Wherein I Review 'Ghost Rider'

A copy and paste of my review on filmspot.com. I gave it 2½ Stars out of 5.

(Please note, it was this review that shows me you can't write in Word 2007 and then just copy and paste...) :(

This film further cements my opinion that Nicholas Cage is one of the worst actors on the planet.

First though, let me say that I love Marvel. I really appreciate what they are trying to do, apart from make money, by producing films based on the comics their loyal fans love.

However, even with all the power they have now in casting and producing these movies, there are still some things that you just can't get around... such as bad acting, poor implementation, and terrible writing.

Understand that I love comics, I grew up with the X-Men, I read many of the Midnight Sons titles (when they became that), and I still enjoy the occasional foray in the Marvel Universe. As I grew up and became more enamored with creator owned and independent titles, I still retained my love and fondness for the world of super heroes.

It's for those reasons that I hate to see a movie like this.

There are some excellent elements to this flick. First, and most obvious from the trailers, would be the incredible CGI / special effects. It's hard to find fault with the incredible skill that went into building the Ghost Rider's truly awesome appearance. And, I do mean awesome less in a vernacular way and more in an 'awe inspiring, truly believable' way. The same holds true for the actual shooting, the action translate well, and during certain points there comes a time that you truly feel you are there, flying over the Ghost Rider as he whips himself from the top of the building and goes barreling full throttle down the side.

With that said, however, the casting in this movie is almost saddening. While I will agree the Eva Mendes is extremely gorgeous, and that Nicholas Cage vaguely resembles that of Johnny Blaze, the acting is awful. Neither are really all that great in this flick, that latter being nearly as awful in this as he was in the Wicker Man (search You Tube for “Wicker Man: Comedy of the Year” for more on this).

Much of that comes from the terribly corny writing, which, when in a speech balloon above a character’s well drawn head on a comic book page inspires joy and elation. It falls completely flat when delivered on the big screen, though, and this is something that many other comic-to-film releases have done a good job adjusting for. Why they didn’t even try to pull it off here I couldn’t tell you.

Another major problem with this film is the story itself. While I understand that they are trying to take years of Ghost Rider storyline, where a character has been developed meticulously over many decades, and cram into an hour and forty minutes, they still fail completely in developing much of anything.

The plot is fairly simple: Johnny Blaze makes a deal with the Devil to cure his father of cancer while at the ripe age of 17. Being the devil, however, the deal doesn’t really work the way that Johnny hopes. He continues his father’s legacy of stunt motorcycle riding, leaving the love of his young life Roxanne behind. Many years later he’s become a reckless stunt driver, but the Devil comes forward and tells him that he’s needed; he must fulfill his end of the bargain.


An example of the problems (Semi-Spoiler):
For some reason, there’s a contract, and this point is only vaguely made, and the Devil’s own son (I think) is after it. Ghost Rider goes after this guy, because it’s what he’s told to do. He meets up with an old rider who sort of explains things, and there’s a bizarre seen where we discover this rider has the contract that’s being sought. They both change and go tearing off through the desert.

When they reach the scene of the final battle, the old rider says that he could only change that one last time, and now he’s done. He didn’t actually do anything, it just made for an interesting scene, watching the two of them move quickly across the sand all aflame.

It’s things like that that really detract from the overall quality. I can’t in good conscious recommend this movie to anyone. The only reason that I rate it as highly as I do is because it’s Ghost Rider, and it has some great special effects.
If you are like me, this is a movie you will see, and hopefully, if you’re like me, a review like this might put you on your guard. Maybe, if you go in expecting a poor film, you might actually be more inclined to enjoy it. Just don’t expect to enjoy it much.

-Stephen.