Ghost Rider (DVD, 2007, Widescreen)

Here's the Pros and Cons for the movie:

For Mainstream Viewers: The movie was NOT a 'comic booky' movie, in that the plot, characterization, and action was realistic. However IF you don't like HoRRoR movies, then this movie may NOT be for you, as the HoRRoR elements were there in many scenes. This movie is NOT for children under the age of twelve. Ghost Rider is after all, 'Satan's Bounty Hunter' ! Barring the horrific scenes, the movie was actually pretty good for a mainstream viewer fresh to the Ghost Rider mythos. Not as good as Spider-Man I or II, but not as 'bad' as the Blade movies, ('bad' for a new mainstream viewer not for HoRRoR movie fans).

For HoRRoR movie fans: This movie was less CGI horrific than that of the Van Helsing movie with Hugh Jackman, but the movie as a whole is not a HoRRoR movie per se. The movie would seem to be a little 'campy' or 'comic booky' for a true HoRRoR film fan.

For Ghost Rider Comic Book Fans: This movie had a homage to the past with the old 'western' Ghost Rider, and brought the origin story up fast and got into the adventure quickly. The movie is true to its' 1960's and 1970's roots without being 'campy' in my opinion. Those looking for more 'grim and gritty' 1990's stories will be a little disappointed in this movie.

For Me: I actually liked this movie ! I would give a 'B+'. I am not a big Ghost Rider comic book fan, but I enjoy seeing the comic book characters being given their chance for fame on the Big Screen! As for the actors:

Nicolas Cage - I enjoyed his portrayal of Johnny Blaze & the Ghost Rider!

Sam Elliott - I 'dug' his portrayal of the 'Caretaker', (pun intended)

Eva Mendes - Was MORE than just 'eye candy', she was integral to the plot.

Peter Fonda - Came across as the 'devil', was a 'good' choice!

One of the best features for myself and a few other comics fans that I have corresponded or talked with is the role that Sam Elliott played, 'the caretaker'.

The 'caretaker' turned out to be the 1870's Ghost Rider who was still 'living' in 2007!

The movie started with a homage to the past with the old 'western' Ghost Rider ending his bounty hunting with the Devil in the only way that he could.... pictures of comic book covers are shown to the bottom left of this post. His real name was Carter Slade.

When Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze came onto the scene, being tricked by the Devil into laying the groundwork for him to become the next Ghost Rider... that would be the Ghost Rider that was printed in the 1970's Ghost Rider Comics as shown to the top left of this post.

Eva Mendes, as Roxanne Simpson, was in the 1970's comics and was integral to the plot. She had no counterpart in the 1870's western version.

The motorcycle was realistically shown in the movie, similiar to the comics. This would be true for both the 1970's Ghost Rider and the 1990's Ghost Rider's, (Danny Ketch), motorcycle.

The western Ghost Rider's horse, was definitely not shown in the comics as was portrayed near the end of the movie. That was a shock! It was also pretty cool how that was done in the movie!

The chains being used as weapon, the Penance Stare, and the heavily spiked jacket were of the 1990's Danny Ketch version of Ghost Rider, but looked good in the movie for Johnny Blaze !

For the DVD Bonus Features Review, please see our Review on the 2 Disc DVD !

First let me say that Ghost Rider is a great franchise. There are cartoons, comic books, action figures, lunch boxes, t-shirts and more. There should be this is a great story of a man who has gotten off track and how through a deal he made with the devil learns to overcome his worst enemy, himself. In addition the love interest is played by the beautiful Eva Mendes and the mentor is played by the ultra-cool Sam Elliott.

What I cannot understand about this movie is why the let Nicolas Cage play the lead. Sam Elliott I think would have done a fine job in this role even though in the comic it is played by a younger man. Perhaps Hugh Jackman would be a more plausible choice over the long run if there are going to be sequels. But almost anyone could have been stuck in there that is actually young and kind of a brawler. Heck even The Rock would work. However, I do not care how many movies his uncle's friends make of Nicolas Cage now 44 as a youthful toughguy he's even less of one than Patrick Swayze was in Roadhouse. And not the first time you saw it but if you watched it now. I think we have all seen how ridiculous Nicolas Cage (aka Kim Coppola nephew of Francis Ford Copolla) looked in Con Air. The only time he looked tough was when he had on his uniform and that is because we all know the men and women of the US Armed Forces are tough. The good news is that Nic does not get to speak much in this movie. We can only be thankful that dialogue-wise they were not trying to compete on the level of Kevin Smith films.

