So... any thoughts on the Ghost Rider movie opening this weekend? (BTW: the subject line is what one of my friends wishes the movie was called. Don't ask)
My impressions so far...
- The Ghost Rider effect and the motocycle actually look pretty good in the previews, and that's hard to do. On that I'm very impressed.
- "the Rider", a guy on horseback with a flaming skull head, is in some ways more fascinating to me than the guy on a motorcycle with the flaming skull head . Too bad the movie's not about him.
- Some of the dialogue in the previews make me wince openly. Apparently I'm not the only one.
[spoiler="From Atomic Comics weekly email"]Film critics will have to wait to see Ghost Rider just like the rest of us. Sony won't be doing any special critic screenings, which is often a red flag that studio execs don't think the film is very good. Keeping critics from reviewing the film until after it opens keeps bad reviews out of the papers at least through opening night. Considering director Mark Steven Johnson's previous comic films, Daredevil and Elektra, were panned by critics, the decision isn't exactly a surprising one.[/spoiler]
So, any other initial impressions (or reviews once it's released)?
dont know when its out in the uk, but from what i've heard most reviews and previews have been positive, i have faith in MSJ DD wasnt great but that was cause of the studio taking over, the DD directors cuts is a totally different movie and ten tiems better
SHH posted a review a while ago and they tend to be pretty honest in there reveiws
http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=5185
QuoteWhat do you get when you hire a director who really understands and loves the material? A faithful adaptation of a comic. In recent years it happened with Bryan Singer and X-Men, Sam Raimi and Spider-Man, as well as Christopher Nolan and Batman. It is now safe to put writer/director Mark Steven Johnson in that class as well for Ghost Rider.
Superhero Hype! got a chance to watch the anticipated Ghost Rider movie, opening February 16 and starring Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Wes Bentley, Sam Elliott, Donal Logue and Peter Fonda.
In the Columbia Pictures release, superstar motorcycle stunt rider Johnny Blaze (Cage) makes a deal with the devil (Mephistopheles, played by Fonda) to keep his father from dying. But Mephistopheles tricks Blaze, who leaves childhood sweetheart, Roxanne (Mendes), in order to protect her. Years later, the son of the devil, Blackheart, wants to take control over the world with the help of three fallen angels, called the Hidden. It is then that Mephistopheles comes to Blaze, who must now hunt down the rogue demons as the Ghost Rider.
There's quite a bit of comics history for Johnson to cover in the film (just look at Wikipedia's rundown of the Ghost Rider comics to get some kind of idea), which makes the beginning of the film seem forced. The backstory is about your typical father/son who jump motorcycles for a living (!), but it's this relationship that forces Johnny to sign his soul to the devil and we never really see that overwhelming love between father and son. There's not a lot of time to tell the origins either, so you're moved quickly to the point where Nicolas Cage and Blackheart & Co. take over the story.
It's probably a good thing, because that is also where the movie starts getting good. We need a bit more setup until Johnny Blaze (Cage) is called upon by Memistopheles. But when he does, we get the treat we've been expecting. Soon after, you get to see Blaze transform into Ghost Rider for the first time, which looks extremely painful for Blaze but enjoyable to the Ghost Rider.
When Ghost Rider does battle with Blackheart and the Hidden (or the elements, so to speak) it's an all-out slugfest with no holds barred. Their powers give the Ghost Rider a challenge in having to figure out how to defeat them. The scenes feature impressive special effects that'll have you say many times, "cool!" We won't spoil them here, but many of the best visual effects, including the full transformation, you haven't seen yet in trailers or clips. For example, the riding up the building scene from the trailers is quite long and is definitely a highlight of the film, with much more happening before and after.
Nicolas Cage really hits one out of the park here. We noticed a similar southern accent to how he talked in Con-Air (hey, the movie takes place in Texas after all), but Cage has created both a tragic yet fun character on-screen. It's entertaining to watch him play Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider. Fonda and Elliott are great as always, while Bentley was good casting for Blackheart and Logue adds comic relief to the dark story. Eva Mendes is definitely nice to look at, but she doesn't add much as Roxanne. We didn't really feel to close to her as we probably should have.
