Terribly underrated

Rating: 8/10 (12 May 2018)

"Ghost Rider" has very low ratings and reputation of one of the worst Marvel movies, and it slowly starts to worry me that this is an increasingly common case with my favorite movies. I'm watching Marvel chronologically, and of the 24 films and series I've seen so far, this one is in my top 5. I can not say I'm amazed, but it was close enough.
The story is one of the most powerful in the Marvel universe, and a dark and fairly serious atmosphere is more in the spirit of DC than Marvel. Considering one of the lowest budgets in the genre, the film is very well done and I have no objections from the technical side. An excellent balance of action, drama and humor, which is rare in Marvel films, keeps the attention from start to finish and, if you are a more careful observer or you watch it several times, you will notice a lot of interesting details. There are Bible quotes, characters borrowed from other Marvel stories, references to "Apocalypse Now" (a film directed by Nikoilas' uncle), scenes made as a homage to painters and all sorts of interesting stuff.
It is interesting fact that Nicolas Cage is a big fan of comics, especially this one, so he fought tooth and nail to get this role, and even has a tattoo of Ghost Rider that they had to hide when shooting. He is such a fan(atic) that he took his stage name from comic character Luke Cage, and he named his son Kal-El after Superman. Director does not fall far behind Cage, because he gave money from his pocket for shooting some of the scenes that the studio didn't approve. All in all, this is the movie that true lovers of comics made from the heart, and it's really sad that it is so badly (un)accepted by the audience and criticism. I rate it strong eight.
8/10