All in all its about average. It was nice to see Eva Mendes and Sam Elliott again but they appear infrequently. The special effects are over the top in the chase scene when they could of used that part of the effects budget to further develop the two villians. I liked the dual villian twist and the use of the tragic hero as a pawn of one of them against the other.

I find you can put Marvel Films into two categories: a treasure to watch or a pain to experience.

Elektra and Ghost Rider fall into the later.

I had pretty low expectations going in to see this film. I bought my brain an extra large soda, told it to shut up and drown itself in the carbonated goodness. It almost worked.

The film premise is simple: Johnny Blaze makes a deal with the the devil (chewed up nicely by Peter Fonda) to keep his father, Barton Blaze, from dying of cancer. The cancer is cured, but Barton dies in a motorcycle accident. Years later, the devil offers Johnny his soul back if he becomes the Ghost Rider and defeats the son of the devil, who wants to take his pop's top spot in Hell.

The original script was good, but after tinkering by the studio, the resulting product is clunky and ugly. Not helping matter is Nicholas Cage's performance, who slows down the pace of the film. The only thing that saved me (apart from my brain in a soda) was Peter Fonda and Sam Elliot. Elliot has a presence that really smacks you in the head and helps the film from becoming a complete waste of time.

Buy this film only if you have to have every Marvel title ever produced (Yes, I am talking to you Elektra and Captain America 1990 fans). Otherwise, watch your buddy's copy and don't forget the soda.

This movie was camp even by comic book standards,
and some of the dialog was awful and I loved every
second of it.

Perhaps I liked it because I had no expectations,
not having read the comic.

I am unaware of films when they are released,
learning of them later when I come across them
on DVD, in this case at my local library.

The plot is great.
How could you not like it.
Man sells soul and services to devil for favors.
Devil collects by turning him into a ghost rider,
a monstrous flaming skeleton bounty hunter for souls
on a flaming chopped Harley from Hell.

Yeah, I think I'll check this one out.

I watched it, I loved it, I immediately put it
on my Amazon wish list.

One huge problem I have with this and many other
movies is the complete ignorance of the
philosophical and theological foundations of
the plot for their films. This film uses the
Christian world-view as the foundation for its
plot. Why not represent it somewhat accurately.

The devil's "son": "I don't have a soul"
Who came up with that?!
The devil is an angel. An angel has a soul.
How does an angel have a son?
They don't reproduce?
If one did,
the offspring would certainly have a soul.

I know that the story is utterly fantastic,
so perhaps I am being too fussy.

Why does the elder Ghost Rider
ride with the younger
only to bail out before the conflict?
Perhaps because it's really cool (hot?),
which it most definitely is.

This meeting of the Monster, Comic, Camp, Biker,
Supernatural, Western and Love story
is guaranteed mindless entertainment.

To give you a bit of an idea about where I am coming from in this review I did collect the Ghost Rider comics from the early 90's for a few years. So I was well versed in the story and history of "The Ghost Rider" when I went to watch this movie.

I can say that first of all this Marvel comics movie is no where near the level of the Spiderman, Iron Man, or X-men movies. In fact I think this movie falls in line with movies that Marvel put out like Daredevil and The Punisher movie. It is a solid 3/5.

The acting of Nicolas Cage is decent but not stellar. There is nothing wrong with his performance but it is not spectacular to say the least. The supporting actors are fine. The Blackheart character is a bit cheese though.

The strongest part of this movie is the Computer Graphics and the action. Personally, I'm glad they waited this long to create the movie in order to have the best CGI possible. How else can you have a Ghost Rider running around if you do not have the graphics for it.

The storyline is alright and captures the essence of The Ghost Rider comics. Nothing spectacular but you get the idea of what the rider is all about.

A solid 3/5. A great way to waste a Saturday afternoon but I'm not sure you can rewatch this movie a bunch of times.

Latsyrhc
Tamarack Collectibles