Let me just start off by saying this is NOT a movie I wanted to watch (again)! We’ve been running our podcast for a little while now and have been lucky enough to have had a pretty solid run of MCU content to review each week. Alas, the streak had to be broken at some point and last week was when it finally happened. With no new Marvel content to review and Invincible having wrapped up on Prime Video, we decided (after many suggestions) to do our first “bad movie review”. Rather than pick something that was ‘not that bad’, we thought we’d put it to a vote and asked our listeners to decide what we should watch instead. The options were Fant4stic, Green Lantern, Cat Woman and Ghost Rider. We were dreading Ghost Rider or Cat Woman winning as neither myself or my co-host had fond memories of either. Unsurprisingly, we were pretty gutted when Ghost Rider came out on top. BUT...I’m so glad it did!
The movie obviously stars Nic Cage in the lead of role of Johnny Blaze AKA Ghost Rider, with “memorable” supporting performances from Eva Mendes, Sam Elliott, Peter Fonda, Donal Logue and Wes Bentley but they aren’t exactly memorable for the right reasons. The film was written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson whose previous credits include Daredevil (yes THAT one) and Elektra. The movie revolves around Cage’s character being duped into selling his soul to Peter Fonda’s Mephistopheles (the Devil) and inadvertently becoming the Ghost Rider - the Devil’s bounty hunter! Hilarity unintentionally ensues when Johnny is tasked with chasing down the Devil’s son, who is trying to bring about Hell on earth, in return for his soul back.
So what did we think of the movie? Well, it depends how you go in to it and what you want from the movie as a viewer.
I originally watched this on a flight back in 2007 and while I clearly hadn’t gone out of my way to watch it (I was going on holiday - I hadn’t paid for a transatlantic flight JUST to watch this movie) I still had relatively high expectations. The movie released when ‘comic book movies’ where still relatively new, at least in their current incarnation. I’d loved the Raimi Spider-Man movies and the X-Men movies but this was just...BAD. It was cheesy, the CGI was’t great and Nic Cage was 100% phoning it in. Don’t get me wrong, this was STILL my opinion. Nothing had changed with the film itself BUT my expectations had! Going in to the film now, with the opinion that it was gonna be a tough watch actually made it all the more enjoyable. From the deformed ‘MARVEL’ logo at the start of the movie, right up to Nic Cage’s dodgy eyebrow raise before the end-credits rolled, this movie was tough to take seriously at any point. However, the more I watched it the more I questioned what this movie was actually SUPPOSED to be...
Nic Cage’s performance leaves a lot to be desired. Not because he can’t act but instead because it really feels like he doesn’t want to be there. His whole presence throughout the film is very weird and amusing but it doesn’t ever feel like it was entirely intentional. Donal Logue’s character is more-so supposed to be the comic-relief/best buddy but he honestly seems to give one of the more serious performances of the movie. The rest of the supporting cast is a bit of a mixed bag with most delivering not great performances but clearly doing the best they can with the script they’ve been given. As for the story itself, it’s your standard “good guy stops the bad guy getting the MacGuffin” and as such isn’t very memorable. Watching this movie as a serious comic book movie will definitely leave you with a feeling of disappointment and asking yourself why on earth you just wasted almost 2 hours of your life on it.
However, in today’s world of ‘mainstream’ superhero movies and ‘gritty’ comic book TV shows, I think that this has to be viewed now as more of a spoof or parody. What’s more, if you watch it with this mindset it actually ain’t half bad! Well...no, it’s still bad but I bet you’ll enjoy it more. Nic Cage’s eccentric performance will have you chuckling pretty much every time he’s on screen. Some of the CGI crosses that line where it’s actually quite funny to watch, particularly when we first meet ‘The Hidden’. What’s more, some of the choices Johnson makes with his direction and writing will have you laughing out loud throughout.
So, I set you the challenge - give Ghost Rider a second chance or a first chance if you’ve never seen it before. Don’t take it too seriously and you might just end up enjoying yourself!
Once you’ve (re)watched it you can check out our full break down of the movie on‘That Superhero Thing’ podcast.