Blog Monster Super Sunday Movie Review: Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (2007)
Directed by: Mark Steven Johnson
Written by: Mark Steven Johnson
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Peter Fonda, Eva Mendes, Wes Bentley, and Donal Logue
Production Company: Columbia Pictures Corporation, Vengeance Productions, Dimension Films, Marvel Enterprises, Crystal Sky Pictures, and Relativity Media
Another Marvel property has come out on film. I love Marvel Comics, but I worry that with all of these movies, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, The Punisher, Spider-Man, Hulk and all of their respective spin-offs and sequels, that they are flooding the market and the interest in superhero movies will be soon gone. I’ve enjoyed the majority of them, Hulk being an exception, and Elektra not being something I even want to see, but I know that most get mediocre reviews.
Ghost Rider has joined these other titles as the newest Marvel property adapted to film. As a long-term fan of Ghost Rider (Preferably Blaze, but Ketch was okay), I was excited and trepidatious. I mean, how could you do a bad Hulk, but they did, so there are no guarantees.
As usual, they spend too much time with the origin story. Bendisizing can be problematic in comics (If you’re not Bendis), but it’s a big mistake in an action film. Keyword: Action. It’s like movies have forgotten the literary convention of a flashback. Well, superhero movies. The great thing about the flashback is that you can get the same information across quicker. The characters are already established, so you focus on the events. In a movie, an ACTION movie, that leaves more opportunity for the ACTION.
Any movie based on a comic, I am compelled to analyze what they changed and why. In the comics, his father Barton was killed in a motorcycle accident and he was adopted by the owner of the stunt show for which Barton rode. It was his adoptive father, Crash Simpson, who was dying that brought Mephisto, although it wasn’t cancer, it was a rare blood disease. They streamlined his origin, one father instead of two, fair enough. I would argue that the previous death of his father is integral to the next phase in his origin, but I could see how that complicated a history would slow the movie down.
What was changed that I didn’t like is that in the comics Johnny, having an interest in the occult, summoned “the Devil,” really Mephisto. Mephisto didn’t just pop up with an offer, like Mephistopheles in the movie, and Johnny wasn’t tricked into making an agreement with him. Johnny was to blame for his Ghost Rider curse.
Other than the slow opening before we finally see the Ghost Rider and the alteration of Ghost Rider’s history such that Johnny Blaze was no longer to blame for his curse, it was a pretty good movie. Naturally, some great chase scenes with Ghost Rider on his bike. And Ghost Rider looked great! Blackheart wasn’t as interesting as he could have been, and it would have been cool if they went full horror and had him look more like his comic book version. Peter Fonda did a pretty good job as Mephistopheles, and because of the difference in name, I’m okay with the difference in character from his comic book counter part, Mephisto.
The script seemed a bit choppy, though. Ghost Rider’s first encounter with Blackheart seemed to come up out of nowhere. If they do a sequel, I hope they tighten their script and have more action. Sometimes a protagonist doesn’t need that much time on characterization.
Directed by: Mark Steven Johnson
Written by: Mark Steven Johnson
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Peter Fonda, Eva Mendes, Wes Bentley, and Donal Logue
Production Company: Columbia Pictures Corporation, Vengeance Productions, Dimension Films, Marvel Enterprises, Crystal Sky Pictures, and Relativity Media
Another Marvel property has come out on film. I love Marvel Comics, but I worry that with all of these movies, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, The Punisher, Spider-Man, Hulk and all of their respective spin-offs and sequels, that they are flooding the market and the interest in superhero movies will be soon gone. I’ve enjoyed the majority of them, Hulk being an exception, and Elektra not being something I even want to see, but I know that most get mediocre reviews.
Ghost Rider has joined these other titles as the newest Marvel property adapted to film. As a long-term fan of Ghost Rider (Preferably Blaze, but Ketch was okay), I was excited and trepidatious. I mean, how could you do a bad Hulk, but they did, so there are no guarantees.
As usual, they spend too much time with the origin story. Bendisizing can be problematic in comics (If you’re not Bendis), but it’s a big mistake in an action film. Keyword: Action. It’s like movies have forgotten the literary convention of a flashback. Well, superhero movies. The great thing about the flashback is that you can get the same information across quicker. The characters are already established, so you focus on the events. In a movie, an ACTION movie, that leaves more opportunity for the ACTION.
Any movie based on a comic, I am compelled to analyze what they changed and why. In the comics, his father Barton was killed in a motorcycle accident and he was adopted by the owner of the stunt show for which Barton rode. It was his adoptive father, Crash Simpson, who was dying that brought Mephisto, although it wasn’t cancer, it was a rare blood disease. They streamlined his origin, one father instead of two, fair enough. I would argue that the previous death of his father is integral to the next phase in his origin, but I could see how that complicated a history would slow the movie down.
What was changed that I didn’t like is that in the comics Johnny, having an interest in the occult, summoned “the Devil,” really Mephisto. Mephisto didn’t just pop up with an offer, like Mephistopheles in the movie, and Johnny wasn’t tricked into making an agreement with him. Johnny was to blame for his Ghost Rider curse.
Other than the slow opening before we finally see the Ghost Rider and the alteration of Ghost Rider’s history such that Johnny Blaze was no longer to blame for his curse, it was a pretty good movie. Naturally, some great chase scenes with Ghost Rider on his bike. And Ghost Rider looked great! Blackheart wasn’t as interesting as he could have been, and it would have been cool if they went full horror and had him look more like his comic book version. Peter Fonda did a pretty good job as Mephistopheles, and because of the difference in name, I’m okay with the difference in character from his comic book counter part, Mephisto.
The script seemed a bit choppy, though. Ghost Rider’s first encounter with Blackheart seemed to come up out of nowhere. If they do a sequel, I hope they tighten their script and have more action. Sometimes a protagonist doesn’t need that much time on characterization.
posted by Bodog at 9:45 PM
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