Ghost Rider

I watched the movie Ghost Rider today. It has a starling cast, Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze / Ghost Rider; Eva Mendes as Roxanne Simpson; Wes Bentley as Blackheart; Sam Elliott as Caretaker / Carter Slade and Peter Fonda as Mephistopheles. I always like to watch Nicholas Cage acting. He has permanent confused, and conflicted look. I have never read the comic so I was hoping the movie will be a treat.

Johnny Blaze, carnival stunt motorcyclist sold his soul to the devil, Mephistopheles so that his father will be cured of his lung cancer. After signing the contract, the devil cured his father but killed him in an accident. Johnny however was bonded to the contract to be the devil's bounty hunter, the Ghost Rider. Apparently, the devil needed a Ghost Rider to catch souls that have escaped from hell. Johnny turns into the Ghost Rider in the presence of evil. His lethal weapon was the "penance stare" with which he will show the bad guys the evil they have done in their life which in turn will kill them. The baddie is Blackhart who has an ambition to absorb as much evil souls as possible so that he become "Legion" and take over the world.

The movie was slow moving and the special effects was poor. I was expecting more spectacular pyrotecnics. The costume design was like matrix meets incredible hulk. The fighting was uneventful and straight forward.

Two interesting thoughts went through my mind during the show. First is the concept of the contract with the devil. Apparently the devil sticks closely to the lines of the contract while Carter Slade, the former Ghost Rider speaks of God giving a second chance. The second is the concept of penance stare. One was punished by exposing to one's former sins. Sounds like purgatory.

Reviews of the movies have not been good. Now I shall have look for a Ghost Rider comic so that I will know how it was supposed to be.

I do not recommend for children to watch it without parental guidance.