Ride on, Ghost Rider. Ride on.

Ever since the Spiderman and X-Men movies, Marvel characters have been springing up all over the big screen. This time it’s Ghost Rider, a hero I’ve never heard of until now, but hey, I saw the trailer. A flaming skeleton in leather riding a motorcycle and swinging a burning chain kicking demon ass? I’m always up for a little of that.

Johnny Blaze (and no offense to the comics creators, but come on, how cliché can you get?) was just a teenager when he sold his soul to the Devil in the hopes of saving his father. But it all seemed like a bad dream, and years later he’s become a man, Mr. Invincible it would seem, as he’s now a famous stunt biker, doing insane jumps and somehow always coming out untouched—even when he crashes like nobody’s business. But now Blackheart, the Devil’s son, is bent on taking over his father’s legacy and the Devil calls on Johnny to stop him. Blackheart seeks a little something the last Ghost Rider hid away. Whatever it is, hopefully Johnny can keep him from getting it and not lose everything he loves this time.

Nicholas Cage, I love the man, but he didn’t ring quite right with the character of Johnny. He almost, almost pulls it off, and in fact, I think all the other factors in this movie that knock it down a few stars is what keeps me from enjoying him. He didn’t seem to get quite into the character enough, like he was restricted in some way and only giving 90% instead of his usual 100%. Hmm.

Not helping any was Eva Mendes as Johnny’s love interest, Roxanne. She just didn’t get into it either or something. Prime example: she’s seeing 1,000 decaying souls fly around and manages a surprised gasp. The stuff she sees near the end of the movie she simply is not horrified enough at. I applaud the character for not cowering in a corner, but her reactions were simply not believable at all. And did she seriously pull a Magic 8 Ball out of her purse? I about keeled over right there. Likewise, I was never really convinced of their relationship (only briefly when Johnny just grabs her and kisses her) because we pretty much went from young lovers to meeting years later and suddenly all lovey-dovey again. Sorry but no. And aside from that one kiss, the chemistry felt pretty weak. Hmm.

Then there’s Sam Elliot—you can figure out who he is for yourself. He’s Sam Elliot. What else can I say? He’s exactly who he needs to be on the screen. It’s a wonder the man wasn’t actually plucked out of the old west.

The setting really threw me off. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention, but I was never sure of what state we were in, much less the city. And people were going from major metropolitan city to desert highway in just no time flat. I know you can do that in some places, but it still just threw me off. I mean, things just jumped from skyscrapers to, well, nothing. I kept thinking, “Where the heck are we??”

The pacing is actually the biggest problem. It felt really jumpy and the movie isn’t even 2 hours long. It felt like it dragged in a few spots and others just moved much too quickly. Johnny never gets a chance to practice with his powers or try them out, but rather later in the movie he just bursts into flame like it’s all cool (whereas two transformations ago he was screaming and in apparent super-agony). And he killed off demons just waaay too easily for my taste. I don’t know how any of this went down in the comics, and I’m sure Ghost Rider is a strong dude, but he was taking these demons out like me polishing off a bag of Hershey Kisses. They put up next to no fight. Which isn’t cool considering Johnny’s never done any of this before. Even the fight at the end isn’t all that great. Just all very awkward and one-sided. Hmph.

So what’s good about the movie? I’m cool about hanging out with a guy that transforms into a flaming skeleton that can kill things with a molten chain and rides a really wicked motorcycle. The demons pretty sweet looking in terms of style and effects. I really liked the superimposed images of sharp teeth and freakish faces from time to time. On the note of effects, they were really good, a lot of fun when they were around, and you wanted more when they weren’t. I liked how Ghost Rider went from orange fire to blue flame when he saw his girl, nice touch.

Wes Bentley as Blackheart played the part well (some of the best acting in the film along with Elliot) and his character was just bad. I mean, nasty badguy style. That’s the best kind. The story idea with Blackheart was pretty good as well, and had the pacing been better, could have been executed much more efficiently and enjoyably. Still, the idea of the modern day being forced to deal with Hell’s bounty hunter is cool and it was a decent action flick to pass the time since there isn’t anything good on television these days.

Luckily I got this from the library, so I didn’t have to pay anything. Would I have though? Hmm. Maybe, but not much.

NT

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV