Ghost Rider

A slew of Marvel Comics movies have hit the theaters since 2000... some have been well received, and some have not. This is one of the ones that was not... Ghost Rider sees Nicolas Cage - an avid comic fan himself - take the mantle of Johnny Blaze, a motor-cycle stunt rider who makes a deal with the devil so save his father. Well... as you can expect... the devil doesn't play fair and Johnny loses his father anyway. He leaves the carnival he rode for, also leaving the girl he loved behind. Flash forward to his adult life where he is the world's most renowned stunt rider and the devil comes to claim his due. Now Johnny Blaze can transform into the flaming-skull spirit of vengeance, the Ghost Rider, and he is sent to track down some nasty demons while also dealing with the reappearance of his childhood lady-friend, played by Eva Mendes (BOING!). Enough is enough though... so lets get on to the review...

Original Release: 2007
Running Time: 114 minutes
(Check out how I rate my movies.)
Acting - $0
This was bad... just bad. Cage and Mendes have both done incredible things in their careers but sweet Jesus, this movie was a train wreck. While part of it can be blamed on the script itself, I honestly can't point to anyone in this film and say they did an ok job. Good guys, bad guys and extras thoughout... they all just sucked. If you told me this was put together completely out of b-roll I would not argue at all. Everyone involved in this movie should collectively hang their heads in shame.

Effects & Animation - $1
I'm a little torn on this one. Some of the effects were pretty cool... I can't say they weren't. The ones used to create the flaming skeleton of Ghost Rider himselft were pretty sweet, but it felt as if they put 90% of the budget into that and then used the scraps leftover to make everything else. The devil and demon characters were sub-par and the scene where he melts the prison cell bars? I mean, come on... they had better effects on Reading Rainbow.

Critters & Creatures - $1
The only reason I am giving them any points for this is because I love it when they make "elemental" characters. The three fallen angels each take the form of an element - earth, wind and water - and it makes even more sense in Ghost Rider since he (unofficially) represents the fourth element... fire. The characters themselves sucked a bit, but I couldn't give it a goose egg.

Nerd Factor - $1
This is another pity point. I was never a huge fan of the Ghost Rider comics (I didn't enjoy every interpretation of him) but I would read him from time to time and definitely feel that he has always had potential to be a real kick ass character. This movie could have been SO much better and there should be another group head-hanging for not even remotely coming close to Constantine in terms of darkness and awesomeness - that's right Cage, you got beat out by Keanu.

Action and Ass-Kickery - $0
Gimme a W! Gimme an E! Gimme an A! Gimme a K! What's that spell? Ghost Rider!!! What the hell man... what the hell. The few "fights" that did happen would have been more bad-ass if they had included the Care Bear Cousins... especially that lion one. Never trusted that guy.

Total Rating: $3

I think this might be the lowest rating to date... and it is probably well deserved. BUT.. don't take that too seriously. The whole point of Ten Dollar Reviews is to let you know about all the movies (good and bad) that I love. While it only got a $3 review, I still own it and will still watch it multiple times. So I challenge you, faithful readers, to give it a go and watch it yourself. When you do, let me know what you think!

Until next time...