Ghost Rider (2007)
Directed by Mark Steven Johnson
Written by Mark Steven Johnson
Starring Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Wes Bentley, Sam Elliott, Peter Fonda
Release Date February 16th, 2007
Published February 15th, 2007
Hiring Nicolas Cage to play Ghost Rider is strange for a few different reasons. The oddest thing about the choice of Nicolas Cage for this role is that he is simply too big a star for this. Any film producer would tell you that you don't hire a well known star like Nicolas Cage and then cover his face with computer generated effects.
Ghost Rider requires that the star, in some of the movie's biggest and most important scenes, will be covered by CGI bones and flames. This is natural for a lesser known actor, not for one as well known as Nic Cage. Nevertheless, Cage campaigned for the role and got it and now Ghost Rider is out there and though Cage is missing from some of the film's biggest moments, I can't imagine the movie being as fun or entertaining without him.
When Johnny Blaze (Matt Long) was a kid riding motorcycles in carnivals with his dad, Barton (Brett Cullen), he made a deal with the devil (Peter Fonda). Johnny's father was sick and dying so Johnny made a deal that he thought would save his dad's life. In exchange rescuing Dad, the devil told Johnny that some time in the future he would return to collect on Johnny's debt.
Nearly 30 years later, Johnny (Nicolas Cage) is a world famous motorcycle stunt rider. His jumps over lines of cars, trucks, even helicopters are pay per view sensations. The life he gave up after selling his soul seems to be coming back into focus as his childhood sweetheart Roxy (Eva Mendes), who he had once planned to run away with, comes back into his life.
The sparks ignite once again between Johnny and Roxy but unfortunately it is then that the devil returns to collect his debt. Seems the devil's own son, Blackheart (Wes Bentley), has escaped from hell and is planning on taking over the world. It will be Johnny's job as the devil's new bounty hunter to bring down Blackheart before he can get his hands on a legendary contract full of souls that could destroy the world. Thus, Johnny becomes the Ghost Rider, a flame skulled super-hero who does the devil's dirty work. Riding a flaming motorcycle and carrying a flaming chain, Ghost Rider battles evil and collects their souls for Satan.
Directed by Mark Steven Johnson, the man behind Marvel's Daredevil movie, Ghost Rider is a big time action spectacle with outsized special effects and a good deal of goofiness. Johnson knows this material well, he is clearly a fan of the comics, and his love for the material really shines through. The detail and the humor of Ghost Rider comes from Johnson's familiarity with the material and a bit of his own wit. The effects of Ghost Rider, headed up by special effects supervisor Kevin Mack, leading a team from Sony Imageworks, are exceptional. The flaming skull, the flaming motorcycle, and Ghost Rider's fiery ride up the side of a skyscraper are all very impressive computer generated effects.
Nicolas Cage campaigned hard for the role of Johnny Blaze and got it despite the fact that it was written initially for a much younger actor. Cage is a huge fan of Ghost Rider and even had to have a Ghost Rider tattoo on his arm covered with make-up for the movie. Cage brings a sardonic, off kilter charm to Ghost Rider and Johnny Blaze. The fact that the character loves Jelly Beans and Karen Carpenter are odd character details that Cage plays with gusto.
Less interesting is the supporting cast who, aside from Donal Logue's comic relief as Cage's pal, are underwhelming. Eva Mendes is smokin' hot but in an underwritten role she struggles for screen time and is made to look foolish in more than one scene. She, at least, comes off better than Wes Bentley as the film's villain. The American Beauty actor, who has done little since that Oscar winner in 1999, is too slight and affected to be a believable foe for the powerful Ghost Rider. Essentially, Cage's charisma and star power blows Bentley off the screen.
Ghost Rider is flawed and is certainly not in the class of comic book legends like Spiderman or Batman but it is a rollicking, exciting action adventure B-movie. Nicolas Cage is a big star, bigger than the character he plays, and he makes this unusual role work with quirky details and comic book cool. Ghost Rider is funny and exciting, even a little scary for younger audiences. Most important, Ghost Rider is just damn entertaining and that is what it's all about.
