Not As Bad A Film As Critics Think

Rating: 7/10 (12 March 2007)

let me just begin by saying that despite what critics say & the people who think they know about ghost rider based on no knowledge at all, this film isn't as bad a film as we've been led to believe. Having heard a few moans about fight scenes, dialogue & such i went into the movie with zero expectations (even though i've been a fan of the comics post-1994 during the Danny Ketch era). To my surprise i found that the film went far to make johnny blaze one of the most likable super heroes in film i have ever seen which i think is a great development as he wasn't one of the more widely popular heroes in marvel comics unlike spider man. Lets be honest,for a comic book film it is outstanding and did a great job with the 12a/pg13 rating it was given to work with & also made the underrated anti-hero more accessible to a new audience, (i mean why wait till your older to understand the comics/concept of GR when you can watch the film?). I realise people had a bone to pick with the humour on the film but to my surprise i found it quite refreshing as it off-set the darker moments quite well,showing what the burden of being the devils bounty hunter had done to his picturesque life. To address the point of the fight scenes being too short can i add the the 'devils bounty hunter' does exactly what it says on the label. I hardly think Ghost Rider would struggle against some lowly spirits. As weak a defence (but valid) as that is, i do still hope that the DVD release extends the water spirit scene & the awfully short fight between blackheart at the end (which was done very well visually & i realise now we were only meant to see undertones of blackhearts true form). Mark Steven Johnson and Nicholas Cage (to his credit) have done us Ghost Rider fans a great 'fan service' with this film & it should be merited for that at least. Yes, the dialogue was cheesy (specially on the part of Blackheart's dialogue & the pointing thing with Johnny Blaze/GR) & there were bits that i thought should not have been there but the film was very dark for a 12a/pg13 specially since they worked loosely from David Goyer's (Blade) script. The film isn't the worst marvel comic film as i can name a few that have been much worse such as 2 out of the 3 X-Men films, Punisher, Blade:Trinity,F4,Daredevil (The Theatrical Cut NOT The Dir.Cut DVD),Catwoman,3 to 4 out of 5 Batman's,Generation X etc...Ghost Rider's is a comic character worthy of development in film and i believe done right in future (crossed fingers for the sequel :D) it could be one of the darkest,coolest & (touch wood) 'best' comic movie made to that point.My only major qualm with the film was the inclusion on Roxanne (Eva Mendez) as eye candy. The film TOTALLY didn't need her there for most parts of the film and as Mac roughly put it "everything was fine till she came along"!.I think the film was trying to cover the 'romantic' base a little too fondly, some of the dialogue between her & Johnny Blaze just reminded me of 'Hitch' :s. Overall great film, perfect for the big screen so lets hope the sequel corrects the mistakes from the first. Give it a chance, i mean Batman Begins came along and showed us that they could get him right & dark so ghost rider should be given the same chance :s