would also rust or 658 00:58:36,753 --> 00:58:41,024 fall apart. It's a great question. Back to the story, Muro tells Johnny about the history 659 00:58:41,044 --> 00:58:46,188 of the demon Zerathos, how it was an angel of justice before being tortured in hell and corrupted 660 00:58:46,228 --> 00:58:50,752 into the spirit of vengeance and then bonded to Johnny as the ghostwriter. After confessing 661 00:58:50,792 --> 00:58:55,035 that his deal with the devil was made out of selfishness, Johnny goes into a chamber and 662 00:58:55,115 --> 00:58:59,539 exorcises the demon. It was an interesting scene when Ghostwriter was getting exorcised, like 663 00:58:59,559 --> 00:59:03,723 it was a weird acting moment I think when Nicolas Cage was like, Merry Christmas assholes or 664 00:59:03,743 --> 00:59:11,203 something like that. It's so bizarre. Right? Such a Nick Cage moment, for sure. Meanwhile, 665 00:59:11,243 --> 00:59:15,985 Methodius attempts to kill Dany, believing that the boy is a threat as long as he exists. He 666 00:59:16,005 --> 00:59:21,247 and the monks are killed by Blackout, however, who kidnaps Dany and delivers him to Rourke, 667 00:59:21,528 --> 00:59:26,710 who plans to transfer his mind and power into the child in a ritual. Johnny, Mereau, and 668 00:59:26,770 --> 00:59:33,293 Nadia infiltrate the ritual location to rescue Dany. Kerrigan kills Mereau, but Dany returns 669 00:59:33,333 --> 00:59:38,724 the demon, Zerathos, to Johnny. giving him back the power of the Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider kills 670 00:59:38,764 --> 00:59:43,687 the Devil Worshippers in attendance, then pursues Rourke, who had escaped the ritual with Dany. 671 00:59:44,167 --> 00:59:50,311 Between when Johnny didn't have the demon and when he did, he was being held down by Garragon, 672 00:59:50,371 --> 00:59:55,735 who was rubbing his hands all over Johnny and touching him, and you'd see the decay, but 673 00:59:55,755 --> 01:00:02,354 then it would instantly heal. Yeah. Why? That has no logical sense to it. No, it's definitely 674 01:00:02,454 --> 01:00:07,536 an error in special effects continuity where we clearly see Johnny Blaze's forehead start 675 01:00:07,556 --> 01:00:12,679 to decay and then in the very next shot, it's entirely gone. I do think that this is an editing 676 01:00:12,779 --> 01:00:18,441 issue. I think they took too long with Blackout holding Johnny Blaze and didn't get to the 677 01:00:18,481 --> 01:00:22,743 whole getting the power back quick enough. My favorite shot in the whole movie though is 678 01:00:22,863 --> 01:00:27,905 that above shot down on Ghost Rider as he's surrounded by the devil worshipers and then 679 01:00:27,945 --> 01:00:33,589 he turns into and he spins his chain around, just freaking annihilating all of them. I love 680 01:00:33,609 --> 01:00:38,133 that shot. That was a cool shot. Legend of Zelda style. Mm hmm. I kind of liked it and how like 681 01:00:38,273 --> 01:00:42,977 you weren't quite sure in that moment if he was going to fully be Ghost Rider until he 682 01:00:43,017 --> 01:00:48,482 whips out that chain. It's like surprise, bitches. Then they're all dead. Yeah. In a really cool 683 01:00:48,522 --> 01:00:54,086 chase scene, Ghost Rider destroys Rourke's convoy and fights Blackout, who eventually succumbs 684 01:00:54,126 --> 01:00:58,726 to Ghost Rider's penance there after causing Rourke's vehicle to crash. Ghost Rider sends 685 01:00:58,746 --> 01:01:03,010 him back to hell by slamming him through the ground. Though Danny is believed to be dead, 686 01:01:03,250 --> 01:01:07,974 Johnny is able to summon the power of Zerathos' former angel powers to revive him. The film 687 01:01:08,094 --> 01:01:13,298 ends with Ghost Rider wielding blue fire. Riding into the sunset. I thought it was a great chase 688 01:01:13,318 --> 01:01:17,222 scene towards the interior. It was cool to see him take over one of the military vehicles 689 01:01:17,262 --> 01:01:22,006 and turn it into like a hell jeep. Yeah. Again, I think that the penistare took too long to 690 01:01:22,046 --> 01:01:27,014 work on Blackout. At that point, it almost felt like a kind of a not a Deus Ex Machina. but 691 01:01:27,034 --> 01:01:32,217 kind of like this cheap move where you always knew that Ghost Rider had it in his back pocket, 692 01:01:32,357 --> 01:01:37,441 the ability to do the pendant stare. So you wonder why he didn't like do it sooner or why 693 01:01:37,481 --> 01:01:41,604 doesn't he do it more often, I guess, against these guys. It's almost like Ghost Rider knew 694 01:01:41,664 --> 01:01:47,107 he was saving the pendant stare for the climax in his fight against Blackout, which is, feels 695 01:01:47,128 --> 01:01:52,551 a little, yeah, cheap. I agree. I thought this chase scene was really