Not your average "comic book" movie (mild spoilers)

Rating: 7/10 (17 February 2007)

Admittedly I'm an avid viewer of movies based on comics, having grown up in a house where comics were my brothers' major source of reading. Considering the comic at hand, I was afraid that this would be a sad addition to quite an impressive repertoire of Marvel Comic based films.
I couldn't be more wrong. The impression you get when the movie starts is a big question mark; and not in the good way. But once the ball starts rolling, you become very intrigued with the path that the movie might take, and where Nick's character will go.
Brilliant casting was done to this film, particularly with Sam Elliot; Wes Bentley; Peter Fonda; and most definitely Nicolas Cage, who brings such fire---no pun intended---into Johnny Blaze that you wonder what he'll experience in the next scene.
There's more to this movie than action hero in spandex with personal troubles. This is an Evel Knievel hero in a leather jacket with paranormal problems. It's not the typical Marvel movie that's meant for Stan Lee fans (who doesn't make his usual Marvel film cameo), but it can also be for those into cult and fantasy genre movies due to the fascinating demonic themes.
A high positive in this movie is the eye candy; in more ways than one. Yes, we all know about Eva Mendes (who I honestly think the movie would have gone better without maybe), and there are certainly some pretty good looking men to stare at (Nicolas Cage in leather pants), but the CGI is most definitely visually appealing. It perhaps can seem a bit overwhelming at times, but with the way it's utilized is a big contributing factor to the picture's greatness.
I would most certainly recommend this movie to someone, especially if you're craving a comic book movie that isn't so cookie-cutter.
7/10.