(Long Island, N.Y.) The wave of movies based on comic books just keeps coming. And for someone whose childhood was greatly influenced by reading of the exploits of larger-than-life superheroes, I couldn’t be happier. I’m not saying that all the movies produced thus far are all great- for every Spider Man, Blade, or X-Men movie we get, we also get handed such horrific drivel as Electra or The Punisher. But regardless, I go and see them all anyway. I don’t really read comics much anymore, but the memories these movies stir always make me feel like a kid again. Well, unless the movie’s really, really bad, that is.
Ghost Rider, based on the Marvel comic book created back in 1972, is the newest superhero to get the cinematic treatment. Ghosty is basically a demon from hell that manifests itself in a human host as a fiery skeleton who raided The Terminator’s wardrobe (meaning he runs around in a leather biker outfit). He’s probably considered one of Marvel’s second or third-tier characters (certainly not on par with cool guys like Spider Man), but don’t let that fact alone turn you off to him. Blade the Vampire Hunter was pretty much considered a total scrub in the funny books until he was revamped and brought to life on the silver screen by Wesley Snipes himself, so there’s always hope.
When our movie opens we join 17-year-old Johnny Blaze (Matt Long) and his father Barton, both of whom are motorcycle stuntmen, as they entertain the patrons of a traveling carnival by jumping through a flaming hoop in tandem. Johnny has a cute teen girlfriend named Roxanne (Raquel Alessi) who he’s planning on running away with until he learns that daddy has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. It’s kind of funny- right before he learns Barton is dying, they do this nice scene where Johnny is looking through his dad’s family photo album to try to establish how close the two of them are. Then Johnny finds the fateful doctor’s letter, pretty much has no reaction, then goes to casually work on his motorcycle. Okay.
So, while Johnny’s toiling away on his chopper, Mephistopheles (AKA Satan) himself shows up in the form of Peter Fonda and all I’m having are flashbacks from “Easy Rider” of the scene where Fonda’s character is tripping on acid while frolicing about in a New Orleans cemetary. But I’m getting off track here. Mephistopheles does his devil thing and offers to save Johnny’s father in exchange for his (duh) soul. Teenagers do a lot of stupid things- they skip school, try pot, shoplift, and often, when offered, they will barter away their soul to the Prince of Darkness without much in the way of hesitation. Johnny Blaze is no different. The contract is signed and the next morning Barton is completely healthy again. But, shockingly, Satan isn’t 100% trustworthy and ends up screwing over Johnny anyway, leaving him fatherless. And just like in The Godfather, Satan informs Johnny that one day he will ask a “favor” of him. Until then, Johnny’s living on borrowed time.
So Johnny leaves everything behind (including the heartbroken Roxanne) and hits the road. Fast forward a number of years and Johnny has grown up into a world-famous motorcycle daredevil played by Nicolas Cage. Johnny has made a name for himself by routinely pulling off seemingly impossible stunt jumps. Some of these jumps would make Evel Knievel drop dead at the very thought of attempting them, yet somehow Johnny always manages to walk away unscathed. While preparing for his latest and greatest stunt, the now grown-up and nicely filled-out Roxanne (Eva Mendes) walks back into Johnny’s life as a news reporter looking to get the big scoop on her interview-shy ex. This re-ignites the flames between the two, but being the spoilsport he is, Mephistopheles decides to finally show up and demand his part of the bargan they struck all those years ago.
It seems that Mephistopheles’ wayward son (Blackheart, played by Wes Bentley) is also on Earth now, and is attempting to gain access to a long-hidden contract for 1000 evil souls in a bid to wrest away his father’s power. In response, Mephistopheles transforms Johnny into the “Ghost Rider,” which means at night he becomes Satan’s grim redeemer. Oddly enough, the Rider, when not following Satan’s orders, is really a halfway decent guy who helps mugging victims and punishes the guilty. Not what you’d expect from “The Devil’s bounty hunter,” but whatever.
Not being a huge fan of Nicolas Cage, Ghost Rider’s initial transformation from human to demon was personally amusing for me as Nick’s face slowly melted off while he screamed and writhed in agony. Ghosty himself is actually pretty bad-ass looking, what with his flaming skull and all, and he proceeds to hunt down Blackheart and his wacky demonic cohorts. And in an impossibly convienent set of circumstances, Sam Elliot suddenly shows up as the Wise Old Man Who Knows Everything to provide valuable exposition to the audience as to what exactly is going on. Armed with this knowledge, Johnny tries to control the demon within, defeat the bad guys, and win back his girl. Or something.
As far as comic book movies go, Ghost Rider sits somewhere in the middle. It’s fun at times, moves as a good pace, and manages to be fairly entertaining for the most part. Plus a lot of the computer generated effects look really nice, especially Ghost Rider himself and his flaming motorcycle. But at the same time the movie can be very, very cheesy and packed with the normal clichés you’d expect to find in your average superhero movie, including:
- The hero, soon after discovering his abilities, happens upon some random street crime and stops it.
- Someone the hero saves is interviewed by the news and goes on to describe the hero’s outlandish appearance to the disbelieving reporter.
- The police mistake the hero for a villain and chase him.
Eva Mendes looks hot but can’t act worth a damn. Sam Elliot is basically playing the Whistler character from the Blade movies. Nicolas Cage is…well, Nicolas Cage. He’s fine at playing quirky characters like this but there’s some intangible quality about him that makes me not like him that much. I just can’t put my finger on it. And then there’s the fact that he has a bodybuilder-like super-jacked upper body and spindly little polio legs. But I do love it when he acts all crazy and starts laughing while flashing those massive white teeth of his. That’s funny. If he did nothing but that in all his movies I’d probably be his biggest fan.
So, Ghost Rider. Well, a lot of people must have liked it, as it was the #1 grossing film for its opening weekend and even broke some box office records for this time of year. But Epic Movie was also #1 its opening weekend so you certainly can’t use that as a test of a film’s overall quality. What I will say is this- based on the commercials, I was sure that Ghost Rider would be horrible. Perhaps even physically painful to watch. But much to my surprise, it wasn’t. So already it has something going for it. Ghost Rider isn’t amazing, but it makes for a fine evening out if all you’re looking for is an average movie to munch popcorn to without engaging your brain too much. Especially recommended if you like super hero films.
