Nicholas Cage should go to Hell: Marvel does soul-less film

Rating: Null/10 (23 February 2007)

First off? The film gets a six, but Cage - who named himself after Marvel character "Luke Cage: Hero For Hire" - really only deserves a four for his appalling Elvis imitations as Johnny Blaze, who was blond: BTW! Next? Any Marvel fans who were looking for those Mike {Will Eisner-trained} Ploog-like cinematography and hoping to see the transition of Johnny Blaze's Faustian quest where he never really competed against his father (he wouldn't have sold his soul if he did not LOVE him, right?), then forget it, stop right here! Don't even bother reading the rest of this review - it's painful...
All I can say is, I am glad a friend paid for me to go - if I lost money on this dreck, then somebody's head would have to roll, or maybe I would start claiming souls myself...
Even in the X-Men trilogy, while it differed from the comics there was enough familiarity to draw readers along and enough excitement and drama to accept it as an alternate universe... Here? There was no such sexiness, not even Eva Mendes - who left me cold! As for Donal Logue, all he does is die in Marvel films, it's getting tired now! There was no Jesus-like character (as in the comic-book version) who showed Johnny how to seek redemption, it was not Mephistopheles (the Silver Surfer's true adversary) but Satan himself who trapped Johnny into co-existing with the demon Zarathos.
In the picture, Blaze is given Spawn-like powers; finite changes and a chain that extends or shortens on command and acts as a conduit for his Hellfire. In the comic, Hellfire just made you suffer, there was no Vision of Penance! Yes, there was a Ghost Rider in the days of the West, but he dressed in white and was not a bounty-hunter for Satan; there is no perpetual line of Ghost Riders in the same way Todd MacFarlane's (Hell-)Spawn has had generations before and after the current black hero...
I love Sam Elliott wherever he appears, but sadly his cameo here was wasted, I hope the money was good! As for Mephistopheles - the idea he had four rebellious sons was intriguing, but lasted too short and they were too easily vanquished, here was a marketing ploy gone to Hell... This could have made for at least two sequels if executed properly! The movie it seems, was just a way to test th extent of Marvel's team to use CGI, hope they can use it further to erase this movie and create a telescope to look for their souls - as this pic surely had none to sell or buy! I hope this film is cast to the inky depths of Tartarus or Elysium, where it belongs! http://bajanreporter.blogspot.com/