Mark Steven Johnson’s Ghost Rider wasn’t good, but it was successful. The comic-book adaptation made $115 million at the box office which earned it the right to attempt a sequel. Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, helmers of two Crank flicks, were hired for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, which arrives in theaters in February. We have a poster below, and you can click on it to see it in high-res.



Here are the basics. Nic Cage returns as spirit of vengeance Johnny Blaze, who sold his soul to The Devil (Ciaran Hinds) and now goes after the darkened souls of hardened criminals. The sequel has a solid cast, adding Idris Elba and Christopher Lambert for a thriller that shifts the action to Eastern Europe. Hopes are high.

Now, the bad news. Spirit of Vengeance was one of the films screened at Harry Knowles’ annual birthday party Butt-Numb-A-Thon. Reaction wasn’t good. At all.

“GHOST RIDER 2 manages to make me look fondly back on GHOST RIDER. Unbearable,” tweeted Devin Faraci of Badass Digest.

“The script is nonsense to the point where Neveldine, who was present for a short Q&A, even as admitted so much by saying they inserted several ADR sequences to try and explain things,” Pete Hall of Movies.com wrote.

Other negative posts went after the film’s 3D. That’s not great. There’s time to tighten a few things before the film’s Feb. 17 release … but not much time. At the very least, Spirit of Vengeance will have a cool poster. Beyond that, we make no promises.