MOVIE: Ghost Rider

STARRING: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Sam Elliott, Matt Long, Raquel Alessi, Brett Cullen, Peter Fonda, Donal Logue

RELEASE DATE: February 16th, 2007

WHERE TO WATCH: VOD (Hulu, Amazon Prime, Vudu, Apple TV)

By Justin Pomerville (2 Broke Geeks)

Back in the early 2000s, Marvel was not the big-time film production studio that it is now. They sold off characters to other companies that wanted to try and make superhero films. In 2000, Fox’s X-Men film kickstarted the superhero film phenomena. In 2002, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man came out and was also a huge success. Some of the other films that followed didn’t fare so well. 2003’s Daredevil, 2004’s Punisher, and 2005’s Fantastic Four were all considered flops. Then in 2007, Ghost Rider was brought to the big screen and I remember being kind of excited about it. I consider Ghost Rider to be in my top 5 favorite Marvel characters. How well did it actually hold up? In all honesty, not that well.

The plot is roughly based on the Marvel comics. Motorcyclist Johnny Blaze (played by Nicolas Cage) makes a deal with Mephisto (played by Peter Fonda). If Mephisto saves Blaze’s father’s life from cancer, in return, Blaze will be the new Ghost Rider. Years later, Mephisto calls upon Blaze to go and kill his son, Blackheart (played by Wes Bentley) before Blackheart can get his hands on a missing contract that has the power to overthrow Mephisto.

The main problem with this film was that Ghost Rider is a darker Marvel super hero that (on paper) sounded like a good gritty character that could go up against more well-known properties like Spider-Man and X-Men. Unfortunately, for a bloated film that runs just a little over 2 hours, there isn’t much happening until about halfway through. The first 15 minutes are dedicated to Johnny’s childhood and the deal with Mephisto. Then a good chunk of this film is Johnny’s on-off relationship with Roxanne (played by Eva Mendez). It just feels very unbalanced for a superhero film.

The special demonic effects are extremely laughable. Ghost Rider itself keeps changing size and shape throughout the film. All the lesser demons had a blurry effect that made them hard to make out at times. In addition, Blackheart was a lazy special effects piece. It appeared as if they just overlayed a demon/monster face on top of the actor’s. Also, Cage’s acting is a little nuts as he pretends to be on fire for his transformation. It’s just overall a bad time.

Overall, I hope Ghost Rider gets a much deserved re-do in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (that is not Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.). With characters like Moon Knight and Blade getting more attention, Ghost Rider would be a great addition. Just maybe don’t get Cage to come back. As for this film on the Nic Gauge, it will be placed firmly on the lower end of “Terrible”.