I never knew much about the Ghost Rider comic books when I was growing up as a kid; in fact I’m not even sure how old or how new of a character Ghost Rider is. But I must say that even though this film is vain of being very much like a high budget b-movie. I found the character of Ghost Rider to be somewhat of a badass comic book character.
Ghost Rider is about a guy named Johnny Blaze whom makes a deal with the devil (Mephistopheles) to save his father whom is dying of cancer. The devil grants him this gift if only Johnny signed his soul over to the devil. Johnny agrees to do so, and his father is cured. However what Johnny didn’t know is that the devil works on specifics. He cured Johnny father of his cancer, but then took the mans life that very day in a motorcycle accident. Johnny now upset over his father death and upset with himself for making such a foolish deal is now sent into a spiraling depression. The devil tells him a deals a deal. And in the future he will call upon him to do his work. The story then fast forwards into the future. Johnny Cage is a motorcycle stuntman. He’s the worlds best; jumping over helicopters and football fields and the likes. He has many fans and is a pretty popular guy. However the devil comes knocking and Johnny is soon transformed into the Ghost Rider. The thing is the devils son Blackheart is after a book which contains the secrets to gaining the powers of all who have made deals with the devil. The whole Legion thing comes into play here from the bible. The Devil needs the Ghost Rider to stop Blackheart from gaining such powers or else it could mean the end of earth as we know it.
Ghost Rider is a very complexed character, like many superhero’s they all have a weakness. And for some reason it wasn’t really expressed that the character had any kind of true weakness when Blaze was Ghost Rider expect daylight, which in turn; turns the Ghost Rider back into Johnny Blaze. Ghost Rider is a badass character that has many powers at his hand. One of them being his penance stare which he is able to make any sinner feel the pain that they have inflicted on their victims.
Here’s the thing, as much as I thought this film was very much like one of those crazy Roger Corman b-movies of the sixties, with cartoon like CGI added. I kind of enjoyed this film in the same kind of way I enjoy those over the top b-movies. The script was simple, it had a basic story and was not complicated. Was it a good script? Not really, but it did it’s job and that job was to entertain. There are just some films that can only be as good as they were intended to be, and Ghost Rider is one of those films. Its not a great masterpiece that many would want to assume it could be, because that would never happen in a million years. And the only way the film would of sucked is if they took all the action out of it. So basically the script was pretty much the best it could be, and it did it’s purpose. It entertained.
The acting in the film was nothing great, but it wasn’t bad either. I mean what do you expect from a film as odd and weird as this one. Nicholas Cage, Peter Fonda and Sam Elliot where probably the best overall in the film. Wes Bentley was pretty good as Blackheart. Eva Mendes was alright, but for some reason I didn’t think the part of Roxanne fit her well. The rest of the supporting cast was ok, just alright though, because there were some that I though were pretty bad as well.
While I liked the overall concept of the film, I really didn’t care much for the special effects. There were times where the CGI looked good, and that was mainly on wide shots and the scene in which the Ghost Rider rides his bike right up and down the side of a building, but most of the time the CGI looked very fake. Now I realize that with a chacter such as Ghost Rider there is no doubt that making such a film about the character is going to require a lot of special effects. But I think that the studio could of put more money into making the effects of the Ghost Rider himself look a little bit more believable. I think a different choice of film stock might of done the trick.
Overall, I liked the story of Ghost Rider enough to give the film the two and a half star rating I gave it above. I didn’t find the film to be scary at all, but found it to be very entertaining. The last scene of the film I also found to be holding a great message about love. If you see or have seen the film you’ll be able to understand what I mean; for its the reason the Ghost Rider came into existence. But overall Ghost Rider is not a masterpiece, but it is entertaining to say the least.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
