Ghost Rider

Post by **Clay** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:10 am

Saw this last night with a friend at his proposition.

It's bad, oh is it bad... but it's the fun bad that I enjoy. Wouldn't pay to see it again, but would watch it on the TV if there's not anything else on.

Also, Eva Mendez makes me want to keep taking Spanish classes.

Anyone else want to admit to seeing this?

Notabot · Post by **Notabot** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:53 am

I haven't seen it, won't pay full price for it, but your review sounds about like what I was expecting. Lotsa 'splosions, fire, and "Cooool" stuff, but not much more. I still question Nicholas Cage as any sort of action star. I would have gone with someone who had... emotions. He's just so stiff in everything he does. Maybe in the cheap theaters!

DrSpengler · Post by **DrSpengler** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 3:38 am

Ravage · Post by **Ravage** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 3:40 am

I had to cut out before the end credits did they do the usual Marvel little snippet after the credits were over?

Sir Auros · Post by **Sir Auros** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 12:38 am

I'm going to see it as soon as I get the chance. I know it's not going to be great, but I'll probably enjoy it for what it is and you just can't argue with the character designs.

Yeah, I'll see a crappy movie like Ghost Rider because of the art direction, but will avoid Transformers (even if it has brilliant acting) because of the ****ass****ing designs.

Notabot · Post by **Notabot** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 4:25 am

Did the Henry Rollins song "Ghost Rider" make the soundtrack?
"Baby, baby, baby, baby, he's lookin' so cute
Ridin' around in his blue jump suit- yeah!"

Post by **Sades** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 7:39 am

Dire.

My b/f made the mistake of going into this film with expectations. I went in... well, I was expecting at the very least some decent special effects. I wasn't overly impressed, though the bikes were cool.

Nic Cage was disappointing in his appointed role of Nic Cage ON FIYAHHHHH Pretending To Be Cool. I give props to his costar however, and I don't mean Eva Mendez... I'm talking about Nic's toupee. Eva Mendez= hot, but imo she's a horrible actress. Or maybe it was just the dialogue and narrow character she was given, I dunno...

Did anyone else find the fact that the sweet little brown-eyed caucasian girl grew up to be a latina hottie a bit funny?

On the plus side, we had a good time ripping it apart at dinner afterwards.

Heinrad · Post by **Heinrad** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 11:51 pm

I want to see it. Do we have any idea if we're looking at Zarathos(logical since this is Johnny Blaze we're talking about here), of is this the Noble Kale Ghost Rider with the Big Z's look?

I'm hoping for Zarathos, myself. Anybody who can shoot streams of soul burning Hellfire from their hands is OK in my book.

Vin Ghostal · Post by **Vin Ghostal** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 12:10 am

Man, I thought this was gonna be about me...

Ozz · Post by **Ozz** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:33 am

Fun in most places, painfully terrible in places when it tried to be serious. Overall I don't regret a bit that I went and saw it.

Originally posted by Heinrad
Do we have any idea if we're looking at Zarathos(logical since this is Johnny Blaze we're talking about here), of is this the Noble Kale Ghost Rider with the Big Z's look?

It wasn't specifiacally mentioned, but since he's the Devil's Inforcer it can be assumed it's the former.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 2:14 pm

Originally posted by Vin Ghostal
Man, I thought this was gonna be about me...

Do you like to ride?

After The Wicker Man setting fire to Nick Cage is to good for him.

Hawkeye · Post by **Hawkeye** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 1:59 am

yeah nic cage was predictably terrible....and they poured on teh cheese but the rider himself was cool. turning off the brain is a requirement but more mindless action instead of what passes for drama would have actually been a good thing.

Ackula · Post by **Ackula** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:01 am

I've been a huge Ghostrider fan since I was in 3rd grade or so. I have tons of comics and collectibles of the Rider. I waited soooo long for this movie to finally happen. I was really excited to see the movie even though I knew of all the liberties they took with the story, and all the problems in the storyline and casting.

But...after seeing it I have to say its pretty dang good all in all. There were moments of cheese...and it does stray ALOT from the comics but it is very satisfying in my eyes.

I mean in all seriousness its hard to take decades of story lines and somehow condense them into a 2 hour movie. I feel like they did as good as a job as they could have done. The only thing I really would have liekd to seen different is more focus on the Rider punishing typical criminals instead of duking it out with some of Blackhearts lackies. I also would have preffered almost anyone else playing the part of Blackheart..and a more comic look to the character..at least during the big final scene when he gets really powered up..but hey..what can you do?

