Ghost Rider

I really wanted to like this movie. Unfortunately, it's yet another action film that chooses style over substance. All the awesome computer generated effects in Ghost Rider can't make up for the poor acting, and crappy dialogue. While video games are starting to resemble movies, this movie resembles a really bad video game.

What makes matters worse is the actors. Nicholas Cage plays the main character Johnny Blaze. I've never been a big fan of Cage, because he shows no emotion what so ever in practically every movie he's in. This one is no exception. His character is about as lively as Neo in the Matrix trilogy. The other actors are just as bland as Cage. At times I couldn't help but wonder who wrote the script, because the dialogue in Ghost Rider is about as bad as the dialogue in Star Wars Episode II.

The only good thing about Ghost Rider is the effects. It's cool to see all the flames shooting out of Ghost Rider and his bike, the wind and water effects were also really fun to watch. However, some of time the visuals looked more like they belonged in a video game than a movie, which would have been great if the movie had been animated rather than live action.

I won't give away too much of the plot. It's not much better than the rest of the movie. Johnny's father, a daredevil motorcycle rider has cancer, and Johnny who is also a daredevil makes a deal with the Devil. The Devil will cure Johnny's father, but Johnny must give the Devil his soul. When he does Johnny becomes the Ghost Rider. The Ghost Rider is the Devil's bounty hunter, and must destroy creatures who have escaped from hell. The movie also mentions something about a contract, but I won't go into too much detail about that, because I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone who wants to see it.

Ghost Rider isn't a really bad super hero movie, but its not a really great one either. It's better than The Hulk, but its not as good as The Punisher or X-Men III. If you're a fan of super hero movies then you should see Ghost Rider. If not then you shouldn't see it, because it will be a big waste of your time and money.

I give this movie a 4 out of 10.

How the rating system works:
10-9=A
8-7= B
6-5= C
4-3= D
2-0= F