(2007)
My Rating: 3 Stars
Nicholas Cage
Pete Fonda
Sam Elliot
Eva Mendes
Wes Bentley
I rented this film because it has Nicholas Cage on it. But I must say that the best thing about this movie was Sam Elliot. :-)
Summary:
Johnny Blaze (Matt Long/Nicholas Cage) and his father (Brett Cullen) were motorcycle stunt-men. They had been following and working in the carnival for years together, winning many awards for their stunts. Life was a one long adventure in one city after another; fiery hoops and glowing praise and monotony. Then Johnny met Roxanne. She was the love of his life; there was no doubt.
The course of true love is rarely smooth: Roxy's father proclaimed that young motorcycle stuntman wasn't good enough for his daughter and made plans to take her out of Johnny's life forever. But he didn't know his daughter's will. The couple made plans to elope and would have gone through with it... if something hadn't happened first.
Johnny discovers that his father, the invincible Barton Blaze, has cancer... in fact, is dying. Johnny realizes suddenly how much his father means to him and as he angrily works his grief out on his bike, he wishes with every ounce of his being that he could help his father.
With that wish, the devil shows up. Of course, Johnny doesn't realize that the middle-aged man using a cane is actually the man from hell, so when he offers to heal Barton Blaze using Johnny's soul as payment, Johnny agrees to the bargain. The next morning, Johnny's father is in perfect health. If it hadn't been for that, Johnny would have thought the last evening's proceedings a dream. A dream that turned into a nightmare: an accident that never should have happened; his father's still body; evil laughter filling the carnival tent. Hours later, Johnny meets the devil on the road and is told that nothing must come in between them and their contract: no family, no loved ones. He works for the devil now.
But little did either of them know... when someone gives up their soul for love instead of selfishness and greed, the curse becomes their power.
What I Liked:
1: The devil is shown to be almost as evil as he truly is. It makes the viewer realize that he is nothing to laugh at.
2: The acting was fairly well done.
3: Very little bad language.
4: There was some boy/girl stuff but they kept it clean. It was refreshing that way.
5: The legend/Sam Elliot. Nicely done... I enjoy both.
6: The humor. There are times that I actually snickered. “Call me old-fashioned, I'm funny that way. Human sacrifices make me uncomfortable.”
7: The score. I love the cowboy song and I really like how they use it with 'modern' music. The mix is great.
8: Some of the scary stuff was new to me. Kept me on my toes. :-)
9: The justice.
What I Didn't Like:
1: I kept getting the feeling like I wasn't getting all the details of the story.
2: There were a lot of 'givens'... several threads untied at the end of the film.
3: Some bad language.
4: Roxanne is under-dressed a couple of times. It does nothing to help the movie.
5: The way Johnny took care of two of the bad guys... I'm afraid I didn't quite catch the significance of his methods.
6: Theology was pretty bad. Lol. It was worse than Indiana Jones.
The reason I'm probably unfamiliar with Ghost Rider is due to the fact that I haven't read the comics or brushed up on my knowledge of legends. This film is definitely for people who know the story beforehand. If you're a Marvel comics fan, you'll probably love this movie. :-)
One of the funniest lines on this movie was when the woman is getting robbed and Johnny shows up, ablaze. Both she and her captor look at him for a long moment, then she grabs her purse and says, “Uh...thanks!”
Okay, you will have to watch it in order to find this amusing. :-)
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