Those who were afraid that the film's initial release was moved from summer 2006 to February 2007 should be assured that the FX team has pulled out all the stops. CGI flames can be tricky and Ghost Rider's flaming skull, body and hellcycle are awesome and well worth the delay. The special effects for Blackheart and the Hidden were also very well done.
Naturally, since this is the story of Ghost Rider, parents should heed the rating for this film, which is PG-13 for horror violence and disturbing images.
Ghost Rider is a fun ride and definitely worth checking out!
I wasn't expecting to be at all interested in this movie, but somehow the commercials I've seen have me really, really excited (even if Cage looks nothing like Johnny Blaze). It looks like the makers of this film may get the whole concept of the Ghost Rider, in a way many comic book writers over the years haven't. Definitely planning to see it.
It certainly helps that Cage is himself a fan of the character. To me, that makes a big difference.
Saw the movie last night. If the dialogue in the commercials made you wince, then the movie itself most definitely will. It is filled to the brim with cornball lines, some of which were funny, many of which were painful. I found myself thinking, "Hope he doesn't say what I think he's gonna say..." and sinking slowly in my chair as he did, over and over... Many of the scenes, shots and lines seemed to be lifted straight from other movies, both good and bad.
The action set pieces won't surprise you since they were already pretty much shown in the trailers. Nicholas Cage seemed off. Nothing in the script was worth his skill and it showed. The actors overall played straight one-dimensional charicatures and didn't seem to have any real chemistry. Eva Mendez's character is supposed to be the same age as Johnny Blaze, but next to Nick she looked nearly half his age.
On the note of special effects, they ranged from decent to downright bad. Some of the bluescreen/composite work looked so pasted on that I could not only see where the image was cut, but the lighting didn't even match (the scene with Johnny riding helmetless on the freeway comes to mind). The fire on him and his hellfire enhanced equipment looked real and to me was well done, but the skull and other deadish things looked like pure CG (as in a very plastic/artificial, almost low budget quality). It's lack of believable bump mapping and layers definitely benefits from a smaller screen.
My overall exposure to Ghost Rider had been during the Dan Ketch era, so I didn't expect the movie to be campy. I don't know if the Johnny Blaze era was campy so I don't know if it was intentional in the movie.
While my review is negative and vague (the latter because not only am I trying to avoid spoilers, it is overall a forgettable movie) I DO remember that I was somewhat amused by the movie (much in the same way as Spawn). At least I didn't lament over losing 2 hours of my life *cough*House of the Dead*cough* which I guess is a positive thing.
I saw the movie last night as well, and I have to agree with Pyroclasm on several points.
Actually, almost all of them.
The plot seemed very rushed. This resulted into some very rough transitions between some scenes, almost seeming at points as if the movie wasn't finished. One second he's doing one thing, the next he's doing something completely different. The lines were brutal. In fact, the only people in the entire film that had something decent to say were probably Mendes and Cage, and even then...eek.
Still, if you can ignore the bad lines and accept that there is a chance that the sequel may be pretty good (almost like spider-man 1, the purpose of this movie seemed to me that it was just meant to introduce some characters and how Johnny Blaze becomes the Ghost Rider, so the sequel should have more of a plot) then I'd say give it a chance, it was still an okay flick, and far better than Daredevil.
Ah, well. As with most movies based on comics, "Ghost Rider" was flawed in several ways. But at least with the sequel they have a chance to get it right. <_<
-darkphoenixII
Quote from: darkphoenixII on February 17, 2007, 07:20:26 PM
Ah, well. As with most movies based on comics, "Ghost Rider" was flawed in several ways. But at least with the sequel they have a chance to get it right. <_<
-darkphoenixII
Vengeance, please. :D
I don't really have any desire to see this movie.... I mean many people may disagree with me but I don't think Cage is a good actor either. But, like Pwime said this could set it up for a good sequal... just like X-men 2 is now one of my favourite movies, whilst the other 2 i didn't really enjoy much at all.
So I'm guessing this would be a wait for the dvd\pay-per-view, then?
I know its Johnny Blaze with the Danny Ketch version's outfit and chain weapon, but does he have the Blaze version's hellfire blasts, Ketch version's Penance Stare, both, or neither?
