The Director's Review:
Ghost Rider is another super-hero story brought to us from the massive comic book universe of Marvel Comics. Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) is a motorcycle stunt performer who ends up selling his soul to the devil in an effort to save his father, but ends up a vengeance-dispensing demon biker with a flaming skull as his price. Making good use of the Ghost Rider history, the movie blends together the original 70’s, early 90’s and current comic versions of the Ghost Rider story. (While interesting for those in the know, no knowledge of any of the various comic versions of Ghost Rider are required to jump into the movie as his origin is fully told.) Visually the movie is stunning, from the death-defying stunts to the jaw-dropping CG needed to make the Ghost Rider character look believable (a skull mask, gas and a lighter just wouldn’t do), this movie does not fall short in post-production value.

Writer/director Mark Steven Johnson has a poor track record with his previous Marvel outings, Elektra and Daredevil, and unfortunately Ghost Rider does little to improve this. A lack of depth in dialogue and jerky story jumps keep this movie from rising to the level it was really meant to be at. Nicolas Cage apparently fought hard to get the role of Johnny Blaze, and he does a good job with what he is given, but you have to wonder if the finalized script matched the initial one he signed up for. Eva Mendes (Hitch, Out of Time) literally sleepwalks her way through this film, providing beautiful eye-candy but nothing believable in the way of acting. Additional supporting cast members included the baritone-voiced Sam Elliot (Hulk, We Were Soldiers) and Donal Logue (Zodiac, The Ex), along with a few actors better known for their television roles including Brett Cullen (Lost, Friday Night Lights) and Matt Long (Jack & Bobby). Unfortunately the bad guys in this film fell far short of their demonic potential. It’s hard to be even the slightest bit scared of the ragtag boy-band that is Blackheart (Wes Bentley), Gressil, Abigor and Wallow, or their father Mephistopheles (a bored Peter Fonda). Why they weren’t given the CG treatment to turn them into the true awe-inspiring demons they were supposed to be is anyone’s guess.

Ghost Rider isn’t a bad movie, but it does suffer from a weak script and some terrible editing, which is only made more obvious when compared against some of the better comic book movies recently made like Batman Begins or Superman Returns. Ghost Rider had a lot of potential with its ‘sold your soul to the devil’ story and an abundance of hellishly delicious material from the comics to fill the screen with, but somehow seemed to have sputtered off the starting line and ended up falling short of the landing ramp. High in CG value but low in story, while this film is no X-Men or Spiderman, if you are looking for a good movie to just sit back and enjoy some popcorn and a soda with, Ghost Rider makes for a decent choice.

Who Should Watch
Fans of CG or comic book movies in general, you’ll overlook most of its shortcomings.

Who Shouldn’t Watch
If you don’t like comic book movies to begin with, this one definitely won’t change your mind.