| Never Catches Fire
by JP Paxton
The trailers have finished and the lights are dimming completely now. That familiar torch lady in the Columbia Pictures logo has appeared and quickly vanishes into the Marvel Comics flipping logo which transforms into a Ghost Rider inspired font. Finally the Crystal Sky logo is shown, then it comes; a somewhat interesting, but not quite exciting narration by Sam Elliott, who here plays the Caretaker. After we are told the "backstory" the high energy, fire decorated opening credits begin. It's here I think to myself, come on Johnson, impress me. About an hour and fifty minutes later I accept the fact that I asked for too much. Don't get me wrong, there's lot of sparks, most being the visuals, but the fire never really gets going in 'Ghost Rider'.
The storyline here really isn't all that complex. When Johnny Blaze, first played Matthew Long, was a teen he made a deal with the Devil, better known here as Mephistopheles, played by Peter Fonda. This deal was to save his "father" from the cancer that was slowly killing him. Mephisto keeps to the deal, but Johnny's "father" dies later that same day during a motorcycle stunt. In exchange for his "father's" health, even though short-lived, Johnny will one day be called upon to become the Ghost Rider and do Mephisto's bidding. Years later, Johnny, now played by Nicolas Cage, is a famous stunt driver and is haunted by the deal he made every day of his life. The time comes and he is revisited by Mephiso and told to seek out and destroy Blackheart, played by Wes Bently, who has his own team of thugs known as the Nephilim. Once he does, Johnny is promised his soul will be returned, thus ridding him of the curse he currently bears.
So there you have it, the basic outline for 'Ghost Rider'. That is where the film first starts to fall apart. The real story of Johnny Blaze's life and how he becomes Ghost Rider is slightly different. Crash is not Johnny's actual father as we are led to believe. (That's why I put quotations around father in the above description.) His wife Mona isn't even in the film and Mephisto is never driven away by Roxanne's purity either here. These among other things are some of the ways Mark Steven Johnson's take on 'Ghost Rider' isn't true to the comic. I myself aren't a Ghost Rider fanatic or anything close, but I'm sure those that are will find these alterations unnecessary and questionable. For the rest of the public that are unaware though, they'll just take it as is as they're force fed Johnson's $120 million adaptation.
Oh, but that's not all that's bad folks. Acting skill was apparently not a priority. If it were, I believe someone else would have been cast in the role of Roxanne, played by Eva Mendes. I'm. Not. Going. Anywhere. Digging deep, that's how Mendes' lines come out. It. Was. Almost. Robotic. The. Way. She. Spoke. Bently is not very good either. He's just doesn't come off villainous enough. He's got the look I guess, but that's about it. It's not entirely the actor's faults though. The combined effort of Johnson, Shane Salerno, David S. Goyer, & Jonathan Hensleigh that's called a screenplay is far from good writing. A couple weeks back and again this week I was warned that the comics weren't written too well either. Let me just say to that person now, Nick, if they're anything like the dialogue in the film, you were dead on. Too much comedy was added in as well. Continuously jokes are spread throughout, which takes away from the sense of seriousness and drama that I believe was crucial for everything to work.
The visuals are what in the end strive to be the focal point of the film. The fire doesn't always appear to be real, but everything is just plain cool looking. The most memorable moment for me was when the water element member of the Nemphilim's eye drips down his face and he wipes it off while instantaneously another eye appears. That was pretty awesome. I can't forget about the bike though, it's beautiful. As a whole though, the pricey CGI isn't enough to compensate for all the mistakes. 'Ghost Rider' makes it clear that Johnson should leave comic characters alone. He obviously can't do it right, so why even attempt?
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RATING:   Starring: Nicolas Cage, Wes Bentley, Eva Mendes, Matthew Long, & Peter Fonda
Directed by: Mark Steven Johnson
Written by: David S. Goyer, Jonathan Hensleigh, Mark Steven Johnson, & Shane Salerno
Produced by: David S. Goyer & Stan Lee
Rated: PG-13 for horror violence and disturbing images.
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