Mildly entertaining, this is not among the best of comic book adaptations

Rating: Null/10 (9 March 2007)

Assembling a good assortment of characters  devilish father and more devilish, icy son, three diabolic sidekicks embodying the elements of earth, wind and water, two generations of fiery, demon-hunting ghost riders  this movie should have been better. It's at about 15 minutes into the movie when I started to get the feeling that this one is not going to make the grade after all. Even Peter Fonda cannot salvage the lame script that tells of a Mephistopheles who tricks the protagonist into signing one of those soul-selling contracts by curing his father's cancer and then killing the old man through an accident. No classy devil will stoop that low. The movie makers obviously don't know that meanness doesn't a good villain make. A good, classy villain needs respectability.
Equally disappointing are the three sidekicks - Gressil, Wallow and Abigor. We don't expect them to be exceptionally impressive as we know that they are only warm up shows. But neither should they get away with such banal sloppiness. But the GCI is at least mildly interesting, to be fair.
A little better is Wes Bentley (remember the creepy kid with a movie camera in "American Beauty"?) who plays Mephistopheles' rebellious son Blackheart. While the character is rather standard, his icy coldness is quite cool, if you know what I mean.
While predictable, the materializing of the previous ghost rider is quite delightful. This is, according to legend, the previous ghost rider who dared to disappear with an important contract, resulting in both villains, father and son, hot on his pursuit. This is where the current ghost rider comes in, a daredevil biker called Johnny Balze (modeled after Evel Kineval), played by one who may be the reason that brought you to this movie, Nicolas Cage.
Some movie critics seem to be uncomfortable with the mixing of Biblical reference with comic book character action flicks. To audience of secular cultures, these Biblical reference ("my name is legion") are no more meaningful than Greek, Nordic or Chinese mythology or even J.R.R.'s Middle Earth.
One last thing  the use of the Carpenter's music is welcomed. The invoking of the melancholic opening of "Superstar" at the scene that introduces us to Blaze's lair is strangely nostalgic and affecting.