All in all.....to a normal viewer (that has probably never heard about Ghost Rider) it was a good movie. That is what my family thought.....I winced at a few parts just because the dialogue was off............
For a Ghost Rider movie......I never really jumped or was shocked at any of the parts.....could have added a twist or something.....or made it at least a little bit more visually interesting! Not too exciting, not too special.
7 out of 10.....slightly disappointing.....but still a good film.
Quote from: GhostMachine on February 18, 2007, 12:27:21 PM
So I'm guessing this would be a wait for the dvd\pay-per-view, then?
I know its Johnny Blaze with the Danny Ketch version's outfit and chain weapon, but does he have the Blaze version's hellfire blasts, Ketch version's Penance Stare, both, or neither?
Both powers. If you really want to see it, I'd say wait for the DVD. And if I were to give it a rating, it would be about a 3 out of 10... Definitely would not be buying this movie for the collection.
BTW, shouldn't it be common sense that if a stranger offers you ANYTHING for your soul, YOU DON'T ACCEPT?
Quote from: GhostMachine on February 18, 2007, 12:27:21 PM
So I'm guessing this would be a wait for the dvd\pay-per-view, then?
Dont do PPV, do DVD. The Hulk, Daredevil, spider-man, X-Men and all other marvel DVD's I have watched have had amazing extras. In the case of Daredevil (he's an alltime favorite character) I enjoyed the encyclopedic info on him and interviews with all his writters more than the film.
I think I'm fairly well known for my complete dissatisfaction of Hollywood comic movies, and how they manage to screw up...pretty much everything.
This is why it's such a shock to me that I actually enjoyed this film. It had just as much good as it had bad, maybe more.
The bad:
Nick Cage. While I was happy to see him on fire, his acting range is hardly worthy of much consideration. Mr Coppola has been itching to do a comic movie for years now. Ok, he's Ghost Rider now. I'm ok with that in a way I wouldn't be if he were Superman or Iron Man. Not that he was perfect for the role, but Johnny Blaze isn't as recognizeable to the masses as some of the others. Ok, so he wasn't a redhead, it's a minor thing.
Eva Mendes. While I like her ok as both an actress and eye candy, I still groan at how there has to be a token love interest in EVERY MOVIE. Why? She certainly wasn't instrumental to the plot. Her damsel in distress could have just as easily been done by his buddy.
Admitedly, I haven't read my GR comics since the early 90's, and barely in the 70's. So I don't know who would be a good villain for him, besides Mephisto and Blackheart. so I'm fine with that.
The damage. I didn't like that he damages every road he drives down. seems like it'd make him easy to track.
The good:
I didn't have as much problem with the special fx as others here. I thought they were adequate.
I liked that the Devil was only called that by the Riders, and not by the demons. The demons called him Mehistophles and not Satan, Lucifer, etc. as it should be, as it is Mephisto's game to pretend to be them.
I liked that Johnny didn't actually intend to sign, but rather was tricked. I liked that it was for the health of his father, and not for a girl (as I feared they'd do).
I didn't like that the cops automatically decided Johnny was responsible, just because they found a scorched license plate (and why would the plate have fallen off anyway?)
Sure, Johnny was supposed to be much younger than Cage himself, but his lifestyle could easily lend itself to aging prematurely, so I was able to suspend my disbelief.
I would say that this movie is worth seeing in the theater. It's no Spider-man franchise, but it's better than other films that have come out in the genre.
Having finally gotten rid of my in-laws (kidding- I like my inlaws and was sad to see them go) Mrs. bredon and I went to see this today.
Maybe y'all had lowered my expectations, but I was really surprised at how good I thought it was! I'd rank it better than everything except the first two Spidey and the first two X-men.
I was a little annoyed by Nicholas Cage channeling Elvis every time he talked, but overall, I thought he was excellent. Heck, I don't think there was a bad performance in the movie (and unlike Proto, I actually have romatic bones in my body; his wife broke all his ;) - so I was fine with Roxanne). Standouts of course were Peter Fonda as Mephistophles and Sam Elliot as the previous rider(If there's any justice he'll get his own set of levels in the video game).
