Burn Baby Burn!

Rating: 3/10 (28 September 2007)

GHOST RIDER is another of the comic-book-to-film ideas that cinema audiences have been inundated with as of late. BATMAN, SPIDERMAN, SUPERMAN, THE HULK, have all made it from the graphic childhood page to celluloid, and some of them have done it well. But Ghost Rider sputters and dies.
The most "inflaming" issue for me was Nicholas Cage (THE WICKER MAN). He's, what, 43 years old? And he's playing an Evel Knievel-esquire, motocyclying hotshot who jumps everything from cars to spinning helicopter blades? Puhleease! He's getting too old for these roles and it's showing. Someone younger and with a cockier attitude could've pulled of a much more believable Johnny Blaze (perhaps Heath Ledger?) The love interest of Roxanne Simpson played by the exotically pretty Eva Mendes was nice to look at, but stood out as a mere cardboard character delivering unbelievably clichéd lines. Other than showing off her constant cleavage, she didn't hold any acting power.
Peter Fonda as Satan (aka Mephistopheles) was okay but he's seen so little that we don't really give a "damn" about him.
The over-the-top evilness of Satan's son Blackheart (Wes Bentley) was weak and his motives never fully explained (other than he wanted to have a "Hell on Earth" via a forbidden city that is likewise never explained at all).
My only soft spots for the film were the wickedly awesome bikes, the laughable (and appropriately so) Ghost Rider CGI moments, and Sam Elliott's intoxicating narrative. I've always enjoyed listening to Elliott's voice  it's syrupy smooth and deep baritone was a great dichotomy against an ancient tale turned modern.
But the film as a whole is exceptionally weak. The love story feels and looks forced (again, Cage is just too old for someone the likes  and looks  of Mendes), the character's interactions are whisked aside in favor of action that isn't explained, and those characters that are interesting are given so little screen time that we just don't care about the story at all.
Aside from the cool motorcycles and Sam Elliott's voice, this one should have you burning rubber back to your local video store in order to return it as soon as possible!