Ghost Rider (2007)

Ghost Rider
"He may take my soul, but he can't take my spirit." And Sony took that personally.
Genre: Superhero Action Directed By: Mark Steven Johnson Produced By: Avi Arad Steven Paul Michael De Luca Gary Foster Starring: Nicolas Cage Eva Mendes Wes Bentley Sam Elliott Donal Logue Peter Fonda Cinematography: Russell Boyd Distributed By: Sony Pictures Releasing Release Date: February 16, 2007 Runtime: 110 minutes Country: United States Language: English Budget: $110 million Box Office: $228.7 million Franchise: Ghost Rider Sequel: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Ghost Rider is a 2007 American supernatural black comedy horror superhero film written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson, it based on the Marvel Comics character Ghost Rider of the same name and is the first/penultimate installment of the Ghost Rider Duology. The film stars Nicholas Cage as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider with Eva Mendes, Wes Bentley, Sam Elliott, Donal Logue, Matt Long, and Peter Ponda. The film was released on February 16, 2007, by Sony/Columbia Pictures. The film was met with mixed-to-negative reception but was a box office success earning $228.7 million on a $110 million budget.

Plot

Stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze gives up his soul to become a hell-blazing vigilante named Ghost Rider, to fight against power hungry Blackheart, the son of the devil himself.

Bad Qualities

1. The film is way too campy and silly in stark contrast to its gritty and hellish source material, as Nicolas Cage looks and acts nothing like Ghost Rider. Instead of being the scary, demonic Ghost Rider from the comics, this Ghost Rider is unintentionally hilariously silly and not scary.
   1. While it is true that the Ghost Rider series does have some campy and light-hearted/funny moments here-and-there, those were able to implement them really well and were very few and far between.
2. Once again, Nicolas Cage falls to the good ol' "overacting Cage" when portraying Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider.
3. Lame acting performances by most of the cast.
4. The special effects on Ghost Rider look poor.
5. Laughable dialogue such as Johnny Blaze saying "He may take my soul, but he can't take my spirit"
6. Awkward transformation scenes with over-the-top music and weird expressions by Cage which comes off as being unintentionally funny.
7. The film can come overtly ridiculous at times.
8. Blackheart looks nothing like how he does in the comics. He only appears in human form for almost the entirety of the film and doesn't show his true form.

Good Qualities

1. The action scenes of the Ghost Rider aspects are pretty cool.
2. The design on Ghost Rider looks great.
3. Well-done CGI.
4. Great soundtrack, such as Spiderbait's cover of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" by Johnny Cash.
5. Kinda remarkable acting effort by Nicolas Cage.
6. The movie has some scary moments, which fits well with Ghost Rider.
7. Ghost Rider has a demonic voice that fits well for the character.
8. Good performances from Sam Elliott as The Caretaker and Peter Fonda as the devil, Mephistopheles.

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