I originally loved this movie, but after a couple more recent viewings I've changed my view to a guilty pleasure with some obvious issues.

oh well, I can respect your opinion especially because I agree that the prologue both makes no sense and is extremely elongated, ghost rider takes forever to show up, the flash backs are annoying, the epic suck villain(s), and all the other tiny annoyances.

I'll watch it again and get a new opinion... I think I'm gonna kinda... hate it.

good review none-the-less

We can all agree that if the devil wanted a bounty hunter it wouldn't be a guy in his 40's. Especially after making a deal with him as a young man.

"Just you wait Johnny Blaze! I'll get you in about... twenty or so years. So you just wait till then!"

Thank you FB for reviewing this thing. I saw it at my cousin's house and it was so awful. I've told some of my friend why I hate this movie and their response is can be generally summed up as "It's a comic book-based movie. What did you expect?" Um, well I expected it to be DECENT for one thing! That attitude is part of the reason why movies like this keep getting made because peoples' expectations have fallen way too low.

In all seriousness, I used to sorta like Cage, but after The Wicker Man, Bangkok Dangerous and now this...I honestly think his days in (big budget) films are numbered.

There will always be a place for Nick Cage's unique brand of crazy. No one else can do it quite like him.

There's absolutely no reason why movies based on comic book source material can't be good. It just takes a little more vision than was put into this unfortunately.

Watchmen and um um um... that other comic book movie.. oh Scott Pilgrim is a comic right? That was good!

Cage has always been a mixed bag for me. Oh and hey, it's you again!

Wait, you watched "Reaper" too? I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one.

Not much else I can add in the "Great review" posts

What the hell is Reaper like!?

It's a lot like "Dead Like Me," except with all the life sucked out of it. Whereas that show had philosophy about the meaning of life and death (or lack thereof), drama about dealing with death, and great dark humor, "Reaper" had lame-ass villains and not-Jack Black (aka Tyler Rabine) as the sidekick/ comic relief.

The one area where "Reaper" succeeded was in its depiction of Satan, portrayed by the under-appreciated Ray Wise. He's a fun, charming, charismatic rogue whom you can't help wanting to like, even though you know he's a manipulative bastard. He rarely has to resort to force to make anyone do anything because he's so great at pushing their buttons. Pity they couldn't have cast Ray Wise in this movie too... we all need a little more dashing evil in our lives.

What the hell is "Dead Like Me?"


Just kidding, loved that show. Even though it was another one that many people didn't watch.

i watched that show, i loved it

I liked Dead Like Me. I wasn't heavily invested in it but I enjoyed it now and then.

many people here watch Reaper, what is the deal in other countries?

Like many of the other Marvel Comics films, I really like this one. Besides, Nic Cage is awesome as the titled character, and I'm planning on seeing "Spirit of Vengence" in February when it's released.

Me too homie! me too!

yay! it's finally here! i remember somewhat requesting this a while ago, so thank you for finally ripping this movie to shreds. however i do find two redeeming factors for this movie; one is sam elliot because he's fucking awesome and the other would be peter fonda because he appears to be enjoying himself.

Just because it's a comic book movie doesn't mean it has to suck.

At least Cage was enjoyable as Ghost Rider.

it is certainly one of my guilty pleasure films and i'm not embarassed to admit so. I just wish it was more Ghost rider and less everything else. Besides I can't help but laugh at Nick cage's transfromation scene and how silly he is. Sam Elliot was Sam elliot and peter Fonda was enjoyable as well

But in American folklore, particularly rural ones, out-foxing the devil, or out-running him, is actually a bit of an archetype.

Just for two examples on the top of my head, there's "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", or "Friend of the Devil" by the Grateful Dead. There's a duality to the lyrics which imply that he isn't merely running from the law, but from the devil himself, after seeking a favor from him, but running when his debt is due.

So yeah. "Ghost Rider" was still pretty bad, though.

There's a difference between an archetype and someone literally doing it. In those songs, it's a metaphor. In the film, it's literal and... well, doesn't make much sense.

Probably the most famous piece of American folklore where quite literally the protagonist out-wits Lucifer is the Faustian tale with a twist from the early 20th century, "The Devil and Daniel Webster".

