Ghost Rider [UMD Mini for PSP] [2007]

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Ghost Rider [UMD Mini for PSP] [2007]
Starring: Nicolas Cage , Gibson Nolte , Wes Bentley , Eva Mendes , and Sam Elliott
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: UMD Mini for PSP

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ASIN: B000R34376
Release Date: 2007-07-02

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Once intended as a feature for Johnny Depp, the long-germinating feature film adaptation of Marvel Comics' cult title Ghost Rider stars Nicolas Cage as motorcyclist Johnny Blaze, who transforms into a skull-faced angel of vengeance to battle the forces of evil. Though perhaps a bit too mature for the role, Cage brings a degree of humour to the outrageous proceedings; he's well matched by the Easy Rider himself Peter Fonda, amusingly cast as Mephistopheles, the demon with whom Blaze strikes a bargain to save his father and, in turn, causes his transformation into Ghost Rider. Wes Bentley is also fine as Blackheart, the rebellious offspring of Mephistopheles, and Blaze's chief opponent in the film. They're joined by a solid supporting cast which includes Donal Logue, Eva Mendes and Sam Elliott, but their participation and a relentless barrage of CGI effects can't hide the fact that the story itself, though largely faithful to its comic origins, is rife with clichéd characterisations and glum B-movie dialogue. Fans of the venerable title may cry foul over this adaptation (as they did over helmer Mark Steven Johnson's previous comic-to-movie feature, Daredevil), but less stringent viewers may enjoy the fiery visuals and Cage's typically quirky performance. --Paul Gaita

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Abysmal
Amazingly simplistic
Another lamentable Marvel comic book adaptation

Ghost Rider [UMD Mini for PSP] [2007]
Starring: Matt Long (II) , Raquel Alessi , Brett Cullen , Peter Fonda , and Nicolas Cage
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: UMD Mini for PSP

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ASIN: B000OVLBFI
Release Date: 2007-06-12

Customer Reviews:

Abysmal.......2007-09-22

One word describes this drivel - abysmal! Why is an actor of Sam Elliott's calibre in rubbish like this?

Amazingly simplistic.......2007-03-18

After the spaghetti westerns of Ennio Morricone or Sergio Leone or Clint Eastwood, we had to have a gruesome living dead western sooner or later. And here is one that goes beyond all imaginable limits with Mephistopheles, his son, though we don't know his mother who could be any shady lady in the world, and a ghostrider in the wings of a desolate megapolistic urban neighborhood, the expected horse being replaced by another metal horse of some kind, a motorbike, and that enables Peter Fonda to come up from his grave in Easy Rider and nostalgically become the master of ceremony of this hell's angelic mess. Apart from that, the film is filled with too many special effects for it to be effective, too much fire for it to be hot enough to sear our minds with fear or thrill, too simplistic human relations and satanic tricks for us to be in anyway impressed. It is frankly impossible to rewrite Goethe's Faust, or Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, or any impersonification of the devil, in such a blind alley of a dead end impasse. It leads nowhere and redemption in this context means the end of the film and a sigh of relief when the lights come back on and we can go home for a nightcap, the first excitement of the evening.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

Another lamentable Marvel comic book adaptation.......2007-03-18

Ghost Rider is another lamentable Marvel comic book adaptation. It might have been aiming for a fun atmosphere and certainly seems not to take itself very seriously. This is all well and good but I found myself wishing that someone had taken the quality of the production a little more seriously.

There is a lot of CGI and while it looks good it's over-used. A skeleton with a flaming skull pulling motorbike stunts is certainly dependant on CGI but this reliance would have been well served by counter balancing with less use of the technique elsewhere. The all important transformation sequence was marred by poor editing. The action sequences are hugely disappointing with no memorable fight sequences and several superfluous henchmen.

The film does little to make up for the shortfalls in it's main area of appeal. The relationship between the hero and the intrepid reporter is clichéd and heavy handed. The plot is spoon-fed in places and nonsensical in others. Comedic moments are few and far between. Performances are unconvincing and Wes Bentley's off kilter delivery of his terrible lines had me laughing out loud at times. Nicolas Cage over acts his way through the action scenes and sleeps through the rest of the movie.

I found some solace in thinking of links to Coen Brother's films. Sam Elliott's cowboy voiceover opening the film put me in mind of the Big Lebowski and Nicolas Cage in a film with a bounty hunter from hell recalls Raising Arizona. I guess this is testament to how poorly the film held my attention. To be avoided.

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