I love Nicolas Cage, especially when he’s completely freaking out. I also love the Crank movies, because watching them feels like completely freaking out. When I heard that Ghost Rider 2 was getting a sequel, I thought it was stupid. Then I heard it was going to be directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the guys who did Crank and Crank 2 (and Gamer, but I’ll forgive them).

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is an awesome movie. It’s not a good movie, but between Nic Cage Nic Cageing as hard as he can and Neveldine and Taylor channeling Sam Raimi, it’s awesome.

Nic Cage is Johnny Blaze, who’s still the Ghost Rider after the events of the first movie which were barely touched on. He’s hiding in Somewherevia, Eastern Europe, trying to keep the demon under control. Elsewhere, a mysterious child is being protected by a bunch of priests who get killed, a black French alcoholic priest who’s kind of a dick (that’s the verbatim description Blaze gives), and another bunch of priests who get killed. The Ghost Rider has to save the kid from the devil, because Ghost Rider doesn’t have any other villains that anyone besides bigger comic book nerds than even I would recognize. This time, the devil is playedby Ciaran Hinds, who makes De Niro faces through the entire movie.

So, ride around, screaming, flaming skull, chains, people dying in a mostly bloodless PG-13 kind of way but still brutal in its body count, and so on. The structure is pretty weak, with only one or two memorable set pieces and a lot of meandering through Europe like a backpacking college kid without a cell phone. The action is surprisingly good when it kicks into gear and Johnny Blaze goes full Ghost Rider, using his chains and stare to tear through hapless henchmen. This is helped by the great special effects, which go for over-the-top pyrotechnics and fight choreography instead of anything close to realism.

Ghost Rider is made amazing not by the action sequences, but by the humor. Neveldine and Taylor understand what a massive fount of unintentional hilarity Nic Cage can be, and they had him go all out. One scene has him running the complete gamut of Nic Cage emotions, with the exception of cry-barking. He deadpan snarks. He shrieks like a possessed schoolgirl. He laughs like the Joker. He bug-eyes menacingly. If you like Nic Cage for The Wicker Man, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, or Vampire’s Kiss, you’ll love this movie. Similarly, if you like Nic Cage losing his shit, watch those movies.

When Johnny Blaze goes nuts, Neveldine and Taylor treat it with every bit as much respect as a cackling, screaming Nicolas Cage deserves. They go for hilarious quick cuts and close-ups like Sam Raimi in Evil Dead 2, and it’s amazing. Especially when Ghost Rider pees fire. I’m not making that up, that’s in the movie.

Even when it’s not Cagelarious, the movie has enough clever moments and bizarre cameos to keep nerds hooked. Anthony Head and Christopher Lampert play, respectively, the member of a mystical order that fights demons and a guy who tries to cut a character’s head off with a sword (granted, he’s also a member of that order). They’re minor characters and you wouldn’t notice them unless you were already a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Highlander, but they’re a great treat for the exact sort of fans who would see this movie.

That’s the key to Ghost Rider’s success. Neveldine and Taylor know Ghost Rider isn’t a blockbuster, and that non-nerds probably won’t see it. They also know they won’t make fans happy by throwing in a lot of obscure Ghost Rider references, because even more comic book fans don’t get obscure Ghost Rider references. They made the movie self-aware enough to appeal to its audience, but dealt with it with such a fantastic combination of subtle set-up and over-the-top delivery that anyone who would get the joke would love the joke, and anyone who wouldn’t would ignore it as it harmlessly flies over their head.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance isn’t for everyone. As a straight action flm it’s nice and mindless but not memorable itself. As a comic book movie it’s so obscure to begin with that beyond the basic concept of Ghost Rider there’s not a lot to latch onto. As a Nic Cage film directed by two men who know how to make things hilariously crazy, it’s awesome. If you loved Nic Cage for his bad southern accent in Con-Air, or his hilarious double-hamminess in Face/Off, this is a must-see movie.