Ghost Rider movie discussion (spoilers!)

ourchair

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Because we Filipinos live 8-16 hours in the future, I was able to see Ghost Rider last night.

It also seems that your Yanqui distributor-men fail to realize we don't have 'opening weekends' we have 'opening Wednesdays' putting us 2-3 days ahead of time. This allows us to sneak into the cinema with videocams so that we can bootleg it onto pirated DVDs to sell in China or something. Piracy prevails.

Anyway, my only real exposure to pre-release information about this film were the trailers, and I have to say it was genuinely good mindless fun. Here's the fast synopsis with SOME, but not ALL the spoilers:

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The movie basically opens up with Caretaker (heretofore known as Undertaker Thunderbolt Ross) telling of the legend of the Ghost Riders --- individuals who have traded their souls to Mephistopheles (heretofore known as Evil Fonda) --- spectral bounty hunters that have existed throughout history.

The last Ghost Rider went on a mission to obtain an ancient scroll of McGuffin significance, but realized that the whole point of a McGuffin is for it to actually make a plot move, so he stole it, ran away from Evil Fonda and he and his really cool looking flaming horse were never heard from again.

Flash forward to the 21st century, where Barton Blaze (played by a poor man's Jon Voight whose name I can't remember) and his son Johnny are a bunch of stunt-cycling carneys. Johnny has goo-goo eyes for Roxanne Simpson (Raquel Alessi) and wants to elope with her, but is also deeply concerned for his father an aging man with no real future except the cancer that's eating away at his lungs.

So when Evil Fonda shows up, Johnny makes The Deal --- his soul in exchange for his father getting his health back. In typical trickster fashion, Barton Blaze dies the very next day when he has a fatal stunt accident. Evil Fonda promises that he will never have family, friends and love and that when the time comes, he will come a calling back.

Fast forward twenty years later and Luke Cage, I mean Nicolas Cage (heretofore known as Blazing Cage) has become a stunt-riding celebrity bigger than his father. He's doing death-defying leaps and sanity-testing stunts that prove he's a bigger daredevil than Ben Affleck. He knows that Evil Fonda has no reason to see that he's harmed, that the devil's watchin over him.

Then a pair of **** that hold a microphone (which happen to be attached to some actress called Eva Mendes) shows up to get an interview from the Blazing Cage. Blazing Cage takes this as a sign, that perhaps the devil will never collect. So he goes and asks Roxanne Titson out on a date.

Predictably enough, Blazing Cage never shows up for his date when Evil Fonda shows up and transforms him into the Ghost Rider. This takes place in a very cool-looking CGI sequence where Nicolas Cage gets Face/Offed.

The Evil Fonda charges him to after his son, a poor man's Blade villain played by Wes Bentley and his badly-dressed posse of goth-inspired cosplayers. See, Bentley is after the Scroll of McGuffin that will grant him the power of 1,000 Evil Souls.

Eventually, Blazing Cage kicks his *** but not after causing massive damage to public works, becoming a fugitive, losing his entire stunt career and embracing his curse through the inspiration of his mentor, Undertaker Thunderbolt Ross --- who is revealed to be a Ghost Rider himself. Not like nobody saw that coming.

There is also a scene with Eva Mendes that is pretty much a rip off of the scene where Hulk shrinks into Banner for Jennifer Connelly in Hulk, except Eva Mendes has better ****.

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All in all, I actually really enjoyed the movie. It was one big dumb fun thrill ride that carried a whole lot more charm than Johnson's previous superhero film, Daredevil.

The one thing that probably justified the development time of this film was the effects. They get away with the absurdity of a flaming skull biker as an entirely CG hero simply because he's not exactly required to act. The fact that the character design has no basis in reality means that the issue of the hyper-real uncanny valley does not exist as it does with say The Hulk or Gollum.

What I hated most about the film was the completely uninspiring plot and villains. Peter Fonda gets the plum role of being Mephisto, which is basically a role that allows an actor to 'play evil' without actually doing anything. The Hidden --- a pack of elemental spirits in the service of evil --- look like concepts that were intended for a Vampire: The Eternal Struggle TCG expansion pack but were rejected for lame art design.

And don't get me started on Wes Bentley? I don't know what kind of career the Plastic Bag Boy from American Beauty is trying to carve for himself, but this is definitely a step down. He looks like one of those characters you'd see in an episode of the Addams Family --- trying so hard to be strange, but deep down is a suburban normal at heart.

There is this one moment where Bentley/Blackheart looks at the camera and has this broad smile on his face after announcing that "I know his (Ghost Rider's) weakness!" and my girlfriend said, "CHOCOLATE!" that had me laughing long after the movie ended.

But on a positive note, there is one scene involving Blaze as Ghost Rider riding off into the desert with Undertaker Thunderbolt Ross, who as I mentioned is also a Ghost Rider, being all flaming skull coolness of his own on a flaming horse. That is one awesome visual, I guarantee you. It made me remember Compound's really supercool idea for Ultimate Ghost Rider that he posted somewhere here.

