Ghost Rider Movie - Full Review

Vital Statistics

Opening Date:February 16, 2007
Run Time: 110 Minutes
Rating: PG-13 for Horror Violence and Disturbing Images.
Based on: The Ghost Rider origin by Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, and Mike Ploog. Published by Marvel Comics.

From The Official Press Release

“From Marvel Comics, creators of Spider-Man™, Fantastic Four, and X-Men, comes a new hero… Ghost Rider™. Long ago, superstar motorcycle stunt rider Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) made a deal with the devil to protect the ones he loved most: his father and his childhood sweetheart, Roxanne (Eva Mendes). Now, the Devil has come for his due. By day, Johnny is a die-hard stunt rider... but at night, in the presence of evil, he becomes the Ghost Rider, a bounty hunter of rogue demons. Forced to do the Devil's bidding, Johnny is determined to confront his fate and use his curse and powers to defend the innocent.”

The Story

Ghost Rider tells the origin story of how stunt motorcycle Johnny Blaze becomes the demonically powered Ghost Rider and foe of evil, both here on earth and in hell. As a boy, young Johnny Blaze rides with his father, Barton, in a traveling circus. His father is hiding something from Johnny, the fact that he is dying from cancer. Distraught, he is approached by an unusual stranger named Mephisto that offers to heal his father from the sickness eating away at him, and in return only asks for his immortal soul.

Johnny agrees, but thinks nothing of it until he awakes the next day to hear that his father is cured. His elation is short lived, as his father dies that day in a horrible stunt trick gone wrong. Johnny confronts Mephistopheles, but is only told that one day he will be called upon to live up to his end of the deal.

Fast forward to years later, where Johnny Blaze is a famous stunt rider, constantly trying to do larger and more dangerous stunts, each time cheating death when any normal person would perish. At his latest attempt, he is met by an old flame, Roxanne Simpson, whom he left on the day his dad died. He rekindles the flame there and sets a date with her for that night.

Mephistopheles chooses that night to call in his debt, making Johnny Blaze the latest in the line of the devil’s bounty hunter, known as Ghost Riders. They chase down those beings that have escaped from hell and return them to torment. His first mission is to track and destroy Mephistopheles’ own son, Blackheart, who is attempting to find a scroll that contains a thousand souls. Aiding him are those angels that were cast down to the earth but escaped hell, hiding instead in the elements themselves. If Ghost Rider cannot stop them, then Blackheart will create hell on earth. If he does, he can save the world, and perhaps regain his soul from Mephistopheles.

Review

This movie was a hard one for me. There is a lot I could nitpick about – changes in storylines, changes in characters, cheesy lines, and others. As a comic fan, some of these changes really bugged me and as usual, felt unnecessary. There is light at the end of this tunnel, though. Let's take a look about what was good and bad about the Ghost Rider film.

The Good

Special Effects:
The special effects were one of the good things the Ghost Rider film had going for it. I have heard that flame effects are a tough thing to do in CG, but they seemed to have it down pat. Ghost Rider was very believable and his effects, from the flaming skull, his bike, Ghost Rider’s flaming chain, and even the fire effects of Ghost Rider underwater were all well done. The first time Johnny Blaze changes into the Ghost Rider was really slick, and almost painful to watch it was done so well. There were a couple of times, however, when they combined the CG with real actors that seemed a little fake, but overall they looked nice.

The Cast:
As a whole, the cast did a good job. Villains Mephistopheles played by Peter Fonda and Blackheart by Wes Bentley were all very creepy, evil, and dark. They added a lot to the film and I thought they did well. Donal Logue and Sam Elliot also did well as supporting characters, helping Johnny Blaze and Ghost Rider with his troubles. Nicolas Cage did well with what he had, which will be discussed more later, but suffice it to say he did fine as the motorcycle rider trying to save his soul. I felt Eva Mendes was the weak link in the cast however and didn’t feel she did very good as the love interest. There were many parts that I felt she was just…acting, unlike Peter Fonda, who gave a believable portrayal of the quiet, cunning, and deadly Mephistopheles.

The Action:
The action was done very well, with Ghost Rider fighting demons with various powers, fleeing the police, and avenging the innocent. Seeing Ghost Rider ride his demon cycle up walls, in the water, and through the air actually looked pretty cool, and the battles were pretty intense.

The Ghost Rider Character:
This Ghost Rider was a combination of the past two main Ghost Rider’s in terms of ability and looks. The storyline was pretty much the original Ghost Rider, with Johnny's conversion and control over hellfire, but the look was definitely based after the Danny Ketch version of Ghost Rider, the series that ran in the 90’s. The powers of the penance stare and the hell chain were also based off this later version. I felt that they did a good job with the blending of these two as I loved the look of the 90’s Ghost Rider. Given that they kept him the original Ghost Rider was a good idea as well.

Continue on to the Bad and the Bottom Line about the Ghost Rider Film.