Plot holes and a poorly written story are slightly ameliorated by special effects and decent visuals.

Rating: 5/10 (6 April 2007)

Frankly, this movie left me slightly annoyed. I am not speaking as a fan or even a casual reader of the "Ghost Rider" comic books (I've never even seen one). I simply felt that the plot was poorly organized, unfocused, and fairly dumb. It wasn't a horrible story, just one that consistently fails to deliver on any of the expectations it creates. It feels almost as if "Ghost Rider" was filmed with an unfinished first draft of a script, or that half of the important scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.
The film is also hampered by what appears to be a complete lack of "rules" for the operation of the supernatural in the film's world. One minute demons are pronounced unable to walk on "consecrated ground", the next minute they're waltzing in and out of churches (this is only one of the most glaring inconsistencies; there are plenty of others). I'm not demanding that a movie depict demons accurately (since I must concede that real demons are probably not very visually interesting), but a little consistency would be nice. As a side note, I am getting a bit tired of movies that depict demons and the like, but don't bother depicting their logical counterparts, such as Angels. If there were no Angels, there could not be any demons.
On the plus side, the movie at least has decent visuals, and the atmosphere is sufficiently interesting to keep one looking at the screen. The special effects are nothing special in this world of CGI wonders, but neither are they laughably stupid. All in all, "Ghost Rider" is dull and idiotic, but it does not begin to plumb the depths of true cinematic awfulness (trust me on this one- I own "The Beast of Yucca Flats" on DVD). You probably have better things to do with your time, but there are also plenty of worse ways to spend it, I guess.