All in all, a 7 over 10.
 
The movie's pace was way too fast.

Everything that happened was totally predictable.

The dialogue was mostly cliche.

Wes Bently tried too hard as Blackheart.

The non-demon scenes pushed the humor.

Johnny Blaze sold his soul to be the Devil's slave?

Why would the Devil be so quick to give Johnny's soul back? Isn't the Rider's job kinda never done?

All the fight scenes were almost non-existant. There was no threat, no trial and error, Ghost Rider almost knew how to beat all of them.

There are fire spirits in all humans?

How many "Ghost Riders" did Mephisto make? Or is the Ghost Rider a "fire spirit"?

Why would a creation of the Devil punish evil?

The movie was trying to show that Johnny was taking control of the Ghost Rider, but a couple scenes made it look like the Ghost Rider was controlling him.

What was up with Caretaker? How come he only had "one last ride in him"?

Nephilim aren't fallen angels turned into elementals, they are humans that are half-angel.

I guess that's all I have for right now, but I give the movie a 7/10. The scenes with Ghost Rider were perfect and made the movie worth it.
 
The movie's pace was way too fast.

Everything that happened was totally predictable.

The dialogue was mostly cliche.

Wes Bently tried too hard as Blackheart.

The non-demon scenes pushed the humor.

Johnny Blaze sold his soul to be the Devil's slave?

Why would the Devil be so quick to give Johnny's soul back? Isn't the Rider's job kinda never done?

All the fight scenes were almost non-existant. There was no threat, no trial and error, Ghost Rider almost knew how to beat all of them.

There are fire spirits in all humans?

How many "Ghost Riders" did Mephisto make? Or is the Ghost Rider a "fire spirit"?

Why would a creation of the Devil punish evil?

The movie was trying to show that Johnny was taking control of the Ghost Rider, but a couple scenes made it look like the Ghost Rider was controlling him.

What was up with Caretaker? How come he only had "one last ride in him"?

Nephilim aren't fallen angels turned into elementals, they are humans that are half-angel.

I guess that's all I have for right now, but I give the movie a 7/10. The scenes with Ghost Rider were perfect and made the movie worth it.

:sure: I'm reading through your post seeing you say almost entirely negative things and you ended at 7/10? I don't get it.
 
not a bad movie, but VERY predictable in terms of dialogue and needed more realistic fight moves. when you punch a guy you dont lean with your whole body so that you look like the hunch back of Norte-a-dame.

best and worst part was when other ghost rider was riding with cage, i wanted him to do more stuff though.


6.1/10
 
Negatives : It's incredibly cheesy, cliched, poorly structured and plotted, and the dialogue sounds like a ten year old wrote it

Positives : Nicholas Cage, Peter Fonda, Eva Mendes perky **** prominently on display, some good one liners, and Ghost Rider just looks absolutely ****ing amazing!!

I guess the positives get it. Seriously though, Ghost Rider (the onscreen character itself) was realized far better than I could have ever hoped for. He looked like they tore him straight from the comic, I loved it.

As for the movie itself, meh. Nothing AT ALL special, but at least Johnson didn't try to fit three movies into one like he did with Daredevil. Was it the realization of how I wanted to see the Ghost Rider STORY brought to the screen? No. Such a film would be a very bleak, dark and strong R-rated film. Was I entertained? Yep. Did Ghost Rider onscreen make me want to change my pants? Hell yeah. For sheer, mindless (and I do mean you cannot be thinking on it AT ALL) fun I give it 6/10. For best looking character brought to the screen, I'm giving him the top spot. GR looks better than anyone else in my opinion.
 
For a movie about a badass evil-hunting skullheaded Superhero, the action scenes really, really, really sucked.

I really did like Nick Cage, and I'm glad that he got to play his superhero movie and pulled it off so well.
 
:sure: I'm reading through your post seeing you say almost entirely negative things and you ended at 7/10? I don't get it.

Some negativity, mostly puzzled.

Negatives : It's incredibly cheesy, cliched, poorly structured and plotted, and the dialogue sounds like a ten year old wrote it

Positives : Nicholas Cage, Peter Fonda, Eva Mendes perky **** prominently on display, some good one liners, and Ghost Rider just looks absolutely ****ing amazing!!

I guess the positives get it. Seriously though, Ghost Rider (the onscreen character itself) was realized far better than I could have ever hoped for. He looked like they tore him straight from the comic, I loved it.

As for the movie itself, meh. Nothing AT ALL special, but at least Johnson didn't try to fit three movies into one like he did with Daredevil. Was it the realization of how I wanted to see the Ghost Rider STORY brought to the screen? No. Such a film would be a very bleak, dark and strong R-rated film. Was I entertained? Yep. Did Ghost Rider onscreen make me want to change my pants? Hell yeah. For sheer, mindless (and I do mean you cannot be thinking on it AT ALL) fun I give it 6/10. For best looking character brought to the screen, I'm giving him the top spot. GR looks better than anyone else in my opinion.

