"Todd Reviews 'Ghost Rider'!"
Hey guys…
I saw the Ghost Rider film this last Saturday, and I can honestly tell you that I thought it was better than either of the last two movies that the director made… I can also say that of the lead actor that was in the film as well, since Wicker Man stunk on ice.
Now let’s get to the meat of the complaints that most of the film critics addressed:
A.) Nick Cage was hamming it up and mugging for the camera.
B.) The character itself sucks.
C.) The special effects were cheesier than Nathan Lane’s acting.
D.) The director wrote a horrible script and the Western-style angle was as corny as it gets.
Okay, let’s start with the first one. Nick Cage did a great job at portraying a somewhat ethereal character, as The Ghost Rider isn’t as angst-ridden and neurotic as Spider-Man or as brooding as Batman. The Ghost Rider has always been a cult favorite amongst rabid fans, but it has never had the broad appeal of the more “Main Stream” characters in the comic’s pantheon. This often leads to people seeing a flick like this and then going to the comics store to buy back issues to find out how true to the comics the portrayal of the character was, and that’s where it gets a little sticky.
For those of us that have actually read the Ghost Rider comics over the decades, the film meshes two different eras of Ghost Rider continuity. The first Ghost Rider was Johnny Blaze, and the second was his long-lost brother Danny Ketch. The original Ghost Rider was a more sprawling, southwestern-style storyline of Johnny riding his chopper from town to town, helping people out and judging criminals with exposure to his Hellfire (which makes him all “flame-addled”)… a lot like the old Kung Fu series in the 70’s, but with a demon trapped in a man’s body instead of John Carradine pretending to be Asian. It was representative of the spirit of it’s time kind of like Easy Rider was. The first GR didn’t have the Penance Stare or the spikes… that was the second one. The Danny Ketch GR was a New Yorker who rode a crotch rocket. He attained the powers of the Ghost Rider after his sister was killed by touching the glowing gas cap on his bike that bared the mark of the Ghost Rider.
Okay, now I know that this review is going to be a bit long, but in order for most of you out there to enjoy the movie, you’ll need to know and understand the history of the character to appreciate the flick in its proper context.
The first Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze) found out that his adoptive father “Crash” Simpson was dying of a particularly deadly form of cancer that had metastasized throughout his body, and immersed himself in the arcane arts for a way to save him. He eventually came upon a rite that would ostensibly summon the Devil, but instead summoned Mephisto; a being from another dimension, that, although is in many ways similar to the Devil of Christian lore, is a separate entity all together. Mephisto appears to Johnny during the summoning and asks him what he wants, which Johnny then says that he wants Crash to be cured of his cancer. Mephisto then gives his terms: Crash will be spared of his affliction in exchange for Johnny’s soul when Crash dies. Johnny eagerly accepts Mephisto’s offer, and Crash is cured. However, after a short period of happiness, Crash eventually dies in a crash during a stunt; proving once more that irony is often the end of people with unlucky nicknames.
Mephisto shows up the next night to claim Johnny’s soul, only to find that Roxanne, Johnny’s love interest and adoptive sister, has been studying the same arcane arts as Johnny behind his back (since she knew about his deal with Mephisto all along) and banishes Mephisto back to his home dimension. As Mephisto is being banished, however, he gets the upper hand by bonding Zarathos, a demon of immense power that he despises to Johnny’s soul in retaliation for not being able to get his soul. Johnny is then cursed to transform into Ghost Rider at night, or whenever he is in the presence of evil, which leads to him taking up a nomadic life out of concern for others, and his fear of Ghost Rider hurting those he loves.
The next complaint is that the character sucks, and that is a hard issue to defend, as it is a subjective opinion, and can’t be proven one way or another. However, most people aren’t fans of characters like Ghost Rider, The Punisher or Blade, so those people have an opinion that is as relevant as George W. Bush teaching a Grammar class.
The special effects were great in this movie, and were very realistic, so I don’t know what movie these puckered sphincters were bitching about. The Ghost Rider would be immensely more difficult to do than Spider-Man, since he’s a flaming skeleton wrapped in biker’s leathers, and not a kid in spandex. And that’s all I can say about that… oh, and Johnny Blaze’s first change was one of the single coolest scenes in comic movie I’ve ever seen.
And finally, we come to the script and the theme of the movie itself. First, I never read the script, and I can guarantee that none of the film critics did either. However, the story stayed fairly true to spirit of the character by blending two different eras together into a character that was better in many ways than the original was. Also, the “Old-West” style that the theme carried throughout the film was pretty consistent with the original comic from the 70’s, if a bit more obvious than the original was.
Overall, I would readily suggest that people see this movie, as most people would likely enjoy it, and it doesn’t take a darker tone that would turn some people off. This movie is a great starting point to launch a film franchise of a comic series that otherwise would remain unknown to most people.
If I went by a scale of 1 through 10, I’d easily give this movie an 8, 8.5… and that’s a criticism coming from a comic nerd who knows what he’s talking about, and not a douche bag who jerks off to episodes of “Inside the Actors Studio”.
Now go out there and enjoy!
