Earlier today, one of our sister blogs, Filmsy (A fantastic film review blog that all of you should bookmark), reviewed Marvel’s latest release, Ghost Rider.

Since this film falls heavily into geek territory because of its comic book ties, I decided to give it a look this evening…and…wow…just wow.

and not a good wow…

I won’t bore you by recapping the story…if you want to know the nuts and bolts of what the plot is about, you can read it in the Filmsy review…if not, long story short…guy makes deal with devil, guy gets screwed on deal, devil sends guy to hunt down his kid, guy’s skull bursts into flame…

Ok, now that we’re past that, let us discuss this Marvelous trainwreck.

I consider myself a passive film geek. There was a time in my younger days (not that I’m old) when I was determined to become the next Robert Rodriguez (him being a fellow Texan and all), but that didn’t work out. Still, I have spent many an hour heavily studying filmmaking, and trying to learn everything I could about the subject.

Mark Steven Johnson, the director of Ghost Rider, is probably a lot like me. The only real difference is that I discovered I wasn’t capable of making a good movie before I got to Hollywood. Now, I should pause here and say that I applaud Mr. Johnson for loving comics and wanting to turn them into movies….but he’s had two chances now – first with Daredevil, and now with Ghost Rider, and each time he’s been on the right track, and then (to quote Maxwell Smart) “missed it by that much.”

Johnson’s superhero movies are like that girl down at the far end of the bar. When you look up and glance at her, she looks kinda cute…but the closer you get, the more obvious it becomes that she’s “almost pretty”. In fact, that’s how I would have to describe Ghost Rider…”almost pretty”.

This movie seems to be heavily influenced by the 70s era of the Ghost Rider comic, and that’s a good thing, but the film doesn’t go far enough with it to completely sell us on it. If this film had been in the hands of a director that was capable of putting a little style into his filmmaking (i.e. Tarantino, Rodriguez, or even someone like Rob Zombie) who wouldn’t be afraid to put that hardcore 70s look into the film, then this whole thing could have worked, but as it stands it’s just “almost pretty”.

The villains in the film look like they were designed by the same fellow who came up with that awful shark skin coat for Bullseye in Daredevil, and they are so comical looking in the film, that you can’t help but laugh everytime they’re on sceen. Even Mephistopheles looks like a complete joke with his giant pimp rings and cane.

I think Nicolas Cage did the best he could with what he was given, and I would like to see him in a Ghost Rider sequel…just one with a different creative team. Most of his scenes with Eva Mendez fall flat, and I don’t know if it’s either of the actor’s faults. They weren’t given much to work with, and the overly sappy romantic scenes near the tree where their initials are carved “forever” have all the spunk and charisma of a wet sock.

Another element of the film that I found particularly annoying was the unnecessary addition of a second Ghost Rider from the Old West. Now you might say…but their was a Ghost Rider from the Old West in the comics…and you’re right…but that Old West Ghost Rider, and THIS Old West Ghost Rider have absolutely nothing in common with one another. In fact, it seems like the only reason that the character is in the movie is to get cool sounding Sam Elliot voice over, and to have one scene where both Ghost Riders are riding through the desert to the instrumental rock version of the classic Johnny Cash tune “Ghost Riders in the Sky” (Dont’ get me started on how awful the cover of this song is at the end of this movie…if I was John Carter Cash I would find the man that recorded this and punch him in the junk).

So, to sum up…I absolutely hated this movie. It failed on every possible level for me…and it was so close to not sucking that it just made me hate it more for not making it all the way…BUT, having said all of that, I still consider the movie going experience a positive one, because I got the chance to see the trailer for 300, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Spider-Man 3 in the theatre…and all 3 of those flicks look pretty darned promising.

Related posts:

Spotlight: Ghost Rider!
Ghost Rider (2007) – Reviewed
Space Ghost (2005) – Review
Wired Reviews Ghost In The Shell 2
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence – Give-away!

Hope you like that post!

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