And in regards to is this Zarathos or Noble Kale...it never says..and it looks to be more of a combination of the two sort of like in the most recent comic series. But my bet is that if there is a sequel..the angle will be that it is Zarathos and we will see a Nick Cage forced to battle the demon internally as he struggles with losing control of the Rider and becoming more and more violent/destructive. At least I hope

Hawkeye · Post by **Hawkeye** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 9:07 pm

come on now this isnt as good as it could have been.

for starters nicholas cage-rider decides on his own that he is a "spirit of vengeance" rather than him actually being a spirit of vengeance.

the devil was waaaaaaaay to nice...actually offering to take away the curse....comic mephisto will always manipulate and screw you over (but that doesnt give a happy ending)

blackheart and company are what internet matrix goths think badass looks like. It would have been way more awesome if those bikers beat the hell out of blackheart for dressing like a pussy.

there was no conflict or even recognition that ghost rider was a seperate entity. he just did exactly what cage wanted and could be turned on and off at will. while a movie does not have to be exactly like a comic (because to insist otherwise treads the slippery shoals of fanboyism), it made ghost rider alot less interesting as a character.

it just didnt seem like a curse if he could "learn to control it" iI like the dan ketch idea of "whenever innocent blood is spilled" because it gives him the added problem that he will always be too late to save someone and can only avenge them.

I think the main problem was that movie studios only see superhero flics as summer blockbuster types and not as anything else. ghost rider really needed to be told in a more R rated horror sort of frame to do it justice but that wouldnt appeal to as mass a market.

Ackula · Post by **Ackula** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 3:44 am

Originally posted by Hawkeye

there was no conflict or even recognition that ghost rider was a seperate entity. he just did exactly what cage wanted and could be turned on and off at will.

it just didnt seem like a curse if he could "learn to control it" iI like the dan ketch idea of "whenever innocent blood is spilled" because it gives him the added problem that he will always be too late to save someone and can only avenge them.

This is exactly how the original Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider was in the comic for at least the first 20 issues of the original series and all of the Marvel Spotlight appearances. Blaze could control it and do exactly as he wanted. Initially he turned into Ghost Rider only at night ala a werewolf..and about 10 issues or so inward he started changing in the pressence of "evil" like in the movie.

So it's really accurate to the original series and the Johnny Blaze character in that respect. It wasn't till near the end of the original series run that the whole concept of Zarathos was introduced and Blaze started losing control of the power.

I'm really just guesstimating about how many issues inward on all this..but I can verify it for sure later...I have almost the whole run of the first series. Anyways my point is that the movie was actually prety faithful in alot of respects to the original series and original Blaze character.

Hawkeye · Post by **Hawkeye** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:45 pm

thats kind of irrelevant really though usually they are trying for an iconic representation rather than first impression. hence superman not throwing slumlords off buildings and flying rather than leaping tall buildings. also considering the look of the character they were going for a melding of the two personas.

anyway I criticize the lack of conflict as it makes a less interesting movie. they describe it as the "curse of the ghost rider" in the movie yet there isnt anything present that makes me beleive that it is anymore a curse than the human torch. usually curses have downsides. if he is in complete control of a gift from satan than it tells me they arent trying.

it doesnt matter that the first issues were not like that as a possesed ghost rider is what became known in cannon and is about as iconic as things get in GR. They will most likely not get to make a sequel so not including it is a mistake as it would have undoubtably made the movie more interesting. this has as much chance for a sequel as the rumoured daredevil and punisher sequels.

tahukanuva · Post by **tahukanuva** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:08 am

Just got back from seeing it.

It was a pretty good film, with some pretty big faults, such as Blackheart's terrible dialogue, and the fact that the lesser demons

SPOILER! (select to read)
all died like total gimps.

All in all a pretty good movie, though I agree with Hawkeye, Mephisto was very out of character. And I have to disagree with Johnny at the end, Eve Mendez > being flaming skeleton.

Shockmeister · Post by **Shockmeister** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:52 am

Originally posted by Hawkeye
there was no even recognition that ghost rider was a seperate entity.

Other than the fact that he acts in a completely different way from how Johnny does? With the cackling and all?

Personally, I enjoyed this a whole lot. Granted, it's had flaws, most of which have been brought up already - cheesy dialogue, wimpy villains, fights too short. That said, I'm more tolerant of the dialogue because, to me, it fits the heightened-reality world of the film; it doesn't seem to take place entirely in the real world, what with all those shots of impossibly bleak deserts and things, so goes into a kind of fantasy universe where people saying things like "I'll go where the road takes me" seems natural. (God, I hope that doesn't count as a spoiler)

Plus, I laughed. A lot. And it was 'laughing with' rather than 'at', thankfully.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:23 pm

... was Nic Cage deliberately playing Johnny Blaze like he was... well... retarded?

The more I think about it, the less it makes sense... so I've decided to stop thinking about it.

Hawkeye · Post by **Hawkeye** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:49 pm

Originally posted by Shockmeister
Other than the fact that he acts in a completely different way from how Johnny does? With the cackling and all?

Personally, I enjoyed this a whole lot. Granted, it's had flaws, most of which have been brought up already - cheesy dialogue, wimpy villains, fights too short. That said, I'm more tolerant of the dialogue because, to me, it fits the heightened-reality world of the film; it doesn't seem to take place entirely in the real world, what with all those shots of impossibly bleak deserts and things, so goes into a kind of fantasy universe where people saying things like "I'll go where the road takes me" seems natural. (God, I hope that doesn't count as a spoiler)

Plus, I laughed. A lot. And it was 'laughing with' rather than 'at', thankfully.

but he still did exactly the same things cage did and there wasnt really any kind of conflict of interest. he cackled a bit but he still turned it on and off like a flashlight seamlessly without the confusion that a character switch would entail.