Alright, but has many problems, especially with its humour

Rating: 7/10 (22 February 2007)

Despite knowing very little other than the basic mythos, I was still rather hyped to see Ghost Rider. I was disappointed at first at the fact that its release date was pushed back from last summer until now, but figured there was a good reason for it. Unfortunately after seeing it, I think they should have held it off even longer.
As a child, Johnny Blaze does death-defying stunts on a motorbike alongside his father. When he receives word of his father having cancer, he makes a deal with the devil, Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda), to save his father's life. In exchange, he signs over his soul to him to do a job that will not be required until much later in life. Zap forward at least fifteen years, and Blaze (Nicolas Cage) is doing positively insane bike stunts and thrilling crowds all over the United States. At the same time, Blackheart (Wes Bentley) has arrived back on earth, looking for a long lost contract of souls. Only then is Johnny contacted by the devil again to stop him, and becomes the title character.
The movie itself is not all that bad. The storyline is pretty good, and stays consistent throughout despite the addition of a few subplots. Everything just practically flies by.
But that is what hurts the film a lot too.
The origin of Johnny Blaze is done very well, and quite speedily. He is introduced, signs the deal, and is an adult faster than you can say the devil's name. But after that, when it should begin to meander and slow down a bit, it just keeps up the pace and does not stop. Characters introduced part way through and should get more of a chance to do things are just held back, and random moments go on for longer than they should. It feels imbalanced in some sections, and feels undercooked in others. Battle scenes are especially hit, as they last varyingly between a few seconds and a few minutes. If you blink during some of them, you may miss them.
Which leads us to the next issue: it is too damn cheesy. I understand that comics are very tongue-in-cheek and heavily ironic/predictable. But the movie versions usually have some form of seriousness to them. Here, it is almost all laughable moments, and no sheer moments of seriousness. Just listening to Ghost Rider is like listening to a cheap comedian. A cheap comedian who looks bad ass of course. Lines like "You're pissing me off," and "Guilty," are just too funny for words. But they should not be. This comic book story is dark and morbid in its content, so why is that not reflected in the film? A lot less cheese and a lot more seriousness would have gone a long way.
The special effects are another iffy area. Ghost Rider himself looks great the majority of the time. His flaming skull head looks natural, and never looks pasted on in any instant. When he jumps on his bike and starts riding is when he looks particularly good, as it is evident that the filmmakers spent extra attention on getting these two details down pat, even during moments of fighting or driving. Clumsily however, when Blaze first transforms into the vigilante superhero, the effects look really terrible and really cheaply done. They still look decent, but in comparison to the easy transformations later on, they stand out as fairly bad.
The scene involving Ghost Rider and the helicopter has some of the worst effects I have seen in a recent film (although nowhere near as horrendous as the shoddily produced The Brothers Grimm). The deaths that Blackheart is responsible for look okay, but looks the last one he does looks rather obnoxiously edited in. When he and his cronies show off their powers, it looks a hell of a lot better, but nowhere near as powerfully and majestically created as Ghost Rider's.
Cage is alright as Blaze. He is very laid back, and acts up at the appropriate times. I think he tried a little too hard to be seen as being younger though, but he does manage to pull it off. His lack of melodramatics (like in the recent World Trade Center) also helps, as he stays grounded in the role, and does not make it out to be a complete joke. When he is Ghost Rider though, as said, it just does not totally work. Fonda and Sam Elliot who shows up off and on, are both on about the same page of being alright. They do an admirable job, but they just do not make the roles anything more than they already are. Bentley on the other hand, really does a good job as Blackheart. He plays him up and is great in this villainous role. If he was handed better dialogue, and had a few more scenes, he would have really become a force to be reckoned with.
Eva Mendes however, is very haphazard as Blaze's love interest Roxanne. She does nothing for the movie except for bringing an added hotness to it. Her dialogue exchanges with Cage are alright, but their chemistry is not all that great. She does not seem like she is all in it like the rest of the cast, and just feels like the weakest link (albeit a hell of a lot stronger than Ms. Katie "Useless" Holmes in Batman Begins). And despite how gorgeous she is, it really is awkward seeing every shirt (and dress) she wears undone right down to the exact same button, revealing the same amount of cleavage in every single scene.
On the whole, the film is just alright and nothing else. It could have used a lot more work than it got in that short period between last summer and now. As it stands, it just does not hold a candle to some of the better comic book films.
7/10.