Ghost RiderRating: * *Type: Action, ThrillerLength: 114 minutesMPAA: PG-13Cast: Nicholas Cage, Eva MendesDirector: Mark Steven Johnson Playing: North Hills, Grande, Six Forks, Brier Creek, Carmike 15
I like comic books.
The problem is that comic book films have been too much of a good thing the last several years — Spider-Man and X-Men, Daredevil, the Incredible Hulk, Sin City, the list goes on. These movies were silver screen magic, pure and simple. Perhaps Punisher, Blade II and Elektra were simply an admission of humility.
But then X-Men: The Last Stand hit, and if Ghost Rider is any indication, there’s going to be a lot of downhill from here on out. But the first question on most people’s minds is, will I like Nicholas Cage?
First off, for those unfamiliar with the Ghost Rider “plot,” it focuses on Johnny Blaze (Nicholas Cage) who sold his soul to the devil in order to save another person’s life, and by doing so is under contract, at the devil’s whim, to become the Ghost Rider at night and collect damned souls. Add in Roxanne Simpson (Eva Mendes) as love interest/girl-who-gets-in-trouble-a-lot and stir vigorously with your standard demons escaped from Hell, et cetera.
Cage is, undeniably and without question, the best thing this movie has going for it. Cage can perform in fun roles like Gone in 60 Seconds, National Treasure, and serious works like Lord of War and City of Angels — he’s an all around quality actor.
Cage will be liked for the first forty minutes. Before Cage hits the inevitable Ghost Rider plot point, he’s shining in the way only Cage can, making wisecracks, listening to the Carpenters, eating Jelly Beans out of a wine glass, this is the kind of thing that makes him entertaining. But when his flaming alter-ego finally shows up, the movie grinds to a halt. As a superhero, the film gives Ghost Rider no personality, he spouts lines like “You’re going down!”
The movie also manages to utterly maim one of the things I enjoyed most about comic book films, the villains. Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Michael Clark Duncan, Colin Farrell, Brian Cox and Nick Nolte, these people were half the reason comic book films were worth watching because the evil was real, tragic, human and ultimately twisted. They were often as smart or smarter than the lead, which made the fights feel somewhat less than predictable. The villain choices here are Wes Bentley, an unknown who mainly growls and spits platitudes at his foes, or Satan, played by Peter Fonda.
The casting director could have made better choices in his villains if he had been blind, deaf and mute because he obviously didn’t see or hear these actors.
Of course, when I was watching this film, I couldn’t help but compare it to past anti-hero versus demons movies like Hellboy and Constantine. Hellboy failed from a lack of numerous quality actors — John Hurt and Ron Perlman being the only worthy of note — and a severe inability to make the villains engaging. Constantine, on the other hand, understood that they were working with Keanu Reeves, and thus couldn’t play him off as anyone but Keanu Reeves, so they gave him one-liners and a tragic background, mixed a more human cast of foes, and suddenly, the film worked.
Ghost Rider, on the other hand, has no idea how to use Cage. They give him no real strong moments of drama or character development after the first act is over and mostly use him as a vehicle to move the horrendous story along.
If that doesn’t sum it up, I don’t know what will.
