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All Movie Info
Starring:
Brett Cullen, Peter Fonda, Nicolas Cage, Donal Logue, Wes Bentley, Jessica Napier, Eva Mendes, Sam Elliott, Laurence Breuls, Matt Long, Eddie Baroo, Raquel Alessi, Tony Ghosthawk, Hugh Sexton, Marcus Jones, Matt Norman, Lawrence Cameron Steele, Eddie Baroo
Directed By:
Mark Steven Johnson
Written By:
Mark Steven Johnson
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Ghost Rider (2007)
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Is it hot is here, or is it just Johnny?
Here is another one of those movies that I like certain aspects of and utterly loathed others. They got many things with this adaptation right, but the small things that I didn't like distracted me from enjoying the movie as a whole. One thing that comic book movie adaptations suffer from (for the most part unless they are spin-offs) is that they make the main hero out to be the only one in existence. Sure in Spiderman there were mentions of Superman, Dr. Strange and The Thing, but for the most part what you see is what you get.
Teenage stuntman Johnny Blaze sells his soul to Mephistopheles in exchange for a cure for the lung cancer his father stuntman Barton Blaze is dying from. In an ironic twist Barton dies in a failed stunt the very next day. As a result Johnny throws away his future with love interest Roxanne Simpson to devote his life to his career as a stuntman. Years later Mephistopheles returns to collect and all hell literally breaks lose.
The cool thing about this movie is that it took all of the best elements from the two different Ghost Riders in the comic book (Johnny Blaze and Daniel Ketch). This made it easier to digest because, for the most part, people are most familiar with the Johnny Blaze incarnation (just imagine how hard it would be to explain how there are two different Ghost riders?) The origin story was pretty much spot on with the exception of it being his step-father "Crash" Simpson in the comic that he sold his soul to save. The villain in the comic is named Mephisto, but using the name Mephistopheles (from Faust Legend) as the villain gives the antagonist more importance and brought more mythology into the story. And to give proper credit where it is due, the Ghost Rider did look incredibly cool.
Nicolas Cage (NEXT) as Johnny Blaze / Ghost Rider was such a poor choice that his portrayal of the character was offensive. This is a clear case where a big name actor liked the character so much that he bullied his way into the role. There aren't many films he is in that I enjoyed him in and this is one case where his swagger and c*ckiness really hurt what could have been a great movie. Eva Mendes (KNOCKED UP) as Roxanne Simpson was decent, but seemed a little too "April O'Neil" for me. It is a good character, but not the one Roxanne Simpson was in the comic. Wes Bentley (AMERICAN BEAUTY) as Blackheart came off as the whiny little brat that couldn't get his way. Demon or not, I wanted Ghost Rider to lay him over his knee and put a serious spanking on him. Donel Logue (ZODIAC) as Mack is one of the few good casting choices along with Sam Elliott (HULK) as Carter Slade / Caretaker and Peter Fonda (3:10 TO YUMA) as Mephistopheles (interestingly enough the bike Johnny Blaze gets from Fonda's character Mephistopheles is a replica of the Captain America bike his character Wyatt rode in Easy Rider.) There were good things about this movie, just not enough to make it a good movie.
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 | Lisa
Sep 25, 2007 9:53 AM
also wrote a review of Ghost Rider 
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| I actually like a lot of Cages movies, however I totally agree with you on this one, I mean how f*cking gullable does Mark Johnson think we are, there ain't no amount of "just for men" and make-up that could make me believe that Nick Cage is the same age as Eva Mendes. |
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Sep 25, 2007 8:29 PM