Ghost Rider (Widescreen Edition)
by Mark Steven Johnson
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Eva Mendes, Matt Long, Nicolas Cage, Raquel Alessi, Sam ElliottDirector: Mark Steven Johnson
Brand: Marvel Kids
Cinematographer: Russell Boyd
Editor: Richard Francis-Bruce
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.40:1
Running Time: 114 minutes
Published: 2007-06-01
DVD Release Date: 2007-06-12
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Ghost Rider (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: If by bad you mean awesome, then HELL yeah.
Summary: 5 Stars
Seriously. Truly awesomely bad movies are hard to come by. Poor production, easy. Flat acting, no problem. Regurgitated plot cliches, the standard. Ghost Rider has all these things, just as a billion other bad movies do. But Ghost Rider has something most others don't, a perfectly balenced blend of hilarious badness.
First off you need to know this. Nicolas Cage was wetting himself to be in a comic book movie. Everyone else was doing it and he wanted in. So he got this, I don't know if it made a difference what comic book movie it was to him but he got one and this is it. Amazingly from the instant this movie was conceived everyone knew it was doomed. I don't know why. There's nothing inherently damning about a motorcycle riding skeleton that's on fire but once that flaming skeleton is played by Cage the entire situtation becomes INFINATELY more ridiculous than it already was.
But that's ok because Nick REALLY wanted to do this. REALLY. And it's completely out of his niche. The result is the most beautifully sincere cardboard performance I've ever seen. Cage's character is so, well, retarded that he spends most of the movie not reacting to what's happening because he doesn't seem to have caught up with what happening yet. This makes the exceptions even more brilliantly over the top. Seriously. watching someone spaz out as their face is melting off after 30 mins of them acting like their biggest issue is self esteem is a beautiful thing.
Which brings me to the FX. It really is lovely when his face melts off. Thumbs up to you face-melter team. The 'elemental' henchmen are also designed and executed beautifully, especially wind and water (whose eye drips out of place when he first appears). They even have the decency to kill off the more weakly designed of the three first. However that's where the FX praise ends. Ghost Rider and the main baddy, the gothically-monikered "Blackheart" are very poorly represented. I'm ok with the Ghost Rider just being a skeleton that's on fire and dressed in black leather (how does a skeleton fill out that jacket?) The problem is that the actual skeleton looks bad. They weren't able to get any sort of an emotional performance out of the skeleton (which in all fairness matched what they got form Nick Cage) and the 3D skeleton just looked bad, thumbs down to you shader/texturing team. It's isn't really worth discussing Blackheart's design, if you've seen the first Blade you've seen it before and you've seen it better.
But don't forget, when I say bad I mean awesome. The inconsistency here is just another part of the beautiful absurdity of the movie. The dialogue is also fantastically flat and cliche ridden, my favorite line being to the effect of "I'm going to retire him, Like I Am Going To Retire You, FATHER." Say it with a menacing voice slowly increasing the tempo. Most of the sentences are short and you've heard alot of them before. They talk about fighting fire with fire, which is especially nice since only ghost Rider is fighting with fire. Really best line is the Sam Elliot simply calling Cage bonehead repeatly. Sam Elliot also has whiskers up to his eyeballs, which is awesome.
I could go on and on but I already have so I'll just say this, if you appreciate true masterpieace of awful you cannot miss Ghost Rider.
Summary of Ghost Rider (Widescreen Edition)
Based on the Marvel Comics character, stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze gives up his soul to become a hell-blazing vigilante, to fight against power-hungry Blackheart, the son of the devil himself.
- Product Measures: 0.5 x 5.5 x 7.5
Once intended as a feature for Johnny Depp, the long-germinating feature film adaptation of Marvel Comics' cult title Ghost Rider stars Nicolas Cage as motorcyclist Johnny Blaze, who transforms into a skull-faced angel of vengeance to battle the forces of evil. Though perhaps a bit too mature for the role, Cage brings a degree of humor to the outrageous proceedings; he's well matched by the Easy Rider himself Peter Fonda, amusingly cast as Mephistopheles, the demon with whom Blaze strikes a bargain to save his father, and in turn, causes his transformation into Ghost Rider. Wes Bentley is also fine as Blackheart, the rebellious offspring of Mephistopheles, and Blazes' chief opponent in the film. They're joined by a solid supporting cast which includes Donal Logue, Eva Mendes, and Sam Elliott, but their participation and a relentless barrage of CGI effects can't hide the fact that the story itself, though largely faithful to its comic origins, is rife with clichéd characterizations and glum B-movie dialogue. Fans of the venerable title may cry foul over this adaptation (as they did over helmer Mark Steven Johnson's previous comic-to-movie feature, Daredevil), but less stringent viewers may enjoy the fiery visuals and Cage's typically quirky performance. --Paul Gaita
Stills from Ghost Rider (click for larger image)
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Beyond Ghost Rider on Amazon.com
 On Blu-ray |  CD Soundtrack |  Ghost Rider: Road To Damnation Graphic Novels |
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