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Ghost
Rider
2007 / Sony Pictures
Length: 123
minutes
2007 was a banner year for
motorcycles being featured in major films and Ghost Rider
was the first to make it's appearance.
 Viewers don't have to be a comic
book fan to understand or follow the story, regardless if
you are, the writers changed the story anyway.
Basically a teenaged Johnny
Blaze is tricked into making a deal with Mephistopheles to
save his stunt-riding dad from dying of cancer. This is
where the first nod is given to the biker by casting
Peter Fonda of Easy Rider fame as the Devils evil
negotiator. The irony is that Captain America is effectively
appearing in a Ghost Rider film.
Of course Mephistopheles can’t
be expected to play fair and so the deal doesn’t go down
exactly as promised. Dad dies anyway and Mephistopheles
warns Johnny to forget about friends, family, and romance,
so he leaves his beautiful girlfriend standing alone on a
hill and rides off into the sunset.
Flash-forward a couple of dozen
years and now Johnny Blaze is the world’s greatest
motorcycle stunt rider, a title he owes mostly to the fact
the devil isn’t letting him get out of his deal by allowing
him to kill himself doing stunts. With his trusty sidekick
Mack (Logue) offering up great one-liners as well as lots of
friendly advice, Johnny Blaze is on top of the motorcycle
world. He's also just about to make it up to Roxanne for
leaving her behind when Mephistopheles offers him the chance
to get his soul back if he transforms into the Ghost Rider
and hunts down Blackheart (Bentley).
Mephistopheles is evil, but
Blackheart is evil, power-hungry, and reckless. Johnny Blaze
will need to use everything he learned about Ghost Riders
from a mysterious cowboy in order to defeat Blackheart.
Director Mark Steven Johnson is
the same filmmaker who brought us Daredevil and while that
film didn't seem to please any movie-goers, comic fans or
not, the special effects brings an added level of
entertainment.
Nicolas Cage can under-act with
the best of them, Sam Elliot brings his usual grittiness and
its always good to see Peter Fonda. If you're looking for
Eva Mendes to be mentioned with an acting compliment I'm
afraid I can't convincingly give one being as bad an actor
as she is.
Knowing that Ghost Rider's bike
is engulfed in flames and it can be ridden up the side of
skyscrapers, you'll appreciate how well it ranks as a
realistic motorcycle movie.
Still, it's a nice waste of a
few hours and certainly worth some popcorn.
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