cool at the end. I loved 696 01:01:52,952 --> 01:01:57,134 just being able to see everything because it took place during the day. As cool as Ghost 697 01:01:57,154 --> 01:02:02,178 Rider looks at night, I thought he looked equally as cool during the day with like all the black 698 01:02:02,238 --> 01:02:06,782 smoke and stuff like that. That was it was awesome to see. You showed me the trailer for this 699 01:02:06,822 --> 01:02:14,048 movie before I watched it, Joseph. I was surprised at how much of like the final chase scene sequence 700 01:02:14,088 --> 01:02:20,233 in battle ended up in the trailer. Yeah, definitely the final ripping out of the axle and causing 701 01:02:20,453 --> 01:02:24,096 Rourke's vehicle to crash. That was kind of like his coup de grace, you know, other than 702 01:02:24,156 --> 01:02:27,586 slamming work through the ground. And actually, you know what? Slamming Gork through the ground 703 01:02:27,626 --> 01:02:32,288 was also in the trailer. So it was, yeah, the whole final blow was entirely in the marketing 704 01:02:32,328 --> 01:02:35,910 for this film. Although I guess you wouldn't know that unless you had seen the movie. So 705 01:02:35,930 --> 01:02:40,012 was the flame therapy in this, by the way, that was also one of the trailers. That's right. 706 01:02:40,172 --> 01:02:45,594 That's so awesome. I was going to say stupid, but then I switched it to awesome because I 707 01:02:45,614 --> 01:02:51,036 think that's a better description. I do kind of love how the last line, you know, like at 708 01:02:51,076 --> 01:02:55,158 the end of Punisher Warzone, the last line was like, oh, great. Now I got. brain splattered 709 01:02:55,198 --> 01:03:01,662 all over me, which is just like, it's so ridiculous, but it's amusing in how devil may care. It 710 01:03:01,742 --> 01:03:06,605 is to use a pun. The last line for this movie was just as good where they're like, did we 711 01:03:06,665 --> 01:03:11,067 win? And he's like, I'm gonna say yes. Hell yes. And like the camera zooms in on his face 712 01:03:11,087 --> 01:03:17,631 and everything like that. So good. His eyes like bulged out of his head. Yeah. Jonathan, 713 01:03:17,671 --> 01:03:22,546 I take it you didn't like that. I fucking rolled my eyes so fucking hard. No one cares about 714 01:03:22,566 --> 01:03:27,068 your opinion. That was awesome. Apparently. But that's the end of the film. Overall, you 715 01:03:27,088 --> 01:03:32,630 know, the film is such a mixed bag. There are aspects to Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance 716 01:03:32,650 --> 01:03:36,932 that I have a lot of fun with that I think are really well done for the character of Ghost 717 01:03:36,972 --> 01:03:43,014 Rider. There are also some pretty objectively bad parts about the film. Nicolas Cage's performance 718 01:03:43,054 --> 01:03:47,616 being one of them. Even though I do think he had fun, I do think he could have made some 719 01:03:47,656 --> 01:03:54,397 better choices for a better film. So. The film revs and stalls, swerving between gritty and 720 01:03:54,457 --> 01:04:00,122 silly, with scorching action, but a cliched story, with fiery performances, but burned 721 01:04:00,182 --> 01:04:06,628 out dialogue. I'm giving the film 3 stars out of 5, which is a 60%, but I'm classifying it 722 01:04:06,688 --> 01:04:11,633 as a rotten rating for Rotten Tomatoes. Because at the end of the day, I don't think I would 723 01:04:11,673 --> 01:04:16,217 actually recommend it to a whole lot of people unless they were big time Ghost Rider fans. 724 01:04:16,746 --> 01:04:22,610 Yeah, I think a rotten rating makes sense because it's right on the cusp of 60%. So you could 725 01:04:22,931 --> 01:04:27,735 go either way. And I do agree that there was a lot to like about it. There was also a lot 726 01:04:27,775 --> 01:04:32,699 to dislike about it. The biggest thing I disliked, as I mentioned earlier, was Nicolas Cage's 727 01:04:32,739 --> 01:04:38,664 performance. I think he kind of hurt the film in a way, which is hard to say because I know 728 01:04:38,764 --> 01:04:44,609 how cherished Nicolas Cage is as an actor. But sometimes it just came off as almost borderline 729 01:04:44,649 --> 01:04:49,643 cartoony. and just bizarre as I mentioned earlier. Ultimately, my thoughts on the film come down 730 01:04:49,683 --> 01:04:55,566 to how much I respect David Goyer as a writer versus Nicolas Cage as an actor. And I really 731 01:04:55,586 --> 01:05:01,168 find it hard to believe that David Goyer, as often as he can sometimes drop the ball, would 732 01:05:01,228 --> 01:05:08,151 write lines like, hell yes. You know? So I put a lot of that on Nicolas Cage. Earlier on, 733 01:05:08,191 --> 01:05:12,833 I did say that I loved this movie and then going back to it, I hadn't