Ghost Rider
Written and Directed by: Mark Steven Johnson
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Peter Fonda, Sam Elliott, Matt Long, Donal Logue

For the past few years now it seems like we’ve been digging down to the bottom of the barrel as far as comic book movies go. Although I’m sure Ghost Rider has his share of loyal readers (all comic books do), there is little about the character that could convince me it deserves anything more than a direct-to-video b-movie. I first became aware of Ghost Rider when Marvel relaunched the series in the early 90’s, and at the time it seemed to epitomize everything about the anti-hero craze that was so popular then (not unlike Spawn, for example). To me it was like someone had tried to come up with the most over-the-top bad-ass hero possible… and what could be more bad-ass than a stuntman with a flaming skull who wears chains and rides a motorcycle?

With a moviegoing public still eating up any possible big screen comic book adaptation they can find, a feature film directed by Mark Steven Johnson (Daredevil) and starring Nicolas Cage has come along to treat us to the predictably laughable and corny piece of cinematic tripe that Ghost Rider was always destined to be. Which isn’t to say that this movie is completely devoid of fun; quite the opposite in fact. But don’t kid yourself… Ghost Rider is still hellishly bad.

In case you don’t know the story or didn’t get the basic jist of it from the trailer, allow me to explain. A young circus performer named Johnny Blaze (not to be confused with Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four) finds out his father is dying of cancer. He is approached by the demon Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda), who makes a deal with him: he will cure his father in exchange for Johnny’s soul. Sounds like a fair trade, right? Well Mephistopheles promises he will come to collect one day down the road, at which point Blaze must do his bidding as “The Rider”, imbuing him with special powers as a fiery skeleton on a totally tricked out bike.

In some ways it seems like Mark Steven Johnson realized that no one could possibly take this movie seriously, because the script is peppered with a lot of comedy. The thing is, there are strange jokes that really do not suit the dark tone of the movie. For instance, instead of drinking beer with his stunt team, Johnny Blaze instead prefers to knock back a few glasses of jelly beans instead. He also loves the music of 70’s rock group The Carpenters. In another scene early on in the movie, Blaze’s love interest Roxanne (played by Eva Mendes) is stood up on a date, and after checking her cell phone for messages, proceeds to pull out a magic 8-ball. What is this, The Naked Gun?

Nicolas Cage is probably the only big name actor who would be crazy enough to sign on for a movie like this. Somehow the guy always ends up starring in some of the biggest stinkers every year, and yet he turns in enough decent performances to retain his status as an A-list star (unlike, say, John Travolta). After The Wicker Man you’d think Cage would have learned his lesson, but no… once again he is called upon to keep a straight face in the most ridiculous of situations, delivering tepid dialogue and constantly pointing at people like he was Elvis.

Something tells me that one of the other reasons he agreed to do this movie is the fact that he didn’t even need to be involved in the majority of the action scenes, since his face is replaced with a computer generated flaming skull whenever the going gets tough. If there’s one thing this movie proves, it is that CGI smoke and fire effects have come a long way. However, the best special effects in the world still can’t make a flaming skeleton look believable. I really can’t criticize the effects work in this movie, as some of it is impressive. The problem is that the movie is just so dependent on them that it gets to be too much.

I think the thing that really held this movie back for me, however, was the lack of a plot and bad pacing. Like most comic book movies, we spend a lot of time on the origin story, but surprisingly there is even more time invested in the love interest angle. I can understand this is being an important element of say, Spider-Man, but come on… this is Ghost Rider! Eva Mendes was pretty terrible in this flick, and had no chemistry with Nicolas Cage whatsoever. Their on-screen kisses were weird and awkward, and I don’t think I’m alone when I say I would have rather just watched stuff being lit on fire instead.

The other issue is that a comic book movie is only as good as its villain, and in this case Ghost Rider suffers horribly. Ghost Rider is pitted against Blackheart (Wes Bentley), the son of Mephistopheles, who wants to find an ancient contract that can unleash Hell on earth. Blackheart and his minions are all surface and no depth, each given some hip appearance like dreadlocks and weird shimmering ghost effects, but no real reason for existence other than to be evil.

Sam Elliott was one of the few cool things about the movie, taking on a sort of Whistler-esque role, and providing some cool narration, but he was severely underused. I wish they would have followed up with the western theme a little more too, instead of leaning so heavily toward the dark goth mood.

In the end, I give this one star for comedic value, but I think outside of the hardcore comic fans, it’s going to leave a lot of people scratching their heads. On the other hand, if 90 minutes of smoke and fire effects sound like a good time to you, then maybe this is just what you’re looking for. — Sean

SCORE:

Recommended If You Like: Daredevil, The Crow, Blade, Constantine, Spawn