How could two devoted comic book enthusiasts, the director Mark Steven Johnson (“Daredevil”) and the star Nicolas Cage (“National Treasure“), make such a lifeless and uninspired film about a subject matter they both enjoy? That is the question I kept asking myself as I sat through this feeble adaptation of Marvel comics cyclist superhero Ghost Rider. Poor performances from almost every member of the cast, together with derivative dialogue and an inadequately explained story, makes this visually impressive film the biggest disappointment of the year thus far. One wishes more time was spent tweaking the script and directing the actors, than on creating the effects.
Cage portrays Johnny Blaze, a motorcycle stunt driver who began his career by performing with his father as part of the circus. Blaze’s father is dying of cancer, which leads the young man into making a deal with a shady stranger who arrives at the circus one day, offering to cure his father if Blaze signs over his soul. Once done, the stranger claims he will make use of Blaze at a later date, meanwhile double crossing the original deal by killing Blaze’s father in a biking accident. Blaze, seeing himself as a cursed man, leaves the woman he loves and goes off to become a successful stunt cyclists, performing the seemingly impossible. The devil comes back to collect on Blaze‘s debt, turning Blaze into the Ghost Rider, a demonic bounty hunter, with a mission to return the devil’s son, Blackheart, back to hell where he belongs.
My explanation of the film is a lot clearer than how the film was actually presented to the audience. The director spent minuscule detail on some matters that needed no explanation, while leaving major plot points hanging. It isn’t well explained why Blackheart does what he does or why he has such a poor relationship with his father. A graveyard caretaker arrives suddenly and explains the history of the Ghost Rider to Blaze, which Blaze accepts without questioning how the old coot would know this information. Cage’s Blaze makes quips and foreboding remarks throughout the film, but fails to create a character we can understand and empathize with or even find particularly interesting.
The other characters’ motivations are left unexplained and unexplored. The former love interest, Roxanne‘s (Eva Mendes; “Hitch”) return into Blaze’s life seems to only happen as a plot device to give someone for Blackheart to threaten the Ghost Rider with. Peter Fonda’s (“Easy Rider”) portrayal of the devil is the only spot on performance in the movie. The occasional battle scenes are poorly contrived and over the top, even for a comic book movie. The worst thing that can be said about an action movie is that it was boring; and Ghost Rider was, at times, boring. Without the exceptional special effects, this film would be more on caliber with a sci-fi channel movie than a big screen blockbuster.
2 out of 5