At some point, we’re going to have to rise up against the movie studios, declaring in one voice that we won’t stand for movies that require us to anticipate with base expectations just to squeeze a little enjoyment of them. I call this the “well, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be” corollary, spawn of the “as long as it’s better than Fantastic 4” theorem. The newest variable thrown into this equation of mediocrity is Ghost Rider, Marvel’s wintertime grasp at your dollar while you wait for superior summer fare to arrive, complete with paper-thin acting, a barely passable plot, and iffy effects.
Ghost Rider revolves around Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage), a young stunt motorcyclist who sells his soul to the devil (Peter Fonda) to save his father from cancer. In exchange, the head demon calls Johnny later in life to be his ghost rider, a flaming skeleton of a bounty hunter who collects on Mephistopheles’ debts. The devil specifically taps him to stop his son Blackheart (Wes Bentley) from usurping the throne and creating an even more terrifying version of hell. Blaze needs to do all this while maintaining his sanity and trying to win over his old sweetheart, Roxanne (Eva Mendes).
The plot, as I’ve said, is thin, and neither Fonda nor Bentley show off enough menace to make one care whether Blaze wins or loses the battle – Fonda’s devil is about as dangerous as South Park‘s take on him, and Bentley’s Blackheart is so savage that it seems the Care Bears could have polished him off. But Cage, who reportedly took the part because he’s a big-time comic book fan (as if naming one’s child Kal-El isn’t enough of a sign), manages to evoke through all the schmaltz enough to keep things moving.
It’s hard to urge people to see a movie based on the fact that Sam Elliott plays the narrator and a cemetery caretaker, but this is the quandary that Ghost Rider puts Marvel fans in: it’s entertaining enough to make the two hours in the theater pass painlessly, but isn’t anything you’d recommend to a self-respecting movie buff. At the very least, you can tell them that it will whet their appetite for Spider-Man 3 come summertime.
Rating: * * 1/2 of 5
Hey you have to give Marvel credit for making movies of their C and D list charectors. You don’t see DC making a movie based on the Atom or like Hourman. Marvel is at least making an effort to bring other charectors into the public eye.
Looks like a “Wait until the video comes out” tyoe of movie. I still can’t forgive myself for shelling out $9 to see Daredevil.
At first I hated Fantastic Four. On subsequent viewings it has kind of grown on me. Still Jessica Alba has to be the most blatent case of casting a hot chick because she can fill out the tights since Jennifer Gardner as Elektra in the aforementioned Daredevil.
X-Men 3 still has to be the biggest pile of dreck I have ever seen.
Apparently, “Daredevil” got better once the director’s cut came out. I still haven’t seen it, but don’t despise the theater version, if only because it lets us all growl like Affleck: “I was acquitted!” “Not by me…”
I still can’t forgive Fantastic Four, but “Rise of the Silver Surfer,” at least in previews, looks pretty badass.
As for X3? Amen, brotha.
I thought it was fairly enjoyable actually. A fun, mindless romp, which is all it seemed to aspire to.
Jeff, I think we reached the point a long time ago, where we should be rising up against the movie-studios. Although I disagree with your opinion about Peter Fonda, I thought his Mephisto was subtle and well done. You also forgot to mention the best part of the movie, the hot babe!