Ghost Rider
GHOST RIDER: A GHOST OF A STORY
With Ghost Rider, we have yet another comic book brought to the big screen. And when I say yet another, I mean not a very good movie based on a comic book. It is below average with too many holes in the story. Nicholas Cage isn’t bad. Even Wes Bentley, who has been mostly MIA since 1999’s Oscar winner, American Beauty, is chilling as the villainous angel that needs to be stopped. But that doesn’t rescue the movie from its many flaws.
Johnny Blaze (Matt Long) does stunt shows with his dad Barton. Johnny finds out his dad is sick with cancer. So when Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) shows up one night and offers to cure Johnny’s dad, Johnny doesn’t care that the price to pay is with his soul. His dad is cured of cancer but dies the next day in an accident. Johnny abandons his love Roxie in the wake of his father’s death. Fast forward to an older Johnny (Nicholas Cage) and the Devil has come to cash in. Johnny becomes his bounty hunter. There is the contract of San Venganza, which consists of 1000 evil souls. The devil’s son Blackheart (Wes Bentley) intends to claim that contract and take over the world. If Johnny stops him, he will get his life back.
This movie has more holes than Swiss cheese. At one point Johnny is arrested for his doings as the Ghost Rider. He is locked up with other criminals in a cell. But yet when he becomes the Ghost Rider, he walks out of the jail with no problems. The story’s predictability is tiresome. You know who the caretaker (Sam Elliott) is before it is revealed in the end. But Nicholas Cage has found his calling in action films. Even if his Texan accent comes and goes not unlike Kevin Costner’s in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Eva Mendes is not given much to work with. And what is Peter Fonda doing in a comic book movie??? The animation is above average. When Johnny Blaze first metamorphoses into Ghost Rider is a great scene.
When the movie wasn’t busy being predictable, it didn’t make sense. And little details like having Johnny’s love Roxy use a magic eight ball was just plain silly.
Ghost Rider is a below average popcorn film. There aren’t enough action sequences and good acting to make up for a poor story. And with comic book movies like Spiderman and Batman making audiences and critics happy, this one doesn’t ride off into the sunset.
Report Card:
Story-C-
Acting-C+
Visuals-C
Originality/Innovation-C-
Enjoyability Grade–C
Overall Grade-C-
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