By BEN GUNDY
Goshen News Staff Writer
March 02, 2007 10:27 am
—
When the recent wave of live-action movie versions of Marvel comics started, many Marvel aficionados, myself among them, were overjoyed.
Here at last was the chance to see what modern CGI could do with the Marvel universe’s ever-fascinating heroes and powers. It was also an excuse for comic book nerds to scrutinize, criticize and secretly adore real-life versions of their favorite characters.
The results, admittedly, have been somewhat mixed, ranging from the good (“X-Men,” “Spider-Man”) to the bad (“Daredevil,” “Elektra”) to the mindlessly entertaining (the “Blade” series) to the so-bad-they’re-a-little-charming (“The Hulk,” “Fantastic Four”).
But in “Ghost Rider,” this string of Marvel movies has sunk to a new low.
This movie is more cheesy than “The Hulk,” more poorly-cast than “Daredevil” and has a worse script than “Fantastic Four.”
Simply put, “Ghost Rider”’s only redeeming quality is the fact that its previews include a peek at “Spider-Man 3.”
The movie starts with a young Johnny Blaze (Matt Long), a motorcycle stuntman who “accidentally” sells his soul to the devil (Peter Fonda) in exchange for his father’s health.
Naturally, the bargain doesn’t work out as he’d planned, and Blaze ends up cursed with cool demonic powers and an ambiguous and apparently non-binding obligation to do what Mephistopheles says.
The action picks up with Blaze (played in adulthood by Nicholas Cage) fully grown and a world-famous motorcycle stuntman who can’t die because of his latent powers.
Mephistopheles shows up and demands that Blaze, who is transformed by the presence of evil into Ghost Rider, go hunting for a devil spawn named Blackheart (Wes Bentley).
Adding further intrigue is an awkwardly-inserted romance with Roxanne Simpson (Eva Mendes), Blaze’s adolescent sweetheart whom he left for some reason and now wants back for some reason.
From that point on, every development is painfully predictable. Director Mark Steven Johnson (“Daredevil”) marches laboriously through a series of one-liners and hackneyed plot elements as Blaze gets used to his powers, gets help from a wise old man (Sam Rodgers) and has trouble with his girl but ultimately wins her over when he saves her from the bad guy.
Ghost Rider and his powers are fairly well-animated, but they’re difficult to appreciate as he spouts bad puns and breezes his way through 20-second battles with ridiculously weak villains who would seem more at home fighting Captain Planet.
In addition to bland posturing by the bad guys and nauseating attempts at cuteness by Mendes, Cage simply isn’t believable as Blaze, who is supposed to be a brash and fun-loving but disturbed character battling a deep internal conflict.
Blaze instead just looks confused most of the time, and one gets the impression that it’s not because his character is battling internal demons but because the actor doesn’t know how his career has gone downhill so quickly.
If you’re not a die-hard fan of Marvel comics, avoid this movie at all costs and look forward to “Spider-Man 3,” which comes out this summer. If you are a die-hard Marvel fan, you’ll probably see “Ghost Rider” anyway, but be warned that it’s a huge disappointment.
Contact: (574) 533-2151, ext. 324
ben.gundy@goshennews.com
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