When y'all claimed the dialogue was corny, I was expecting Shumaker level corny ("BOOOOMMMBB!"). This was nowhere near that bad! Oh, it was a little predictable, but nothing so drastically out of character as to be wince-inducing.
Plot wise, the demons were incredibly stupid, but I was willing to put that down to them being, well, demons. As for damaging every road he drives down- I think that was only while he didn't have control over his abilities yet, so I was willing to buy that. The one thing I thought odd was that there was supposed to be a rider in every generation (from the opening narration) and than Sam Elliot turns around and says the last one was 150 years ago. Well, that, and as proto said- arresting him just cause the licesnce plate on his bike fell off when he transofrmed it? That didn't wash to well.
I've not seriously collected Ghost Rider comics for some time, so I've no idea who he could fight in the sequel. Suggestions?
I thought the effects ranged from generally pretty good to excellent- and having been warned, Iwas looking for them to look fake and still didn't spot any times that they did.
I gotta go with proto here, and cast my vote on the side of this being worth the $$$ to see on the big screen. :thumbup:
Quote from: bredon7777 on February 24, 2007, 02:54:31 PM
I've not seriously collected Ghost Rider comics for some time, so I've no idea who he could fight in the sequel. Suggestions?
I'd take pretty good bets that Vengence would be the villian along with Mephisto returning to arrange that deal.. other villians might include Nightmare (master of dreams), Lilith (mother of demons), and the Spirits Of Vengence (Zarathos' henchmen).
Ghost Rider 2 would be that a Texas Cop name Michael Badilino has become obsessed with catching Johnny Blaze after the whole ordeal of the first movie. Johnny has taken his curse and turned into his twisted version of a superhero clashing with sideshow level villians (lots of cameos here of his C-Rated villians: The Orb, Suicide, Skinner, Scarecrow, etc) during his travels. So he returns home to the carnival he left behind and buys it out to make a living while keeping out of the spotlight. Mephisto discovers that Mike's obsession with finding Blaze might make him a worthy tool for seeking out his rebellious rider. So he strikes a deal transforming the cop into Vengence and sends him towards the carnival to seek out his prey. Their first encounter is horrible as they tear apart the landscape and leave many innocents badly wounded or dying. Johnny is shocked by this whole ordeal and how horrible his curse could be when placed in the hands of someone who was willing to use it without thinking. He vows to never use his powers again and seeks out the caretaker to find out how to expel the demon within him. Mephisto believing he has won decides to make Vengence his new bounty hunter and sends him to locate a new group of escaped demons calling themselves The Spirits Of Vengence. These demons are far more powerful then anyone expected and nearly kill Mike after draining all of his power before sunrise. Johnny and the Caretaker reappear after their yoda-like "training session" and rescue Mike from being roasted alive in the middle of the desert. While Mike and Johnny waste their energy fighting among themselves while nursing wounds they are reminded that it would take more then one "rider" to take down these Spirits. So the three Riders decide to use their skills to track the demons down before they start to tear the world apart city by city. Mesphisto is more pleased then ever with his old riders teaching his new pawn how to do his job. Soon the villians are defeated and exiled back to Hell as Mephisto steps out of the shadows. Vengence and Ghost Rider are taunted by the mastermind into resuming their fight earlier with the winner keeping his power. The caretaker pulls out his ace in the hole which is an old medallion that he found during his travels. The magical item pulls their curses into the gem and leaves them mortal once again - finally free of being manipulated once and for all. Mephisto leaves in rage and all of the heroes go into a local bar (an inside joke could be used for the name) to talk about old times. The camera closes in on the medallion lying in the desert which shows Zarathos trying to claw his way out of the gem.
