By: Jonathan Cyfer
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Nicholas Cage has made some terrific films and, at least at one point in his career, he was an engaging actor who brought a lot of edgy power to his roles. Ghost Rider (2007) was not one of his better roles or even an engaging film.
I can't really lay the whole thing at Cage's feet. The film was badly conceived, badly written, badly directed, badly...well, you get the idea. I didn't like it. And I really wanted to like it. I have kind of a thing for 1970s fiction. Too bad this film missed the mark.
I'm not a fan of "Satanic" comic books. It takes a very fine writer to blend the supernatural and superhero genres and most of the time, it doesn't play well. It also is a story that may be too rooted in its context.
The original comic book character Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze first appeared in 1972, about the same time as the film The Exorcist (1973), which is currently being re-released on DVD and Blu-Ray. Rosemary's Baby (1968) was a runaway hit just a few years before, and it seemed the late 1960s and early 1970s were just the right time to explore a lot of dark, satanic fiction. It was the right atmosphere in which to give birth to Johnny Blaze.
Actually, the comic book probably wasn't that much better than the film, which could be a clue that not all comic books need to be made into major motion pictures. Johnny Blaze was a young (which Nicholas Cage is not) motorcycle stunt rider (factor the real life motorcycle thrill seeker Evel Knievel being amazingly popular in the early 1970s into all this) who was working in a show owned by his step-father "Crash" Simpson. He learns that Simpson is dying of cancer and makes a deal with "you-know-who" to save Simpson's life in exchange for Blaze's soul. The deal works and the cancer is cured, but as always happens when you play with fire, Johnny gets burned. Simpson dies anyway in a motorcycle crash. The bad guy, who goes by the name of Mephisto, comes to collect.
The only thing saving Johnny's soul is his girlfriend Roxanne's "selfless love" which turns out to be some sort of "counterspell", but it only goes so far. By day, Johnny Blaze is a hot-headed motorcycle stunt guy. By night, he shares a body with a demon named Zarathos and becomes the Ghost Rider. Satanic and heroic daring do commences.
Antiheroes are sometimes more fun than squeaky clean heroes, because they always ride the edge between good and evil, leaning toward falling into evil. That's probably what makes Batman so attractive, but it only goes so far with Ghost Rider.
Personally, I could go the rest of my life and not miss a lack of Ghost Rider films in the universe, but if you have to make one, choose a younger actor, revisit your source material, and for crying out loud, pick a hot babe who actually makes me believe she gives a damn about being in the film. I thought Eva Mendes was trying to act and sleep at the same time (of course, her opinion of the film could be a lot like mine..maybe she needed some quick cash). Ghost Rider is proof that special effects and lots of action sequences don't make a good, or even a halfway good film.
Note to producers, writers, and director: either find something about the sequel that will really hook the audience, or find another project.
Oh yeah. I'm sorry to say this. But Nicholas Cage is just plain miscast. Yeah, he is a thrill-seeker, risk-taker like Blaze, but he doesn't bring youth or "soul" to the character.
Hit the reboot button, please.
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