I saw the Ghost Rider film this last Saturday, and I can honestly tell you that I thought it was better than either of the last two movies that the director made… I can also say that of the lead actor that was in the film as well, since Wicker Man stunk on ice.
Now let’s get to the meat of the complaints that most of the film critics addressed:
A.) Nick Cage was hamming it up and mugging for the camera.
B.) The character itself sucks.
C.) The special effects were cheesier than Nathan Lane’s acting.
D.) The director wrote a horrible script and the Western-style angle was as corny as it gets.
Okay, let’s start with the first one. Nick Cage did a great job at portraying a somewhat ethereal character, as The Ghost Rider isn’t as angst-ridden and neurotic as Spider-Man or as brooding as Batman. The Ghost Rider has always been a cult favorite amongst rabid fans, but it has never had the broad appeal of the more “Main Stream” characters in the comic’s pantheon. This often leads to people seeing a flick like this and then going to the comics store to buy back issues to find out how true to the comics the portrayal of the character was, and that’s where it gets a little sticky.
For those of us that have actually read the Ghost Rider comics over the decades, the film meshes two different eras of Ghost Rider continuity. The first Ghost Rider was Johnny Blaze, and the second was his long-lost brother Danny Ketch. The original Ghost Rider was a more sprawling, southwestern-style storyline of Johnny riding his chopper from town to town, helping people out and judging criminals with exposure to his Hellfire (which makes him all “flame-addled”)… a lot like the old Kung Fu series in the 70’s, but with a demon trapped in a man’s body instead of John Carradine pretending to be Asian. It was representative of the spirit of it’s time kind of like Easy Rider was. The first GR didn’t have the Penance Stare or the spikes… that was the second one. The Danny Ketch GR was a New Yorker who rode a crotch rocket. He attained the powers of the Ghost Rider after his sister was killed by touching the glowing gas cap on his bike that bared the mark of the Ghost Rider.
Okay, now I know that this review is going to be a bit long, but in order for most of you out there to enjoy the movie, you’ll need to know and understand the history of the character to appreciate the flick in its proper context.
The first Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze) found out that his adoptive father “Crash” Simpson was dying of a particularly deadly form of cancer that had metastasized throughout his body, and immersed himself in the arcane arts for a way to save him. He eventually came upon a rite that would ostensibly summon the Devil, but instead summoned Mephisto; a being from another dimension, that, although is in many ways similar to the Devil of Christian lore, is a separate entity all together. Mephisto appears to Johnny during the summoning and asks him what he wants, which Johnny then says that he wants Crash to be cured of his cancer. Mephisto then gives his terms: Crash will be spared of his affliction in exchange for Johnny’s soul when Crash dies. Johnny eagerly accepts Mephisto’s offer, and Crash is cured. However, after a short period of happiness, Crash eventually dies in a crash during a stunt; proving once more that irony is often the end of people with unlucky nicknames.
Mephisto shows up the next night to claim Johnny’s soul, only to find that Roxanne, Johnny’s love interest and adoptive sister, has been studying the same arcane arts as Johnny behind his back (since she knew about his deal with Mephisto all along) and banishes Mephisto back to his home dimension. As Mephisto is being banished, however, he gets the upper hand by bonding Zarathos, a demon of immense power that he despises to Johnny’s soul in retaliation for not being able to get his soul. Johnny is then cursed to transform into Ghost Rider at night, or whenever he is in the presence of evil, which leads to him taking up a nomadic life out of concern for others, and his fear of Ghost Rider hurting those he loves.
The next complaint is that the character sucks, and that is a hard issue to defend, as it is a subjective opinion, and can’t be proven one way or another. However, most people aren’t fans of characters like Ghost Rider, The Punisher or Blade, so those people have an opinion that is as relevant as George W. Bush teaching a Grammar class.
The special effects were great in this movie, and were very realistic, so I don’t know what movie these puckered sphincters were bitching about. The Ghost Rider would be immensely more difficult to do than Spider-Man, since he’s a flaming skeleton wrapped in biker’s leathers, and not a kid in spandex. And that’s all I can say about that… oh, and Johnny Blaze’s first change was one of the single coolest scenes in comic movie I’ve ever seen.
And finally, we come to the script and the theme of the movie itself. First, I never read the script, and I can guarantee that none of the film critics did either. However, the story stayed fairly true to spirit of the character by blending two different eras together into a character that was better in many ways than the original was. Also, the “Old-West” style that the theme carried throughout the film was pretty consistent with the original comic from the 70’s, if a bit more obvious than the original was.
Overall, I would readily suggest that people see this movie, as most people would likely enjoy it, and it doesn’t take a darker tone that would turn some people off. This movie is a great starting point to launch a film franchise of a comic series that otherwise would remain unknown to most people.
If I went by a scale of 1 through 10, I’d easily give this movie an 8, 8.5… and that’s a criticism coming from a comic nerd who knows what he’s talking about, and not a douche bag who jerks off to episodes of “Inside the Actors Studio”.
Now go out there and enjoy!
posted by Todd Tobin at 4:16 PM
3 comments