Yeah.

I just saw this last night. It was terrible. I want my $9 back.

I only payed $3, I guess I got my money's worth, lol.
 
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I just saw this last night. It was terrible. I want my $9 back.

3/10.

9 bucks?


I only payed 5


and it wasnt that bad


Hey anyone know the name of the theme music from the credits?

Im gonna se if i can dowloud it.
 
Ghost Rider debuted at #1 yesterday, with $15.9 million, the biggest bow of 2007 so far, and could make as much as $45 million by the end of the Presidents Day holiday.


For the fourth week in a row, I am disappointed in the American public. First Epic Movie, The Messengers, and Norbit at #1, and now this?

:noway:
 
For the fourth week in a row, I am disappointed in the American public. First Epic Movie, The Messengers, and Norbit at #1, and now this?

:noway:

Are you kidding me? Don't compare any comic book adaption to that crap. We're talking legions of fanboys who will go see anything Marvel or DC put out. There's a reason it already has a set opening weekend intake.

These are the same kids who saw X3 and thought it was "the best movie ever".

Anyway I'm still not relying on Ghost Rider to be an amazing award winning film. As long as I can sit down and enjoy it for the helluva it, I'll be happy with it.
 
Are you kidding me? Don't compare any comic book adaption to that crap. We're talking legions of fanboys who will go see anything Marvel or DC put out. There's a reason it already has a set opening weekend intake.

These are the same kids who saw X3 and thought it was "the best movie ever".

Anyway I'm still not relying on Ghost Rider to be an amazing award winning film. As long as I can sit down and enjoy it for the helluva it, I'll be happy with it.

To be fair, X3 was MUCH better than Ghost Rider. Honestly, this wasn't even a good comicbook movie that I could sit down and enjoy as a fan of the comic series. It was Nicholas Cage acting half retarded, Eva Mendez being a whore and all of the demon people screaming out cliched one liners.

"We are leigon...because...WE ARE MANY!"

Slap on some 3-second fight scenes and some bad CGI...and you have the entire movie.
 
Why would a creation of the Devil punish evil?


Becouse Hell was made to punish sinners and thats was the devil does punish the souls of the damn for all eternity.



my take anyway.


Also i just wached it today for second time(cousin bought me the ticket plus the pop corn)

saw it today again with a packed cinema(cousin bought me the ticket and the pop corn) still liked it...i dunno just for the fact that the Penace stare made it in the movie and that Carter Slade did too(people forget he was the first person too use the name granted he wasnt supernatural)
 
I enjoyed it, thats all i wanted. wasnt looking for anything deep. It was good fun.
 
It's a comic book movie, this gives us a few things that are guaranteed

1 - the main dude has a sick relationship with a girl
2 - when the main dude isn't in his costume he has funny dialouges and gives some funny hints to the girl that he has a sick relationship with
3 - when he is in his costume he stops being funny (this one doesn't go with spider-man ONLY) and does cool stuff.

let's check ghost rider with this one,
the sick relationship part is pretty much done, also I believe nicholas cage was great with the funny dialouge part, he looks as hopeless as a man that has sold his soul to the devil.

but the part that he becomes the rider,that part sucks bad.ghost rider doesn't have the spirit of the spirit of vengeance. he is trying to be funny, he makes stupid jokes, he is actually pretty stupid.and he keeps doing that "you" stance, I think they did that for 10 times during the movie.
and I didn't see the action I wanted to see from the ghost rider, he is supposed to be the rider, where is the high speed chases? where is the action?
damn you MARVEL, for even allowing this movie to exist!
 
It's a comic book movie, this gives us a few things that are guaranteed

1 - the main dude has a sick relationship with a girl
2 - when the main dude isn't in his costume he has funny dialouges and gives some funny hints to the girl that he has a sick relationship with
3 - when he is in his costume he stops being funny (this one doesn't go with spider-man ONLY) and does cool stuff.

let's check ghost rider with this one,
the sick relationship part is pretty much done, also I believe nicholas cage was great with the funny dialouge part, he looks as hopeless as a man that has sold his soul to the devil.

but the part that he becomes the rider,that part sucks bad.ghost rider doesn't have the spirit of the spirit of vengeance. he is trying to be funny, he makes stupid jokes, he is actually pretty stupid.and he keeps doing that "you" stance, I think they did that for 10 times during the movie.
and I didn't see the action I wanted to see from the ghost rider, he is supposed to be the rider, where is the high speed chases? where is the action?
damn you MARVEL, for even allowing this movie to exist!


Seing as how the movie made millions and their probably will be a sequel..i dont think marvel feels bad.

Its all about the money.
 

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