Ghost Rider (2007)

Ghost Rider (2007)

3/10

Starring

Nicolas Cage

Eva Mendes

Wes Bentley

Sam Elliott

Directed by Mark Steven Johnson

This movie lacks everything needed to make it good. Ghost Rider is a Marvel Comics superhero who gets his powers from making a deal with Mephisto. According to the comics, the first Ghost Rider was Carter Slade, and the second—the focus of this movie—is Johnny Blaze (played by Nicolas Cage).

This movie could have been amazing if they’d handed it over to a better writer and director. Instead, it’s loaded with lazy writing, nonsensical acting, plot holes everywhere, and characters who seem to figure things out with clairvoyant ease. The 2007 Ghost Rider movie is, frankly, a mess. When a movie has people solving mysteries left and right with everything falling into place for no apparent reason, it’s either lazy writing or bad editing. In this case, I believe it’s the former. The CGI at the time wasn’t mind-blowing, and Nicolas Cage wasn’t exactly convincing as a superhero. His portrayal of Johnny Blaze lacked conviction.

The director and writer of this movie is Mark Steven Johnson. If the name sounds familiar, he’s also the man behind the critically panned 2003 Daredevil starring Ben Affleck (he wrote and directed that one too). At this point, it’s clear Mark Steven Johnson has a lot to learn about making superhero movies.

The plot follows Johnny Blaze, who makes a deal with the devil (Mephisto) to save his father’s life. The deal goes sour when Mephisto kills his father anyway. Years later, Johnny becomes a celebrity stuntman known for his death-defying bike stunts. These stunts would have killed him, but thanks to his deal with Mephisto, he survives every crash—because he’s now the Ghost Rider.

One day, Blackheart arrives on Earth with one goal: to overthrow his father and become the ruler of hell by obtaining the Contract of San Venganza. This contract, which contains countless souls, was denied to Mephisto by Carter Slade, the first Ghost Rider, because it would make Mephisto all-powerful. Mephisto enlists Johnny to stop Blackheart, and the Ghost Rider spirit takes over, sending Johnny on a mission to hunt down Blackheart. Now, Johnny must learn to control the Ghost Rider while also stopping Blackheart. To make things worse, his old flame, Roxanne (played by Eva Mendes), gets caught in the crossfire between Blackheart and Johnny.

Everyone in this movie left me wondering why they took on their roles. If they weren’t ready to give it their all, why bother? Back then, Marvel needed money and sold the rights to their characters to just about anyone. This spread of rights across multiple studios led to movies like this one—many of which should never have been made