Not Approved

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

In the successor to the worldwide hit "Ghost Rider", Johnny still struggling with his curse as the devil's bounty hunter is hiding out in a remote part of Eastern Europe when he is recruited by a secret sect of the church to save a young boy from the devil. At first, Johnny is reluctant to embrace the power of the Ghost Rider, but it is the only way to protect the boy and possibly rid himself of the curse forever.
17
Negative Rating
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SexLanguageViolenceDrugsNudityOther
0
Positive Rating
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FaithIntegrity

Dove Review

Ghost Rider is certainly an action/adventure and the chases and killings never stop. From start to finish we see people shot, blown up, consumed in flames, rot to dust. If someone isn’t dying or killing, they’re chasing each other in cars, on motor cycles or demonizing industrial grinding/drilling equipment. Can you believe that with all this carnage, we only see one single drop of blood from a cut over a boy’s eyebrow? However, the violence is so graphic in other ways, it scores far over our acceptability level. In addition, language also takes us by force with several utterances of foul words. The filmmakers even kept true to form and included that single F-Bomb just because they could and still receive a PG-13 rating. Come to think of it, the lack of blood may be the only thing that stopped it from receiving an R rating.

I will say the special effects in this are vastly superior to the first Nick Cage flick but the story is much darker. We learn that a woman has made a deal with the Devil to bare his son whom he intends to possess in a demonic ritual which is attended by all the current world political and financial big wigs. Ghost Rider needs to save the day and of course he does. I don’t think I’m giving anything away here am I? We also learn that the demon that possesses the Ghost Rider was an angel, the Spirit of Justice, who went mad and was taken to hell becoming the Spirit of Vengeance. The story is cohesive but the content is excessive and that means we cannot recommend this to a family audience.

Dove Rating Details

0
Faith

None

0
Integrity

Flames consume people; flaming chain obliterates many into fireballs and ash; Ghost Rider has the power to suck the souls out of the guilty; man gains the power to decay anything and anybody he touches and he uses it often; people shot and killed; several chase scenes resulting in crashes and deaths; (Surprisingly none of the above actions are bloody in any way other than a boy who spills a single drop of blood on the ground).

2
Sex

Man takes of wedding ring to meet a woman; woman makes deal with the Devil and has his son.

4
Language

GD-3; D-2; F-1; S in French-2; SOB-1; B-1; A-3; Slang for male genitalia-2

3
Violence

Flames consume people; flaming chain obliterates many into fireballs and ash; Ghost Rider has the power to suck the souls out of the guilty; man gains the power to decay anything and anybody he touches and he uses it often; people shot and killed; several chase scenes resulting in crashes and deaths; (Surprisingly none of the above actions are bloody in any way other than a boy who spills a single drop of blood on the ground).

3
Drugs

Man drinks wine when not fighting and sometimes when he is; man steals drugs for pain after a battle; man smokes a cigar; man almost lights a cigarette but doesn't; man injects boy with sedative.

1
Nudity

Mild cleavage.

4
Other

People have made deals with the devil in exchange for their lives; the Devil speaks to a boy, placing him in a trance; Monks attempt to sacrifice a boy; we learn an Angel went mad and became a demon that possesses someone.

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