Great? No. Entertaining? Yes.

Rating: 7/10 (6 March 2007)

I'll say this right from the start: Ghost Rider is in no way, shape or form a great motion picture. Still, I enjoyed it. I find that sometimes movies call for different approaches. Sometimes you have to take them for what they are, and this can help enhance the viewing experience. Case in point, I was not expecting much from Ghost Rider. I could tell from the trailers that it wasn't exactly going to be a masterpiece, but still I was hoping to find some redeeming qualities and I did.
As others have suggested, the acting is a bit iffy at best. Personally, I quite enjoyed Nicholas Cage as Johnny Blaze. He brings a sense of discovery to the role that works well. I also liked Peter Fonda as Mephistopheles. Yes, he's very understated and people have said that he seems bored, but honestly it worked for me because he comes off as a very cool customer and who's cooler than the devil himself? I'll also give props to Sam Elliott, who by this point is one of those actors who I think can do no wrong. It probably doesn't hurt that he basically plays the same character in every movie, but that's a moot point. On the other end of the spectrum, I was a bit disappointed with the casting of Wes Bentley. He just lacked any real menace. If it weren't for the CGI fangs they randomly added, I don't think there'd be much to fear at all. Likewise, Eva Mendes just seemed out of place. Don't get me wrong, she's a beautiful girl and her wardrobe throughout the film is certainly great (let's just say that her "girls" steal almost every scene she's in) but her acting chops aren't nearly as great as her cleavage.
All this aside, I don't think most people go to a comic book movie hoping for Oscar-caliber performances. They go to have a good time, and in this regard I think Ghost Rider delivers. After all, it's a movie that rather prominently features a flaming biker skeleton riding a demon motorcycle. If that's not cool, I don't know what is.