Ghost Rider 3 would be about Dan Ketch and Mephisto making a deal with him to save his girlfriend. A New Ghost Rider is created but something seems to be wrong with him - he is far more ruthless then ever before. The medellion from the second film is found in a pawn shop by the leader of The Blood Cult. He uses the power of the gem to invoke the spirit of Zarathos and transforms himself into the ultimate demon. Mephisto sends Ketch after this Blood Cult for fear that the evil possessing them might actually be something to fear himself. Ketch has no problems dealing with the possessed cult members but finds himself being persued by a former cop now detective named Micheal Badilino. A conflict with the cult leader sends the medallion flying out of his hand and Mike picks it up transforming him back into Vengence. The cult leader finds himself face to face with two riders and decides to show his true form - Zarathos himself! Ghost Rider and Vengence are almost nearly powerless against the true evil that they are spawned from. Mephisto is forced to call upon a favor and visits Johnny Blaze. Blaze is now married to Roxanne and managed to rebuild his carnival and his motorcycle career. He nearly blows the head off Mephisto as soon as he appears - apparently he still has retained some of his power to transform his shotgun. Johnny is informed that he has a brother that he never knew about who has taken up the mantel of Ghost Rider. He is needed once again to become the hero he always wanted to be even if it means working with Vengence and Mephisto to defeat the source of their power. The result is a battle to end all battles as Zarathos is sent back to Hell and leaving all of the heroes powerless once again.
Well, that's just my fan geek version of the screenplay concepts if I did them anyway... :cool:
- CrimsonQuill
somebody hire this man to write these movies!
Quote from: Carravaggio on February 24, 2007, 05:45:07 PM
somebody hire this man to write these movies!
Thanks :D I've had more then my fair share of writing spec scripts for comics and movies just for my creative writing classes over the years... then spent most of 2002-2004 trying to sell my own comic book series before my personal life kept me from going to conventions all the time. Too bad Marvel and DC choose to hire experienced "hot" writers and directors all the time who just glance over the source material and then squeeze it all into a typical Hollywood mold - It ends up being hit or miss as a result because all the key factors need to be working in synch.
- CrimsonQuill
Just got back from watching this (finally), and I have some views of my own (after having read all those before me before I even saw the movie). Granted, I'm not as up on my
Yeah, the whole "channeling Elvis" thing and the license plate were a little annoying. But they didn't detract enough from the movie for me to keep me from enjoying it.
What *did* irritate me was the whole identity of the previous Ghost Rider. Carter Slade was indeed the first character called Ghost Rider (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Rider) for Marvel, but there the similarities end. He had no supernatural powers, unless you want to very tentatively include the phosphorescent powder he found in a meteor. Once Marvel started the Johnny Blaze title, they had to rename their old character, first to Night Rider, then to Phantom Rider. Even in the reprints they retroactively changed his name to Phantom Rider.
To me, this is just a case of a writer not doing his homework properly, either that or one of the Arads just throwing out info without caring about it (either are equally as likely). I couldn't have given a crap what they had named him, just as long as they didn't (further) muddy up the continuity and non-related characters. But, I'm probably part of less than a whole % of comic readers (and less than that of people who actually see the movie) that would even be able to pick this nit, so why the hell should Marvel (et. al.) care?
That said, I'll still end up buying it when it comes out. :lol:
Saw the extended cut Ghost Rider DVD last night. Unlike Mark Steven Johnson's extended cut of Daredevil, this one's actually worse than the theatrical release. But maybe it's just my personal bias against Nicolas Cage's acting at work... More Nic Cage was the last thing the movie needed, in my opinion. It's not too bad for what it is, though.
I rented this the week it came out (the extended version). I'm actually completely unfamiliar with the Ghost Rider universe, so I watched it with a clean slate. So, that being said, I thought it was ok at best. I can see why it has such low ratings and bad reviews though. The villains really are as stupid as everyone says and it's super cheesy. I think I probably enjoyed this about as much as the Blade movies, although I liked Blade 1 and 2 better than this. It was about on par as Blade 3 to me: half of it was pretty good, the other half downright awful.
Did anybody hear the rumor that Cage's abs were CGI?
Quote from: JeyNyce on August 30, 2007, 01:55:33 PM
Did anybody hear the rumor that Cage's abs were CGI?
That would be so funny if it were true. Actually, even if it wasn't, the idea's still funny. Interestingly enough, Cage's abs did stand out to me while watching the film (during that scene where's he's making faces in the mirror). I didn't think they looked unnatural or anything, I just remember thinking that he must've put in several months of intense core training to get them that defined.
weren't the abs in 300 digitally enhanced too? I'd imagine it would be the same in a lot of superhero movies these days.