Ten minutes.

That’s how far I got into Ghost Rider before checking my watch. Written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson (of Elektra, which should have been my first warning), the debacle of this film can be pretty comfortable laid squarely at his feet. A comi-serious production with all the trappings of a horror flick, everything about the movie is over-the-top, apparently going for that coveted comic book nerd / WWE crossover market. What could have been goofy fun decides to take itself far too seriously, despite the ridiculousness of the script and cast.

Based on the eponymous comic book, Ghost Rider reminded me of a phenomenon that occurs quite often with Stephen King stories adapted to the silver screen. Some things you can believe or look good on a page, but play out as ridiculous on a big screen. The key to a successful comic book translation is the movie’s ability to make the audience suspend its disbelief. A movie like Batman Begins works because it is layered with intelligence and grounded in “reality.” Ghost Rider feels glib, as if gloating that it is smarter than its audience, when actually it is a “just cuz” movie: Why did thus-and-such happen? Just cuz. Why does anyone do anything in this movie? Just cuz.



“Tall tales to help us make sense of things too big or too terrifying to believe.” –Caretaker (Sam Elliott)

This movie isn’t quite tall enough for us. Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) inadvertently sells his soul and is cursed to become the Ghost Rider. The Ghost Rider, the devil’s bounty hunter, collects on the devil’s deals, sent to hunt down anyone who escapes from hell. There is a germ of a good idea here, mucked over due to poor execution.



Ghost Rider marks another mis-step in the up-and-down career of Nicolas Cage (Amos & Andrew, and almost every movie where someone has convinced him that he’s an action star). A comic book geek who went so far at to name his son Kal-El (after Superman’s birth name), he has angled to play just about every super hero role that has come down the pike. He has no clue, and little direction, how to play Johnny Blaze so he comes up with an Evel Knievel-meets-Elvis persona. An affection for Carpenters’ music, monkeys on television, and jelly beans do not make a character. Once he becomes the Ghost Rider, any tension in the film quickly dissipates as none of his threats come close to matching his power. It’s the equivalent of Superman vs. muggers.

“Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?’” –Matthew 12:25-26



The bulk of the plot revolves around Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) sending Ghost Rider on an errand to dispatch the devil’s son, Blackheart (Wes Bentley), and his minions, the rest of the four horsemen of mediocrity—a fight-fire-with-fire scenario that lacks Constantine’s Machiavellian twists and layered characterizations when it comes to dealing with (fallen) angels.

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