Morality Tale With Very Good Special Effects in Comic Book Form !, but lacks intensity !

Rating: 7/10 (21 February 2007)

From the confines of Marvel Comics comes the Tale of the Ghost Rider ! A young stunt driver in order to save his father from cancer, makes a pact with the Devil with tragic consequences . Taken from a form of Greek tragedy, with a no win situation ,Johnny Blaze(Nicholas Cage) becomes the Ghost Rider , at night or in the shadows when Evil is near ! O.K., so now we know some of the movie rules, on to the film.
Mephistopheles( Peter Fonda), takes control of the life of young Johnny Blaze(Matt Long), to use at a later date.
Years later, stunt driver Cage, who survives accidents et. al, meets up with his former love interest, Reporter Roxanne Simpson(Eva Mendes), whom he considers a positive sign that would give him a second chance in life...Could be...
Bad guys have surfaced from the Underworld , in this case demons ,Blackheart( Wes Bentley) has designs on recovering a stolen document that would give him control over a thousand souls, something of a down payment to get him started in taking over the entire world. His three cohorts, Gressil(Laurence Breuls), Wallow(Daniel Frederiksen), and Abigor(Mathew Wilkenson), each with their own unique power, take on the Ghost Rider for supremacy. This is when Blaze first turns into the Flaming Skulled Ghost Rider, plus Flaming Chopper . That being aside, Ghost Rider makes for an somewhat interesting and entertaining film, on a comic book level, this is NOT Shakespeare...
The biggest drawback of the film is it's inability to take the tension to the next level . But, the computer generated effects make up for some of that .
There is absolutely NO chemistry between the love interests, Eva Mendes and Nicholas Cage.....
So , throw in the mysterious Caretaker(Sam Elliott), and CGI effects, and the underplayed Johnny Blaze, and you have a FUN film, don't think it through..Beware of the "Penitant Stare !!!" I gave it a 6.5 to 7 out of 10, not Ben Hur, but worthwhile mind juice....
Recommended for ages 8 thru 14,it's a comic guy thing...