Ghost Rider: Review By mattsheehan

When I first saw the trailer for "Ghost Rider," I thought that this could be a new direction for comic book movies. The preview gave a sense of foreboding melancholy that could be twisted, dark and provoking.

Instead, all I felt was boredom.

When he was younger, Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) made a deal with the devil-literally-to save his dying father. In exchange for his father's well-being, Blaze would have to serve Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) when called upon to become the new Ghost Rider, a bounty hunter that transports the souls of the evil to the dominion of hell.

Then, Mephistopheles' son, Blackheart (Wes Bentley) starts to stir up trouble, upsetting his father. Mephistopheles decides its time to call upon Blaze to wrangle in his problem child.

Figuring into the equation is Blaze's longtime love Roxanne (Eva Mendes), who Blaze swore off to protect her from Mephistopheles.

Okay, lets get this out of the way. I was bored watching this. There is nothing moving or startling that we haven't seen in comic book movies before. The plot itself is reminiscent of "Spider-Man 2."

Nicolas Cage, while great and creepy in some performances, had the perfect opportunity to let loose here but is confined to a kiddie-friendly fare. I mean, why should this be kid friendly when he's Hell's bail bondsman? And when he turns into the Rider, his deep, raspy and rumbling voice doesn't scare me. I chuckled a few times and may have actually broke into full-out laughter if anymore was in the movie.

Eva Mendes is wasted here; she is nothing more than something to look at-and for that I commend the filmmakers choice. However, underneath her beauty she is viably talented but is completely underutilized in this.

And what the hell are Sam Elliot and Fonda doing in this. I can understand Elliot having to choose films that will pay the mortgage, but for Pete's sake (pun intended) Mr. Fonda-your father was in "The Grapes of Wrath" and "12 Angry Men!"

I will give the film one commendation: the CGI visual effects used to create Cage's transformation into the Rider are very well done. Too bad the movie's release date that was pushed from November to February wasn't for the actual story.

Cage is an admitted comic book geek; after all, he changed his name from Nicolas Coppola (his uncle is famed "Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola) to Nicolas Cage, picking the last name of superhero Luke Cage. He's also gone on record saying he had sold off all his comics.

I guess he should've saved them and read up on the part.