Ghost Rider
Rated: PG-13 
I want to tell you a story about two men who loved comics. One had his chance in 2003. He proclaimed a great love for the popular Marvel character, Daredevil, "The Man Without Fear". He wrote and directed a motion picture based on the character but unfortunately confused him with another popular Marvel character, The Punisher. Daredevil doesn’t kill people. He doesn’t need a movie to teach him a lesson about why killing people is bad. He especially doesn’t come off great when he kills people after he was too crappy of a lawyer (his alter-ego) to put them in jail in the first place. The other man was almost played Superman, currently collects comic books, and named his son Kal-El (which is Superman’s Kryptonian name). This man wanted to be in a comic-book movie so badly that he would star as a tattoo that thought it was a hero, Ghost Rider. And who would direct the bad-ass dude with a flaming skull and a chain and a motorcycle (fun fact: Ghost Rider was originally created by a second grader named Timmy Hells-Angles). Man #1, Mark Stephen Johnson, who thought that the blind superhero with the special ability of sight was actually the Vietnam vet with the giant skull on his t-shirt. Man #2, Nicolas Cage, would do his best to get out with his dignity in tact. Although both men love comics, both men are equally at odds with each other in the film they’re trying to make. Cage actually understands the campiness and comic nature of the character so he’s playing it like the director actually understood and just decided to have a fun time (basically the relationship that made the first Fantastic Four film so successful). Johnson writes and directs it like he’s making an American legend and that Ghost Rider is the great mythological avenger and that if his star doesn’t agree, he’ll just enforce the notion on every supporting player and the CGI creation of Ghost Rider. The result is a film that fails on almost every level and Nicolas Cage trying to be a real hero and save every frame that he can. Ghost Rider is a laughably bad movie. Mark Stephen Johnson should at best be the guy that fetches coffee for the real director and Nicolas Cage should function as a producer for a better comic book movie. I didn’t subject you with details of the plot because I don’t feel the need to repeat insults. If you want to laugh at a horrendous movie, Ghost Rider is definitely a ready target for your mockery. Words by |