watched it in a long time 734 01:05:12,873 --> 01:05:18,640 and a lot of it doesn't feel like it. did when I watched it 11 years ago. And I mean, that's 735 01:05:18,940 --> 01:05:22,883 easy to say. Anybody can forget how something feels after 11 years. You can totally lose 736 01:05:22,923 --> 01:05:27,726 track of things and how they felt or how they were. And just in your memory, you know, things 737 01:05:27,786 --> 01:05:33,170 change over time. Seeing Nicolas Cage deliver lines that felt like he didn't write them. 738 01:05:33,250 --> 01:05:37,353 And then in the next scene, there was a bunch of lines that felt like he wrote them and then 739 01:05:37,493 --> 01:05:43,197 back and then forth. That took me out of it a lot. The animation sequences also kind of 740 01:05:43,217 --> 01:05:49,128 took me out of it. I had never realized until you mentioned it actually that this was a requel. 741 01:05:49,589 --> 01:05:54,051 I understand, but I also see no purpose to it. It could have been a much better movie if they 742 01:05:54,071 --> 01:05:59,574 just continued the continuity and had more of the same actors or more of that original story 743 01:05:59,614 --> 01:06:04,857 being followed through with. I can't justifiably even give this better than a 2.5 because of 744 01:06:04,897 --> 01:06:09,560 how much it was let down compared to what I remembered. So I'm going to go 2.5. Yeah, sometimes 745 01:06:09,580 --> 01:06:13,514 nostalgia could get the better of you. I can totally see. how the film could be two and 746 01:06:13,534 --> 01:06:18,538 a half stars as well as three. But John, thank you so much for joining us for this review. 747 01:06:18,758 --> 01:06:23,061 We're really glad to have you as a guest and hopefully I can return as a guest on your show, 748 01:06:23,121 --> 01:06:27,584 Mad Trivia Podcast. I know that Jonathan will be recording here shortly doing a guest spot 749 01:06:27,624 --> 01:06:32,587 for your show talking about his favorite movies. So that'll be a lot of fun to listen to. Listeners, 750 01:06:32,667 --> 01:06:37,270 if you wanna hear what my five favorite movies are and then see me get pretty embarrassing 751 01:06:37,310 --> 01:06:41,953 with the mad libs, definitely go check out John's show. It's a blast. So thanks again, John. 752 01:06:42,278 --> 01:06:46,601 and talk to you later. Later. But that does it for this review. Let us know what you guys 753 01:06:46,621 --> 01:06:51,284 thought about the movie by writing to us at dynamicduelpodcast.gmail.com or by visiting 754 01:06:51,384 --> 01:06:55,507 us on Instagram or X. You can find links to all of our accounts by checking out our show 755 01:06:55,527 --> 01:07:00,311 notes or visiting our website at dynamicduel.com. And on our site, you can also find a link to 756 01:07:00,331 --> 01:07:05,015 our Patreon page where you can join our dynamic duo tier and chat with us and fellow listeners, 757 01:07:05,335 --> 01:07:10,522 our fantastic four tier, which gets you bonus content each month. our ex force tier that 758 01:07:10,562 --> 01:07:16,444 makes you an executive producer of this podcast, or our newest tier that lets you join our dynamike 759 01:07:16,484 --> 01:07:21,345 podcast network. If you can't join Patreon, you can still support the show by signing up 760 01:07:21,385 --> 01:07:26,827 for our e-newsletter also at dynamicduel.com so you never miss an episode. You can also 761 01:07:26,867 --> 01:07:33,489 rate the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser, or on our website. Our next episode is a big 762 01:07:33,589 --> 01:07:39,259 one, guys. It comes out Halloween Day. And it's going to close out Spooktober with one of the 763 01:07:39,299 --> 01:07:44,702 biggest surprises that this show has ever provided to our listeners. Should we give them a hint, 764 01:07:44,762 --> 01:07:52,407 Jonathan, as to what the next episode is going to be? Fuck no! All right. He said it. I guess 765 01:07:52,427 --> 01:07:56,409 we're saving the surprise for when you guys see the next episode drop. So look forward 766 01:07:56,449 --> 01:08:00,231 to that. But that does it for this episode. We want to give a big thanks to our executive 767 01:08:00,271 --> 01:08:05,866 producers, Ken Johnson, John Sturowski, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Belcombe. Miggi Matangian, 768 01:08:06,086 --> 01:08:12,327 Brandon Estergaard, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Yeaton, Nick Abonto, Austin Wazilowski, AJ Dunkerley, 769 01:08:12,628 --> 01:08:18,629 Scott Camacho, Adam Spies, and Andrew Schunk for helping make this podcast possible and 770 01:08:18,649 --> 01:08:24,291 we'll talk to you guys next week. Up up and away, true believers. You will tell me or I 771 01:08:24,311 --> 01:08:25,871 will eat your stinking soul.