Mark Steven Johnson, a new genre awaits...

Rating: 2/10 (7 March 2007)

Comedy!! Ditch all this superhero adaptation stuff, and give us a Todd Phillips-style no-brainer giggle-fest! Seriously, this movie is often hilarious, in ways that make you unsure if he considered the darkness and tone of the source material. Actually, no, allow me to restate that point: it seems like he has read the source material, and only the first, oh, ten or so years of the title. I've read a lot of GR, and one thing that jumped out at me was that this film was almost exactly like an old seventies issue, crappy dialogue, over-melodramatics and all. Case in point: in the book, when Johnny becomes the Rider for the second time, he speaks in thought: "OH NO... I CAN FEEL IT TAKING OVER... CANNOT STOP... NOW, I AM THE RIDER AGAIN!!". People who've seen this film will understand what I mean. It appears as though there's been no attempt to seriously adapt the book; it's more of a straight-up transition, and a terrible one at that. The fact that Nicolas Cage wrote portions of the script makes a LOT of sense, as the man's never tried harder at playing the "tortured hero" role.
Basically, this had potential to be something awesome: one-part Blade, mixed with a little bit of Constantine, would've rocked. What we get is one-part Van Helsing, one-part LXG, and a whole lot of stupidity. The Rider is fun to watch in action, and is hands-down probably one of the coolest-looking characters to come out of the Marvel stable, yet the brief scenes when he does hold screen are handled too flashily and quickly. Wes Bentley is terrible (for a menacing, powerful demon, he's neither very menacing nor very powerful), and one can almost see Eva Mendes trying to get through her scenes, and to her paycheck, as fast as possible. And Sam Elliot... he's easily the best actor in the film (close second is Peter Fonda, who wisely chose the role with the least screen time), and it doesn't say much for the rest of the cast that he gets to waste his talent delivering such gems as "Any man who sells his soul for love has the power to change the world". Even Donal Logue, usually a guilty pleasure to watch in crap films, is risible.
So, on the whole: great potential, hopeless execution. And the fact that audiences have jumped on it like a dog on a bone will almost certainly ensure that we'll have to endure a sequel.
It's almost enough to make you yearn for another Daredevil. Almost.