Sunday Bloody Sunday

Rating: 4/10 (17 April 2011)

In at least a better world (asking for a perfect one would be foolish), my 200th review would be for a movie that is both a very good one *and* a favorite of mine. However, ours is a world where too many "reviewers" don't seem to grasp the concept of objectivity and also a world, where, for a good while now, a certain broadcaster here has deemed it a great idea to offer to us on Sundays movies that, at best, are mediocre: moving backwards, I've had to endure Four Brothers, Iron Man (the one exception to the rule), The Sentinel, Spider-Man 3, Wild Hogs, Sex and the City, Twilight, Pretty Woman, Reign Over Me, Righteous Kill, Fun with Dick and Jane. Well, at least they help to remember what good movies are like...
There is a fundamental flaw in Ghost Rider the Movie that makes it a significant movie, especially as the flaw has become an alarmingly recurring one among movies released since - but to a lesser extent already existed before - 2007: The misjudged Must Be PG-13 Clause. Like Die Hard 4: We Can't Decide on the Subtitle. Movies about subject matter, that, by definition, *demands* to be made into an R-rated movie. Remember how *good* the R-rated Blade was in 1998? (A 7/10 *is* good, 8/10 is great.) Now imagine if it had been PG-13 and you're close to what Ghost Rider the Movie is like. For example, the transformation into Ghost Rider is supposed to be horrific and messy. Here all the R-rated stuff like flesh *really* burning and peeling off has been left out. The Penance Stare is supposed to be hellishly torturous: here we see only its aftereffects.
One could list all the common flaws that would limit this movie to a maximum of 7/10 even if this were R-rated, but it'd be pointless because of that fundamental core flaw. In this sorry 4/10 mess there are moments of brilliance that hint at a movie that could have been: The very good CGI, the use of *that* song at just the right moment (NOT the crap version during end credits), the skyscraper scenes, and naturally, Peter Fonda and Sam Elliott. Well, on some parallel Earth maybe.
At the time of writing, there were 644 pre-existing reviews of this movie. It would be at least ironic were the total number to rise to 666 *and* stop there...