Ghost Rider (2007)

Another film based on a lesser known marvel comic series. It tells the story of Johnny Blaze (the name alone lets you know the feel of this film) a stunt motorcyclist who sold his soul to the devil as a young man to save his father's life. As a result he is now the devils main guy, who he can call opon at anytime to do his bidding. As a subplot the devil's son (oh yes you read right) is causing all types of trouble which allows for the action scenes. oh and Johnny Blaze meets up with his old girlfriend from his younger days. Oh did i mention his head goes on fire at night and rides around on a bike?..well he does.

first off , the film is pretty bad but, kind of in a good way. it's a perfect example of high concept where narrative and deeper contextual meaning is thrown away for a hot chick and explosions.some of the lines are laughable, the acting is pretty plain, though cage is usually pretty subtle and down beat. It guided you along when you didn't need it, i mean it isn't memento, we get the story, we don't need a shadow of the devil to appear when lightening struck, just so we know who he is, we got it. However as stupid as that was, it did make me laugh. At the end of the day we have to remember it is based on a comic book and it's only working with the content its based on and comic books tend to have hyberbolic characters in crazy situations. The special effects are pretty ace, first time Cage's head is engulfed in fire to reveal the skull (in cartoony manner, not as graphic as it sounds lol) is quite impressive. The bike chases look cool, the bike itself looks cool. The story is pretty simple and doesn't try to be anything else, its kind of story you might see in episode of buffy vampire slayer.

The love story subplot, really isn't that bad. in a way, it is the audiences point of view. in certain scenes, one in which cage tries to explain his situation to Eva Mendes, who plays roxanne, with words used you get the idea the film makers are saying "we know this is pretty silly premise, but stick with us".

in terms of narrative its not great, and is a throwaway popcorn film but, i have to admit, i did enjoy myself. The story , lines and general tone of the movie had a good feel to it. It wasn't trying to be anything it wasn't, it got few good laughs, it had pretty good action scenes and visual effects. It's no spider-man 2, It's no batman begins, but for pure fun, not goo for technical stand points, but a good popcorn flick.

see it if you love comic book movies, don't see it if you love good movies but see it if you want to have a fun, escapism movie going experience