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He was just a kid when he was tricked into making a deal with the devil—and he traded his soul for his father’s health. Now, Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) is a superstar. Night after night, he performs death-defying stunts—jumping his motorcycle through blazing hoops and over semi trucks. Though he often crashes, he never seems to get hurt. But there’s a reason for that: the devil is saving him for an important task.
On the night of his biggest stunt yet, Johnny is reunited with Roxanne (Eva Mendes), the girl he left behind after making his deal years before. At the same time, Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) returns to collect what he’s been promised. Johnny becomes the Ghost Rider—a blazing skeleton in black leather, the devil’s bounty hunter, who rides at night to collect souls for the devil. He’s sent to destroy Blackheart (Wes Bentley), the son of Mephistopheles, who’s battling his father for a long-lost scroll that controls the souls of an entire town.
Though it’s based on yet another Marvel Comic, Ghost Rider definitely isn’t for kids. There’s some pretty scary stuff in there—scary enough that it’ll probably give me a nightmare or two. So if you’re going to see this one, get a babysitter. Let the kids sleep over at Grandma’s place. They’ll love that—and you’ll love not having to assure them in the middle of the night that there aren’t any dead souls climbing their bedroom walls.
That said, however, Ghost Rider is the also the funniest movie I’ve seen in a long time. It’s way funnier than Norbit (though, let’s face it, pretty much anything is). Whether intentionally or not (my guess is a little of both), Ghost Rider had most of the audience (myself included) doubled over from start to finish—and that’s what makes it so much fun to watch. Had anyone but Cage tried to tackle the role of Johnny Blaze (say…oh, I don’t know…Ben Affleck), the movie would have been painfully ridiculous—and probably pretty boring. But Cage over-acts the snot out of it. He doesn’t hold back a single over-the-top facial expression. He delivers horrible one-liners in a way that makes you laugh instead of cringe (okay—maybe you still cringe a little bit, but at least you’re laughing at the same time). Cage is the perfect guy to play a socially awkward daredevil who prefers jelly beans (slurped out of a martini glass) to beer, who enjoys watching silly videos involving monkeys, and who loves the music of The Carpenters. And though he spends much of the movie howling and/or laughing maniacally and/or pointing menacingly—and though his nighttime transformation into a flaming Skeletor somehow takes away his ability to form grammatical sentences—you can’t help but enjoy it. Because while Ghost Rider is bad, it’s awesomely bad (or, to use the more technical term, as we film critics prefer to do, it’s craptastic).
If you’re hoping for a serious action/thriller with a captivating story, a solid plot, and Oscar-worthy performances, boy, will you be disappointed. But if you’re just looking for something to help you laugh your way out of the winter blahs, look no further.
