Marvel has really been kicking things into high gear lately, with a deluge of live-action flicks (such as "Spider-Man 3" and "The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer") and awesome animated films (which include "Ultimate Avengers," "Ultimate Avengers 2," "The Invincible Iron Man," and, in August, "Doctor Strange!"), and I'm happy to say that their latest offering is pretty darn good. "Ghost Rider" is the tale of a young stuntman/daredevil named Johnny Blaze (Nicholas Cage), who ends up in the service of Mephistopheles (aka The Devil, played by Peter Fonda) after a botched deal. ("Man, if you can't trust the Devil, then who can you trust?!") Years after Johnny sells his soul, Old Scratch comes a knockin' and forces the world-renowned stunt driver to become the Ghost Rider: A flame-skulled bounty hunter with superhuman-strength, amazingly powerful supernatural powers, and an awesome flaming motorcycle from Hell!
As the film progresses, the Ghost Rider takes on Satan's son, Blackheart (played by Wes Bentley) and his elemental cronies, in a race to prevent Hell on Earth. Can Marvel's "Spirit of Vengeance" save the day?! (As if I have to tell you the answer to that. ;-) "Ghost Rider" is an exceptionally fun adventure and features some fantastic special effects. A lot of CGI is utilized in the film and most of it is very well done. (There are a handful of scenes where some improvements could have been made.) As this is an origin tale, the movie tries to pack a lot into its (nearly) two-hour running time, and in doing so, it hits a few snags. On the plus side, we get to see the evolution of Ghost Rider; how he gets his powers, and obtains his trademark leather jacket with metal studs, his chain (and weapon of choice in the film), and his shotgun that blasts pure hellfire. However, it seems like they made this popular Marvel hero a bit too powerful.
Ghost Rider's battles against Blackheart's trio of demonic henchmen are pretty much one-sided. As each fight starts, an Elemental attacks Ghost Rider and seemingly delivers a crushing blow, only to find out that Johnny Blaze's alter-ego was just playing 'possum. And Blackheart, for all the power that he has, succumbs fairly easily at the film's climax, after proving his dominance over Ghost Rider. (And on that note, the film's villains are all pretty disappointing, which is a problem that plagued "Batman Begins," another excellent superhero flick that had lackluster baddies.) Essentially, by the time "Ghost Rider" is over, you're left craving more.
As of my writing this, I've seen "Ghost Rider" twice and I enjoyed it both times! There's a lot of humor strewn throughout the movie, a lot of great effects sequences, great music (particularly Spiderbait's cover of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" which plays during my favorite part of the film and during the end credits), Sam Elliot in all his coolness, and Eva Mendes' beautiful cleavage! (I love you Eva! Please marry me, support me with all the money you make with your acting career, and make love to me three times a day! Five times on Fridays! ;-) There's plenty to like here folks, so if you're heading to a theater sometime this week, I suggest that you give "Ghost Rider" a chance. But please, if you do, don't bring a mentally retarded person that has random outbursts of laughter and nonsensical babbling. It is sort of distracting, so please, think of the other theater patrons.
Anyways, I'm proud to give "Ghost Rider" THREE AND A HALF OUT OF FIVE 'RADS!' It’s a lot of fun, treats the source material with respect (my comic book geek buddy Chris had NO complaints... odd), and showcases Eva Mendes' heavenly cleavage. What's not to like?!
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