Marvel's Ghost Rider 2 Were the Changes Necessary?
By J.C. Delfino III
After seeing this movie first in the theater and then again on DVD I had to wonder if some of the subtle changes that they made were necessary. They made some changes to how Johnny Blaze became Ghost Rider, simple stuff like breaking a bottle cutting his hand and dripping blood on the contact. Dumb stuff really.
First off part of the change was a different actor for the Devil, but really in the scheme of things this was minor, I can imagine someone like the "Devil" taking different forms. This needed no redo of their original meeting, and could have easily been written into the script, with a line like: He is a shape-shifter taking new forms and burning out the bodies he possesses.
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Casting Ciaran Hinds (who also recently starred in John Carter) in Place of Peter Fonda was acceptable, no alteration of past history as needed. Watching the movie, I couldn't help but ask, Why? Why did they make this changes?
Moving past that though I did enjoy the movie, as a Marvel Comic's Fan of more then 30 years, the Ghost Rider was always one of my favorites, although as a young child I had to hide them from my mom who thought they were demonic. The story is demonic, and not suggested for kids, you want them to watch something sit them down for the Avengers, or Spider-Man.
The movie pulls at PG-13 rating and it pushes those limits, they drop the f bomb, and plenty of people die, some very frightening. This movie is for late teens and adults.
The movie is darker then the original, and even gets into child possession. It's not for everyone, and remains one of the darker stories that Marvel makes on the Marvel Knights label, which is comics directed toward adults, with stuff like Punisher and Blade. Ghost Rider is one of the mellower titles produced into movies.
That said, pop the movie in the DVD/Blue Ray player and enjoy it, but keep it away from the younger kids. It is fun and even funny at times.
Check out my review of Marvel's The Avengers and Total Recall