worth it for the special effects

Rating: Null/10 (13 June 2007)

Ghost Rider was an OK movie. I haven't read the comics but from the other reviewers who have read them, it sounds like it let the comic down. So I won't really go into that aspect of it then.
There were 2 main things that really drew me to this movie...the special effects and Sam Elliot as a grizzled old roughneck (just like Sergeant Major Plumley in We Were Soldiers) The graphics held my attention when Blaze became Ghost Rider and some aspects of the elementals were good. But the wussiness of the elementals detracted from the overall quality of the graphics. Now Sam Elliot. I really liked his performance in We Were Soldiers as SGM Plumley. It was pretty spot on for a grizzled, war-hardened infantry sergeant major, having been around them while in the military. When he revealed himself to be the Ghost Rider who stood up to the devil and rode off with Blaze, I was pretty excited to see him in another roughneck role where he just annihilates everyone. Sadly, I was let down by it but the graphics more than made up for it in the final sequence.
The acting was not the greatest at all. Nicholas Cage's humor was on sometimes but it was off more than it was on. His one-line remarks didn't live up to some of his previous good and cheesy one-liners in other movies (Con Air for example). Eva Mendes seemed more like eye candy than a viable role. The chemistry between them was off and it helped with the awkwardness in the beginning when they reunite and hurt it towards the end. The elementals were lame. I was more convinced they were just teenagers on an ego trip than they were all-powerful villains. Peter Fonda was flat in this performance. I do give him credit for playing the devil as more of a "wolf in sheep's clothing" than as the dark lord. And as stated above, Sam Elliot was by far the best actor in this film and did the best with his character.
Overall, graphics are good. Sam Elliot owns his role. The rest just slides by. So if you're looking to kill 2 hours, this is worth it for the graphics and Sam Elliot alone. Without those two, this isn't worth the plastic the DVD is made on.