Ghost Rider

I am a Nicolas Cage fan. I love all his comedies and think his serious ones are okay. After seeing the Wicker Man, I lost my respect for Cage in serious films, and went to see Ghost Rider thinking it would be an average movie, but probably easy to make fun of. It was bad. . . very bad. It was funny at times, I will admit that, but Cage just is bad in the role, the story is not very complex and has many plot holes in it. You know it is bad when you go into a movie only wanting to make fun of it and coming out just depressed because it was SO bad. In short, don't see this movie, if you want a superhero movie done right, see Batman Begins or Unbreakable, or basically, any other superhero movie was better than Ghost Rider. Thumbs extremely far down

I remember watching this film the first time and thinking it was just a lot of special effects without a lot of plot. Then I watched it a second time, and started to realize you have to really pay attention to the details to get the story. While not the best adaptation of a comic book (graphic novel if you prefer) to the screen, the special effects are awesome and the photography is Oscar worthy. Cage is Cage, that stoic actor who seems somehow devoid of emotion in most of his films. Mendez is hot, goes without saying, and equals Cage's level of emotion. Sam Elliot and Peter Fonda are the saving graces of the film, both adding a dimension of emotion lacking in the main characters. The prelude scenes of young Johnny and Roxanne are somewhat necessary, but could have been trimmed down to include more footage of the Ghost Rider and his missions. I haven't seen the newest film, just released at this writing, but hopefully the characters have been "fleshed out" and the plot concentrates more on the present than the past. With Cage being the only holdover for the new movie, perhaps the new directors can up the game a bit. The original film is rated PG-13 for violence and language, but nothing the teens haven't seen in their video games. Collectible? If you are a Marvel fan like I am, probably. As as classic film? No way. But entertaining.

Ghost Rider was always a cool comic book character. So why not make it into a movie? Although this movie had a great financial success, its screenplay is actually quite sloppy. I'm surprised it did so well. I liked Ghost Rider. I liked the visuals, the action, and the villains (a little). But I felt things could have been polished. Mark Steven Johnson who directed and wrote the story for this movie could have done better.

To start off, Nicolas Cage plays as the anti-hero Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider. I really like the way they made Ghost Rider look in this film. Just like a bat out of hell, his skull is cloaked in flames, his jacket has spikes on it, he has a flame chain, and his bike has a mind of its own! Much of it is fun to watch. Just seeing Ghost Rider for the first time on screen was pretty awesome to see. The action was good too. Any of the sarcastic comments Ghost Rider makes in this film is funny to hear. I even thought the actors who played the villains were good. What destroyed all these good moments, was how the character's dialogs were brought out.

Most of the dialog in this movie is weird, if not awkward. Mostly due to Cage's character, Johnny Blaze. I guess Mark Steven Johnson figured because Blaze lost his soul to the devil, he might as well lose his personality too. If that's the case, it was not a smart choice. It almost seems like Cage AND ONLY Cage is uncomfortable with his character. I know he's a fan of Ghost Rider but it seems like the script was written out of wack for him. There are parts where it seems like Cage is lost in himself and doesn't know what to say next. I don't quite understand that. One other thing I didn't comprehend was that there was way too much "pointing while zooming up on the face" business. Was the director trying to make a trademark for himself in this film? Not only is it redundant, it can be very obnoxious.

The other element that does not work here are the villains. I liked the bad guys in this movie. They looked frightening to me when I first saw them. But then I noticed a trend as Ghost Rider had finished one off at a time. None of the bad guys really did anything. Blackheart, the son of the devil, has henchmen who have powers like the characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender, except they don't involve all the martial arts moves. Before Ghost Rider is about to finish one of Blackheart's henchman, we don't even see him use any of his powers. Well that was kind of anti-climactic. Even Blackheart himself barely uses his "almighty" powers against Ghost Rider. It's really disappointing to watch.

Besides these parts of the film, I enjoyed Christopher Young's soundtrack. It has a lot of guitar in it and creates a punk tone to the action. Sam Elliot appears in this movie as a minor character, he's always fun to listen too but even he can't make up for the bad screenplay. It's unfortunate because I really like Ghost Rider as a character and was expecting something a little more darker for a dark character.

Ghost Rider will please fans to a point, with its good action and awesome special effects. But nothing can help the film recover from its lazy screenplay, awkward dialog and dull villains.

If you like movies that just entertain you and blow you away but doesn't has that much of a plot, Ghost rider is the best choice. Although IMO the plot was decent, a man sells his soul to the devil to save his father and is forced to work for the devil to take down demons. The special effects are fantastic, you'll be blown away when he turns into Ghost rider the first time. Although there could have been some more action, but the action was intense and wonderful. This move is great on a Friday or Saturday night. But don't see this movie on a Sunday, wanting a dramatic emotional movie like spider man. This is a movie to entertain, not make you fall in love with. So just sit back and enjoy one of the greatest Marvel movies ever

I really had a great time watching this film; although i have never been a Ghost Rider Fan, i loved comic books. I had been a Superman fan all my live, but in the comic stores the character of Ghost Rider had some attraction to me, as the non-typical superhero. Now that i saw the movie, i was amazed of the great story behind this guy. A superhero that fight evil of the worst kind!, just great, a combination of a superhero and some horror - type characters; great complement!. It isn't an Oscar worth movie, but is a film to have a good time, is fun, entertaining, with action, and the type of movie that you can see in company with kids. Great special effects and night scenes that put a special charm in the film. Eva Mendes is absolutely beautiful as always!

ABOUT THE MOVIE: Nicolas Cage plays here Johny Blaze, a motorcyclist that used to make dangerous shows with his father Barton Blaze (Brett Cullen), when doctors detected to his father a cancer in his terminal stage, a demon called Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) offers to save him in change for his soul; Johny do this, but this demon or devil, deceived Johny, when at the next day his father dies on an accident in the show. Johny has his soul sold, and loses his all-life love, Roxanne (Eva Mendes), years later Blaze became a famous motorcyclist, who performed very dangerous shows; with a great team leaded by Mack (Donal Logue) he even jumped over helicopters. Suddenly he meet again with Roxane, but in that moment, Mephistopheles claimed the right for Johny's services, and turn him in a Ghost Rider, one of the servants of the devil that looked at night like a skeleton on fire. Mephistopheles order him to defeat his "cold" son Blackheart (Wes Bentley) who wanted to claim the old contract of San Venganza, with the help of other demons that represented the natural elements earth, water and air; this contract was hidden by a previous Rider to the devil, in order to prevent the possession of 1000 souls!. Blackheart threaten to bring hell to earth with these 1000 demons! Here Blaze mission start as an incredible action quest as this new Rider!

7/10, good work of Mark Steven Johnson in another of his hero movies, and a good performance of Cage and great special effects!. Worth to watch!