Ghost Rider (PG-13)
Mike:
Scott:
Scott: Tonight we are reviewing Ghost Rider
, the latest in a long line of movies based on Marvel comic book characters. This particular character has no skin and his skull is on fire and drives around on a flaming motorcycle.
What did you think Mike?
Mike: I was psyched that there was a new Marvel comic book movie coming out. Readers probably know that I am a comic collector. I think I now know why I don't collect Ghost Rider.
I was not impressed.
How about you?
Scott: I, too, have never been a fan of the comic book, but I was willing to give this the benefit of the doubt. The best way to describe how I felt was disappointed.
Mike: Like a lot of people, when I saw the trailer, I thought "Hey that looks pretty cool". Well looking cool doesn't help this movie.
Nicolas Cage stars as Johnny Blaze AKA Ghost Rider. The movie starts out okay with Blaze making a deal with the Devil to save his dying father.
Scott: Early in the movie, before he becomes the Ghost Rider, he does some weird pointing moves, it looked really strange. At that point, I started to worry about this movie.
Mike: It made us wonder is this action Nicolas or goofy Nicolas?
I think we got goofy Nicolas.
Scott: It was goofy St. Nick
Mike: Did you get a good look at his hair? Was that shoe polish?
Scott: I didn't get the hair either, maybe it was flame retardant or something.
Also, something that bothers me in movies like this, bad fact checkers. The distance between 2 goalposts on a football field is 120 yards or 360 feet, not 300 feet as they kept saying. I know it's not a big deal, but really, no one in the whole movie production knows how long a football field is?
Mike: Math nerd alert! That is probably the least of the problems with this movie.
I expected a lot of special effects in this movie, but like many recent movies, it became all special effects and no story.
Scott: The story is weak, but I think that reflects the Ghost Rider saga. It's somewhat like Spawn where Hell’s warrior is on Earth fighting bad guys. Although Ghost Rider is an older comic than Spawn, Spawn was released as a movie first. Oh, and Spawn had a cool motorcycle too.
Mike: This reminded me of other special effects movies that I did not enjoy like Van Helsing, Underworld 2, and Elektra. Elektra was made by the same director Mark Steven Johnson.
I think someone may have to take Mark's comic book film director's license away from him.
Scott: I was going to say, don't blame the director, blame the writer, but he wrote the thing too.
Mike: I admit that I enjoyed his first comic book effort, Daredevil. I know that it may not have been popular, but it was true to the Frank Miller and Kevin Smith Daredevil comics.
Scott: One bright spot in this movie, aside from Rider's flaming head, was Eva Mendes as Roxanne Simpson.
She didn't do a whole lot of acting, but she looked good on screen. And if you noticed her outfits, that seemed to be why she was on screen.
Mike: I have been an Eva Mendes fan since Training Day.
Scott: The romance between her and Nicolas Cage was ridiculous bordering on comical. Or maybe it's the other way around. Either way, it was almost painful to watch their interaction.
Mike: Other wasted actors include Peter Fonda as Mephistopheles AKA the Devil, Wes Bentley as his son Blackheart and Sam Elliott as the Caretaker.
They got Peter Fonda and they don't even let him ride a motorcycle? He's the Easy Rider for gosh sakes.
Scott: The problem was that everyone had bad characters. They made almost no sense. They would do things on screen that would leave you shaking your head in confusion.
I was trying to place Wes Bentley and I couldn't until now. He was in The Four Feathers with Heath Ledger. That wasn't a bad movie.
Mike: Wes' big role was in American Beauty. No one can fall in love with a plastic bag like that guy.
Scott: Yeah, but that was so long ago. I watched Four Feathers recently.
Mike: Oh yes all the way back to 1999. Can you say Best Picture?
Ask me how much I cringed when they had the guts to play Ghost Riders in the Sky.
No, seriously ask me.
Scott: How much did you cringe?
Mike: I'm glad you asked. It was a lot.
It’s so cheesy it made me laugh out loud.
Scott: That was one of the two songs that made no sense. Who sang the other song?
Mike: Other song?
Scott: You don't remember, Blaze loved it?
Mike: Oh yes, The Carpenters. They must have played Superstar at least three times.
I think it was supposed to be funny, but....
Scott: I have to ask, who uses the Carpenters to get psyched about a dare devil motorcycle stunt?
Mike: I have to mention, that the young Johnny Blaze is played by Matt Long, who played Jack McAllister on the way underrated Jack and Bobby TV show.
Please tell me who is supposed to believe that this handsome young guy grows up to be Nicolas Cage? Not even close. Maybe that is the cost of making a deal with the Devil?
Scott: Cage looks about 50 when we first meet him, way older than his high school sweetheart
Mike: Hold on a minute Nicolas Cage is my age and that is definitely not 50. Not yet anyway.
Scott: He looks way older than you.
Mike: Thank you, I feel better now.
Scott: Raquel Alessi plays a young Roxanne Simpson and actually looks like I would imagine Eva Mendes looked like at that age.
Mike: That I agree with.
Scott: So what do you rate this?
Mike: I give this a 2 overall and a 1.5 for comic book movie.
What do you rate this?
Scott: I give this a 1.5 overall and a 1 for comic book movie. I have never been so bored in a comic book action movie before.
Mike: I have it was called Elektra.
Scott: You might want to stay home and watch Ghost Whisperer and leave Ghost Rider alone.
