3) Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance (2011)
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is a punk rock superhero movie; wild, kinetic and bombastic, it gave Nic Cage a vehicle to let go of any inhibition he had left by that point and unleash full-blown Nic Cage on us in a way only he can – and that’s never a bad thing if you’re a fan of the man. Furthermore, at the time, the film felt like a breath of fresh air among other superhero fare as it bore no resemblance to its peers, and while those movies were all excellent and all, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance stood out from the pack like any flaming skull head should.
Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have always been polarizing directors. You either get them or you don’t. What I love about them, however, is their precedence to make movies which entertain for the sake of doing just that. And thus, their films are self-aware popcorn full of gung-ho action and outlandish laughs. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance retains the visceral thrills of the Crank movies, only without the violence, sex and Troma-isms.
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance took the concept of a flaming-skulled anti-hero, unabashedly embraced the ridiculousness of the premise, and just rode with it. The end results? Total brilliance – and one of the most enjoyable comic book movies in recent memory.