The Rider's out of Gas

Rating: 3/10 (17 February 2007)

This movie just wasn't given a chance, not by the public, but by the writer/director Mark Steven Johnson. As a fan of Ghost Rider for the past 17 years I full well know that some of the plot lines and back story of the old flame head in all of his incarnations have been pretty darn convoluted and borderline inept. But there is a great deal of quality material there. I'll admit I wanted to see the Rider rip through gangs of heavily armed mobsters and innumerable ninja. This is something he very much did not do.
Alas, comparison to the comic and what my dream movie would have been is not why I found the movie lacking. I understand that things need to be changed. Like I said, all the twisting stories of the Rider needed to be condensed and his whole reason for existence in the comic was quite suspect. The movie's idea that he was the devil's bounty hunter worked for me. I thought it pulled things together. In fact, there were a good number of things that worked for me. The special effects were amazing. They did a good job of bringing the blazing carnage to life. And the Rider looked great and they actually got his powers down quite well. I was impressed and pretty happy about that. Donal Logue and Sam Elliot bring more life to the two side characters of Mack and Caretaker than the script warranted, and that was very pleasing. The script itself.
The dialogue had its moments. When it was poking fun at itself or making a side joke it was great. It only failed when it was trying to be cool, which was most of the movie. It's easy to tell that Johnson is far more comfortable with the light and funny side of things. Most of what he's written have been warm family friendly movies (Grumpy and Grumpier Old Men, Simon Birch). When the action kicks in he just doesn't have what it takes. Of all the enemies that the Rider goes up against, we don't get one real fight. The rider's dialogue is weak at best, and when he's good Ole Johnny Blaze things get much worse. For some reason Cage decided that Blaze needed to be part Elvis. He had the point and even the "uh-huh". I was shocked we didn't see a hip gyration. Eva Mendes didn't do much more than look good in V neck shirts. Wes Bently, for being the son of Satan, I'm sorry, Mephistopheles, was made to look about as scary as an angsty teenager. And when he gets super powerful - his skin goes from pale to dark gray and he gets some wicked acne. Now that's intimidation. And Peter Fonda, well I think he just came to get a paycheck. An overall pervading sense through a lot of characters is that that had no range of motion. They will stand, bolt upright, 10-20 feet away from each other and hurl insults, swing a chain, twirl a chain, fights over. Blackheart touches people and they turn to husks.
Honestly, I wasn't expecting Spiderman, Batman Begins, or even the Fantastic Four. I would have been fine if it was just a dumb action flick like Daredevil or Punisher, but to be an action flick you need action, which this was lacking.