Lackluster comic book adaptation

Rating: 6/10 (20 February 2007)

GHOST RIDER (2007) ** Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Wes Bentley, Sam Elliott, Peter Fonda, Donal Logue. Lackluster big-screen adaptation of the cult Marvel Comics classic about a daredevil motorcycle stunt driver named Johnny Blaze (Cage attempting to do the best he can but quite frankly a tad long-in-the-tooth to be a brash, "young" hot-shot), who makes a deal with the devil that costs him his soul to be cursed to be the titular avenger with varying results ranging from the rad cool to the utterly laughable (the hackneyed screenplay by the director Mark Steven Johnson is wooden to a point of parody). Yummy Mendes is pretty (and pretty much wasted) as the love interest from his past who gives him a new lease on life. Wish the same could be said of the film itself.