"Raise no more devils than you can lay down!"

Rating: 7/10 (16 July 2007)

You know how you can watch a super hero flick and be disappointed over how cheesy the hero's powers looked? At least with "Ghost Rider", you get the real deal. The CGI effects could not have been better to capture one's imagination of how the Marvel comic character should appear on the big screen. That goes for both the 'modern' motorcycle riding Ghost Rider and the original Western hero created by writer Dick Ayers. As for the story, it's a somewhat clichéd premise that fortunately doesn't put the entire world at risk, only a small town known as San Venganza whose souls are held captive by the devil's contract and are fervently sought by the son of Mephistopheles. Through it all, you'll get some mileage out of a device known as the Penance Stare, and one liners that would do a comic book proud, like the Caretaker (Sam Elliott) to Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) - "Congratulations, your chances just went from none to slim".
Apparently, Cage may have gotten in just under the wire as a super hero, as his age is starting to show. He actually takes his name from a Marvel second stringer called Luke Cage, but don't hold your breath for a movie about that character. His is an imposing task as the devil's bounty hunter, and he comes out on top using the old blood of the innocents trick to defeat his nemesis Blackheart (Wes Bentley). But geez, didn't it seem like it was just a bit too easy?
For my money, Sam Elliott steals the show as Carter Slade, the first incarnation of the Ghost Rider, though it's never reconciled how he and Johnny co-exist together, but that's not too important. Watch this one with no more investment than a couple of hours to kill and an escapist mentality. With Eva Mendes on hand as the Rider's romantic interest, I kept humming one of Johnny Cash's trademark songs to myself as the story progressed - 'Love is a burning thing...'