Back in June we told you that Cage was entering negotiations to don the flaming skull once again for a Ghost Rider sequel. The production is underway and Nicolas Cage confirmed last week on Craig Ferguson’s Late, Late Show that he’s officially signed for the sequel, Crank directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are on board as well to helm the project.
How exactly is the film a reboot when Cage is back in the role, and they likely won’t rehash the origin story? Well, it’s said by many, Cage and David S. Goyer (whose screenplay they’re using this time around) included, that they want the film to be an R-rated film, and get to the dark, edgy context that made Ghost Rider as popular as he is.
While the studio wants to keep the film around the PG-13 zone, for obvious box-office reasons, the likelihood of an R-rated Ghost Rider film may have just doubled with the signing of Neveldine/Taylor. The title of the film, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, also sounds as though it’s a harsher, more unforgiving film than its predecessor. Let’s just hope that Sony execs do what’s right, and leave the big boys make their big boy movie.
The Pulse: While I’m not a Ghost Rider fan, I have no doubt that the franchise can be entertaining. The first film wasn’t entirely awful, but it also wasn’t as strong as it could have been. I commend studios when they suck it up and give a film the R-rating it needs to not only tell the story it wants to tell, but also risk a bit of money for the sake of making a better film. This is something Sony has to do this time around, as keeping a PG-13 rating almost spells death out of the gate for this one. I’m not one of those people who thinks a movie must be rated R in order for it to be good, as many of the latest great action films have been PG/PG-13 rated; but I do think that certain films need to have the boundaries lifted in order to tell the story the way it should be told.
In my opinion, I would say that Cage wouldn’t have signed on unless he had assurance that the film would be given the chance to be R-rated, as I don’t believe he’d open himself up to another critical panning before a film even began shooting. With the addition of Crank and Gamer directors Neveldine and Taylor, I do believe that this film may have the chance to go into the darker territories where Ghost Rider must ride in order to be successful.
What do you guys think? Is Nic Cage enough to keep you away from this sequel, or is the chance that he’ll finally get his wish of a hardcore, R-rated Ghost Rider film enough to keep you intrigued until you at least see a trailer?
