Ghost Rider

Released February 2007

I will admit that during my teens I was a big comic book fan. How big? I used to work at a comic book distribution warehouse so I could read the comics before they even got to the stores for sale. Cut out the middle man, I say. It was actually a great job that I had for many years until I finally left for the military.

But never a Ghost Rider fan. Come to think of it, Ghost Rider was never a big sale for Marvel. You might think that if Marvel was smart about their franchising they would go with something more collectively appreciated like Thor, Captain America, New Mutants and several other profitable choices. On a sidenote I have a similar thought process about the Silver Surfer in the new Fantastic Four movie. Silver Surfer was such a morose, lazy character. He was a surfer for crying out loud, though he had all the power of the cosmos, he was stuck in Earths atmosphere because of his much more compelling master Galactus. Okay, took a quick turn for the nerd there...sorry.

Ghost Rider.

I can guess exactly how this movie was made. Some CGI geniuses and amateur gamers got a bunch of big wigs to sit around a big oak table and closed them from a CGI perspective, which is done quite well, and by the prospect of doubling their money on X-box. This script is made for a video game.

Forget the script. For get the plot. Johnny Blaze, disillusioned stunt rider makes a deal with the devil becoming Ghost Rider. To repay that debt he has to fight the devils own son who is the Big Badguy and his henchmen. Each time they meat another henchman is dispatched. Its almost as if Ghost Rider moves up another level till the ultimate fit with the Big Badguy.

Nic Cage looks positively gaunt in this flick. Ghost Rider was drawn in the comics as a lean spectral creation and Cage nails it. In fact the following day I watched National Treasure with Cage and he looked twenty pounds heavier in Treasure. In Rider he is shredded lean. Not his best work but if your a fan of manic Cage you will absolutely love the first change scene into Ghost Rider.

I believe any movie with Sam Elliot should be watched, doubly so when he plays an iconic cowboy. Elliot has made his career on slow talking, deeply preceptive characters and his much needed acting ability needed for this film is cut short.

Peter Fonda, as Mephistopheles, plays the deepest character of the movie. Though only in a few scenes he is by far the greatest acting presence in the film and his very silence in some parts shows a great range. You believe that Ghost Rider and Johnny Blaze are but one pawn in his quest for power, not his sole purpose of being. When Mephistopheles praises Blaze on his motorcycle, its quite the inside joke as its the same model Fonda rode in Easy Rider.

Eva Mendes is forgettable as the love interest. Donal Logue has a few scenes built to his quirky sense of humor which is nice, he is a great actor.

Overall not really worth the effort. If you are partial to any of the main actors you certainly won't be swayed to watch the movie but there certainly better demon type movies out there.