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My expectations for this movie were not high. I feel like I enjoyed the first movie, but I can't remember much more than scraps and I don't recall the story. The sequel, Spirit of Vengeance was also entertaining, and probably won't be memorable either. What I found sort of odd is how much went into explaining the Rider's backstory. Not only was there a refresher course at the start of the movie, it seemed like there were several additional explanations sprinkled throughout the movie as if in response to anticipated viewer questions. For those who understand basically what the Rider is, that all felt remedial and almost insulting ("why would we be here if we didn't know who the Rider was?") but I guess the studio or film makers were assuming the majority of the audience never saw the first movie and this would be their first exposure to the story behind Ghost Rider. Fine... I'll go along with that if I have to. Things I can say in favor of this movie, it moves fast. It felt like it was under an hour, which I guess means it's a fairly tight movie or maybe that the action sequences, which almost felt too short, moved very fast. Maybe? It's also fun watching the Rider be a total badass and I did find myself frequently distracted by the special FX, which is mostly the cool flame effects. On the downside, there's very little substance to this movie. It's also, plot wise, very simple. No real subtleties, no gray areas, it's generally right out there. That's the point of the Rider. He sees the evil in people and it doesn't matter what sort of good they do, it's black or white with him. So while there wasn't anything to really dig into or anything that kept me thinking outside the movie, it was still fun. It was also pretty interesting seeing small parts from both Tony Head and Christopher Lambert. Who both play priests? Weird.

3/5