by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
C+ Rated PG-13 114 min
For what it is–a ridiculous special effects driven comic book movie–Ghost Rider is a loud and flashy entertainment, eighty percent of which was created by CGI. With tongue-in-cheek verve, Nicolas Cage portrays a motorcycle stunt performer, Johnny Blaze who makes a deal with Mephistopheles–the devil, (Peter Fonda) to save his father from dying of cancer.
Of course, never trust the devil. He saves the father from cancer, but kills him in an accident. Now, Blaze must ride his flaming chopper at night as Ghost Rider, the devil’s bounty hunter. In his contract, if Ghost Rider neutralizes the devil’s nemesis, Blackheart, (Wes Bentley) he can have his life back.
Viewers must remember this movie is adapted from a Marvel graphic novel and everything is pushed beyond reason into the realm of supernatural fantasy, conjuring up the old legend of the Ghost Rider in the sky. Old Flaming Skull rides his tricked-out chopper into the night burning the highway behind him with his white hot chain as his weapon. Call him Zippo-head–able to ascend vertically up buildings and fry anything in his path. Yeah, it’s nonsense, but once viewers leave their brains at the theater door, it makes perfect sense. His deadly encounters with Blackheart’s crew are the stuff of wild westerns.
Blaze nurtures a romantic involvement with his old childhood sweetheart, now a TV journalist, Roxanne (Eva Mendes). She gets suspicious of his strange behavior and asks him what’s up with him. He reluctantly tells her he sold his soul to the devil and rides around at night as the flaming Ghost Rider. At first she thinks he’s mad as a Hatter, but there have been some odd things happening around town, and she may just believe it could be true. Then she sees Ghost Rider and it all starts to make sense–a comic book super-villain trying to bring down Blackheart. “Yeah, I can dig it,” she thinks.
Written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson, with dialogue on a twelve year old level, the entire scenario is building momentum for the grand finale when Ghost Rider and Blackheart finally have their showdown–two supernatural forces clashing in another dimension, with the devil overseeing the event. It’s the walking blow-torch against the powerful Blackheart who has absorbed the dark souls of millions of evil spirits.
Sam Elliott plays the Caretaker who hangs out in a cemetery where he is insulated from the devil by the religious icons nearby. Flaming Skull seeks his advice on the history of the Ghost Rider legend and how he can beat Blackheart. Caretaker once rode as a Ghost Rider on his trusty steed that, like himself, morphed into a trotting flame thrower.
In Ghost Rider’s encounters with Blackheart and his crew, he is smashed by a truck and set upon by a soot covered demon. Oh the heartbreak of being Flaming Skull. What humiliation he suffers when he gets out-foxed by Blackheart.
By now, Roxanne (Mendes) understands Blaze’s problem and she tries to help him. But she is a mortal being, helpless in the face of these supernatural forces. Right, and when Flaming Skull gets down to business, all hell breaks loose. Sorry babe, Ghost Rider can’t make love in his flaming mode. Roxanne likes it hot but not that searing–she’d be burned to a crisp. Oh, mamma, it’s Flaming Skull to the rescue as things are getting out of hand and the forces of good and evil meet on the other side for one hell of a fight. Varoom, Flaming Skull’s fire shooting chopper roars through the darkness burning up the pavement. Whew, I need a cold drink.
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