Spirit Of Vengeance ignites onto the screen in a mass of blazing carnage and sizzling hot 3D visual effects. Packed with some of the most random and craziest images you'll ever see, Ghost Rider 2 will mess with your head. It's great to see Nicolas Cage go mental in his roles, he actually goes insane and you can tell that by the look in his eyes. This time Johnny Blaze is on a mission to save a boy from the devil. The story is basic and needs some more development but the 3D and action totally make up where the story doesn't. The Ghost Rider takes control of several vehicles and tears up location after location, one scene includes a giant quarry digger that sets aflame and starts crushing bad guys and blowing stuff up taking down multiple enemies, and he also takes on a whole motorway full of the Devil's right hand men which ends up in more destruction. Spirit Of Vengeance shows what 3D can do at it's best alongside the wild camera-work from Neveldine and Taylor. Glass shatters, flames and cinders float out the screen in extreme force. It's miles better than the first, Spirit Of Vengeance works due to the choppy camera-work, fiery visuals, Nic Cage and some wild 3D.

The first Ghost Rider film from 2007 was fairly faithful to the comic. When Ghost Rider came out in 1972 it was more of a general idea than a fully fleshed-out premise. This was clear as the stories changed from writer to writer and one artist to another. Ideas were added as the years progressed, like the "penance stare" and Blaze's growing awareness of the former angel of justice, Zarathos. The book was canceled in 1983 after a ten-year run. In 1990 a new version of Ghost Rider was introduced with a different character and it ran eight years.

The first film was an amalgam of the ideas presented in these two series, mostly the first, and struck me as the comic-book come to life. Really, the only thing that was disappointing was the villain, Blackheart, who was seriously scary in the comics, but not so much in the movie.

"Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" (2012) is a worthy follow-up with Nicolas Cage returning as Johnny Blaze. The story switches to Europe and, more specifically, Romania and Turkey, where the film was shot.

This time the devil is played by Ciarán Hinds, rather than Peter Fonda, which isn't a big deal considering Satan could presumably take different physical forms. The devil's main minion is played by Johnny Whitworth, a different character than Blackheart from the original, albeit similar. The hot female is Violante Placido, who's arguably an improvement over Eva Mendes. Another positive is the rockin' soundtrack.

I don't mind the story switching to eastern Europe since the locations are excellent, particularly the amazing cave-monastery, but there are other changes that I'm not so crazy about, like the charred biker jacket of the Ghost Rider, but this is just a matter of taste; I simply prefer the cool biker "costume" as opposed to the dirtbag biker look. A more significant negative is the overactive camera that's annoying and draws attention to itself (hopefully this fad has run its course). But there are enough dramatic parts to balance out the quick-edited thrills; besides, you get used to it

BOTTOM LINE: "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" is a quality sequel that interestingly fleshes out the nature of the spirit that possesses Johnny blaze (I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil it). People who claim the film's more "serious" and "faithful" to the comic are off the mark. It has the same quasi-serious, cartoony-horror vibe as the first film, with glimpses of humor. As radical as the first movie was (in a comic booky way),this one ups the ante and is the better for it. Unfortunately it's marred by the hyperactive camera and quick editing.

The film runs 1 hour, 35 minutes.

GRADE: B.

GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE, a sequel to a comic-book movie that nobody asked for, has the misfortune to be directed by the directing duo of Neveldine and Taylor, two guys who came to short-lived fame after the success of CRANK. I'm not really a fan of their hyper-kinetic direction - in fact, I don't think many people are - and it really drags down the quality of this otherwise typical storyline.

Then again, to be totally honest, the first ghost rider wasn't really all that great to begin with. Nicolas Cage is, shall we say, adequate at best, playing a guy who undergoes a Hulk-style transformation into a flaming skeleton at regular intervals. Truth be told, it's all pretty silly and the narrative is as a lightweight and uninteresting as you'd expect (something about Ghost Rider trying to save a kid from the clutches of the Devil).

The best thing about the film? It has to be the ever-reliable Ciaran Hinds, perfectly cast as the Devil and delivering a top-notch performance to boot, just as you'd expect from one of the greatest - and most underrated - actors of our time. What else to say? Well, Cage's performance is occasionally entertaining for all the wrong reasons - watch out for that "scraping at the door" breakdown - and Violante Placido is easy on the eye. Idris Elba bags a neat supporting role. And some of the CGI-imbued action isn't too shabby. But in the wide world of superhero movies, it's fair to say GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE is one of the more forgettable instalments out there.