A Hater's Worst Nightmare...Because it is so GOOD!

Rating: 8/10 (24 February 2007)

Let me start with this, nobody looks like themselves in this movie, that I was initially stuck doing double takes before I could settle into the storyline. Peter Fonda playing Mephistopheles looked much like Jack Nicholson to me, Wes Bentley playing Blackheart looked very much like Joaquin Phoenix to me, plus it was so obvious that makeup was what was used to achieve the similarities between the young Roxanne Simpson & Johnny Blaze and the older ones but don't even get me started on how much Eva Mendes playing Roxanne Simpson looked and acted very much like an Uber bimbo version Jessica Simpson. Ugh!
Anywho, the films begin with the audience being clued in on the legend of the ghost rider, specifically the one who out ran the devil while unwilling to deliver a contract of tortured souls. Then the storyline fast forwards to the future and we are introduced to the love story between teenagers Johnny Blaze (played by Matt Long) and Roxanne Simpson (Raquel Alessi). Both of their fathers are against the relationship, with the former thinking that his daughter is too good for Johnny and the latter thinking that his son should forget what he terms a fleeting affair. But the teenagers are in love and decide to run away together the following day. That night, while Johnny is tidying up he finds a letter in the dustbin that reveals his father, Barton Blaze (played by Brett Cullen) has cancer. This upsets him and he decides go out and work off his energy on repairing his bike, he is doing this when a man (who turns out to be Mephistopheles) appears out of no where and begins to talk to him about his father's condition. Young Johnny is intrigued and inadvertently winds up signing his soul to the devil in exchange for his father's health. The next day, when he sees his father all hale and hearty, he realises that the night before hadn't been a dream but the reality really hits him when his father dies hours later and he (Johnny) is revisited by Mephistopheles who clues him in on what is to come. In rage, Johnny ditches Roxanne and runs away on his own and this is where Nicolas Cage's character takes over. In present day, Johnny Blaze is a very famous stuntman with a dark secret that hunts him every waking moment. Roxannne Simpson (now played by Eva Mendes doing a very bad spoof of Jessica Simpson) waltzes her way back into his life when he least expects it, as does Mephistopheles to stake his claim. Now Blaze has his hands full battling his feelings for Roxanne, his disgust for Mephistopheles and not the mention the legion of demons that accompany Mephistopheles's son and nemesis Blackheart (played by Wes Bentley). Donal Logue co-stars Blaze's best-friend and manager.
Watch it for the spectacular special effects, funny lines/comic relief, Cage's witty GR and Bentley's show-stopping Blackheart. I, for one doubted how they were going to bring the awesome comic book anti-hero to life but they made good on their promise to wow! us if you asked me. Only two things annoyed me in the entire film, Eve Mendes's Roxanne and the Old Ghost Rider (most of his lines were very lame) and his secret wasn't that much of a secret to me or much of the audience for that matter. That said, it's still pure entertainment, nothing more nothing less, I don't understand why people are acting as if this is the war in Iraq we're talking about here. If this film is not good enough entertainment or adaptation for you, then do us all a favour and make your own adaptation.