A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Ghost Rider

Date Viewed: 2/19/07

Details:

Peter Fonda

Nicolas Cage

Eva Mendes

Sam Elliott

Wes Bentley

Director: Mark Steven Johnson

Additional creature design: Crash McCreery

Score: 0

The Review: First, you need a gimmick. All God's superheroes gotta have a gimmick, little say a major demon like Mephistopheles (Fonda). Marvel Comics specialize in these gimmicks, so our Ghost Rider (Cage) has to be assigned something. Let's see..., how about a hot, flaming motorcycle that literally burns up the road and climbs tall buildings in a single growl? Not enough? How about the hero taking on a different look and feel for those times he's fighting evil? And what would be more appropriate for dark times, darker tasks and vengeance on the guilty? How about keeping the cool leather biker duds, but becoming an anonymous, spooky flaming skull and skeleton? Non-consumptive hell-fire. But, you ask, why is the demon's minion fighting evil? Just shut up and watch: don't sweat the details.

Second, you have Sam Elliott. You can't do better than Sam for good old gravel-voiced elegance, no matter the role -- here, he's Cage's predecessor, the previous Ghost Rider, but (alas) he only has a demon nag to ride. I'll watch most anything he's in, and he improves most anything he's involved with -- e.g., there were only two good things about 1989's Road House, and Sam Elliott was one (Kelly Lynch was the other (in her only role of note), an excellent reason for repeat viewing of an otherwise marginal film). Elliott is one of the main reasons I wanted to see Ghost Rider, although the SFX looked likely to be intriguing on its own.

Third..., well, there is no third. Political infighting among the demons doesn't translate into fascinating dialog; elementals are simply not believable as inherently evil; character definition at the beginning takes much too long; and the girlfriend (Mendes) is more than a bit too credulous. The second half is a wild ride, but not terribly cogent. About the only other thing to recommend it is Spiderbait's version of the traditional "Ghost Rider" cowboy ballad floating over the closing credits.

Much of it was filmed in Melbourne, Australia.

(23-Feb-07)

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