The first trailer for the upcoming Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance has been released. You can check it out here below this article.

The film marks the first time star Nicolas Cage has played the iconic Marvel Comics hero since 2007’s Ghost Rider, Mark Steven Johnson’s much-derided and reviled cinematic adaptation of the character that overcame near-universal derision to become a modest box office hit. This time around Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the deranged masterminds of the Crank series as well as Gamer (and the screenwriters of last year’s atrocious Jonah Hex movie, but that film underwent so many rewrites and reshoots prior to its release that it’s doubtful much of their original script even made it into the final product), are assuming directing duties. Television writers Scott M. Gimple and Seth Hoffman (House, Flash Forward) make their feature screenwriting debut based on an original story by David S. Goyer (Blade, Batman Begins) that is rumored to have been taken from an unproduced script Goyer wrote for the first Ghost Rider film.

The plot takes place several years after the events of the first film. Johnny Blaze (Cage) is in self-imposed exile in Eastern Europe, trying to conceal the demonic powers of the Ghost Rider he was given after making a pact with the Devil when he was a teenager. Moreau (Idris Elba), a monk from the order of the warrior angel Michael, appeals to Blaze to protect a woman and her son from an individual named Roarke, a mysterious character with a rather detailed knowledge of the Ghost Rider. Ciaran Hinds (Munich) takes over the role of Satan from Peter Fonda, who played the part in the first film. Christopher Lambert (Highlander) and Johnny Whitworth (3:10 to Yuma) also star.

The first footage from the movie really has me interested. I like the improved effects used to create the Ghost Rider here and the action sequences, a Neveldine/Taylor specialty, have a crazed and dirty energy that suits the character and material a lot better than the sub-TV pilot stylings of the first film. Cage seems more relaxed in the part from what I could see and his hair is even better this time around, which for a Nicolas Cage movie is pretty good news indeed. This could be an awesome stylish comic book adventure or it could degenerate into the soulless and shiny craptacular that Johnson’s movie became. Either way, my interest in this film just improved greatly.

You can also check out our coverage of the film’s panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con HERE.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance will be released on February 17, 2012.

Trailer

[Source: Collider ]