If it is early in the year, it must mean that it’s high time for a movie to be made about a moderately known comic book character. In past years, movies such as Constantine, Daredevil and Elektra have tried to profit off of the lack of decent choices at the multiplexes. This time around, we’ve been given Ghost Rider.
Who is Ghost Rider, one might ask? Well, he is Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcyclist who was tricked by the evil Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda, Ulee’s Gold) into selling his soul to save his father’s life. Mephistopheles uses his Ghost Riders to do his dirty work, and he doesn’t call on Blaze until his son, the (more) evil Blackheart (Wes Bentley, American Beauty) returns to try to create a hell on earth (wait, this isn’t Constantine, right?). Blaze, with help from the mysterious Caretaker (Sam Elliott, Thank You For Smoking), has to take on Blackheart and his minions while evading the law and trying to win back his childhood sweetheart Roxanne (Eva Mendes, Hitch).
The film really wasn’t too terrible; unfortunately, viewers have to sit through the overacting of Nicolas Cage, whose performance is reminiscent of his work in films such as The Wicker Man and National Treasure, as opposed to his better work in World Trade Center and Adaptation. Thankfully, most of the time, Cage is a CG demon, and his acting is a nonissue. Mendes offers up a mediocre performance at best, and really is not much more than eye candy; Fonda and Elliot are obviously doing Rider as a shameless paycheck role. The onscreen chemistry between Cage and Mendes seems to be nonexistent; the only real flames in this film are the ones on the Rider-and those aren’t even real.
The visual effects in the film are actually pretty good; this doesn’t apply to the look of the Ghost Rider, however. The big flaming skeleton seems to look very out of place, like he should be in an Xbox game or something. Then again, he is a big, flaming skeleton, and it’d be pretty difficult for him not to look misplaced. There is not enough action to show off what the Rider can do, and half of the time he defeats his opponents by “staring into their souls,” which is only half as cool as it sounds. The plotline is predictable and fairly dull, but isn’t that assumed with these types of films?
Overall, Ghost Rider fails to reach the quality of the Spiderman and Batman films it emulates, but it is just as good as most other superhero films that have been made in the last few years. It is also one of the best films of the year thus far, but, since it is only February, it is not much of an accomplishment. All things considered, Ghost Rider will be a good time for viewers as long as they’re among friends and aren’t expecting too much, but any expectations will have viewers scoffing and heading for the exits. This movie will probably be a guilty pleasure for many and works best as a boredom killer on a dull night. There really is nothing like a good, old-fashioned Hollywood cash cow in February.
Ghost Rider is currently showing at the Moolah Theater and Lounge.