Basically, a guy cuts a deal with the devil in exchange for his soul. The devil comes calling when his debt is due, but the man hires a famous attorney to defend him in a trial. Despite the fact that the devil packs the court with some of America's (At the time) most infamous historical figures who were sent to Hell, the devil loses.

It's not a metaphor. A zombie Blackbeard the Pirate literally absolves the defendant of his debt and Daniel Webster is able to deny Satan the soul which is rightfully his by contract.

Thaaaaaat's a little bit different than just, you know, doing a runner.

To be honest the Devil didn't really look like he was that bothered with chasing the guy down.

"Oh for fucks sake!! Nevermind I'll get him later"

This film did the thing I hate most and just made all the demons look like humans. In the comics Ghostriders enemies are demonic and twisted creatures while in this they were just people with CGI effects around them. Mephisto in particular was a missed opportunity due to him being a recurring villain in multiple Marvel titles rather then just some random embodiment open to interpretation.

Yes, complaining about a movie being too long and poorly paced is a perfectly valid criticism when you watch the extended cut.

I think you're letting your dislike for Nic Cage color this review a bit. Frankly your better than this.

Funnily enough, I don't dislike Nic Cage. I actually like him a lot. But he's very miscast here.

The extended cut is the only version available. (the theatrical cut was never released on home video in the UK, a common practice, and I didn't see it on his theatrical run) I did make an attempt to note several of the changes (the prologue is particularly extended) and I honestly thought the longer length detracted from the film further.

Oh no...not Ghostrider. Why subject yourself to this? It's your job? Fuck that.

Wait...No Symbolism! on the four way crossroad the Devil stops Johnny on his dad's bike at? Eh, that might be an American thing.(6:03)

Nick Cage owned the power.

Still a terrible movie and a great review.

First time watching this series and not really impressed. It had a few funny bits but really you use the same joke way too much.

"Oh boy, I hope a specific thing doesn't happen because I already watched the movie and know what is about to happen."
*thing happens*
*empty stare*

Yeah at least the nostalgia critic doesn't do this throughout an entire review. Seriously I don't remember any other real jokes here, just lazy comments about a mediocre movie.

The only time I recall using that gag was on Mack's death and that was to do with my dislike of films bringing back characters solely for the purpose of bringing them back. Any other instances were to call attention to the transparent and obvious screenwriting cliches.

I agree with you totally this movie was a big BIG let down! But, the "sequal" isn't actually a sequal it's a reboot like Incredible Hulk to Hulk, but with the same actor returning for the same role. Actually it's more like what they're wanting to do with the Deadpool movie make a spinoff/reboot with Ryan Rendolds in the same role but with no connection to the previous film. Also, the directors of the reboot might be crap but the writter is a great choise, David S. Goyer! He can write gritty realistic fantacy characters like this. The pissing fire thing I find funny because I'd never seen that one coming!
And on this Ghost Rider movie here the lame excuss the writter gave for why this movie sucked was he was given restrictions on the 3 elemtals because Sandman was due to be in spiderman 3 so his sand demon couldn't do any of that kind of crap and Human Torch was in Fantastic Four so Ghost Rider couldn't do a lot of fire powers crap. That still doesn't exsplain why the water and wind guys didn't do shit!!!
Oh and also they said why Blackheart didn't look anything like the comics was because like in other Marvel related films in the past where the villain spent the 1st 2 acts looking human and was suppose to turn into an inhuman monster or beast at the end didn't test well in testscreenings(see the Blade movie), so in this film they skipped the middle man and went strait to this crappy ending where his skin just turned blue! But, thankfully they re-re-relearned thier lesson before Incredible Hulk! We might've had a Hulk movie end with him fighting a human Abomination!!! (sheevers)

You didn't use the scorpion and ermac jokes
also, great review despite the fact that I actually like the ghost rider movie you didn't gave it any unfair judgement ecxept perhaps that the mugger did infact deserve to die or he wounldn't have died that's how ghost rider's powers work

just found out that christopher lambert is gonna be in spirit of vengeance. Also, am I the only one who thinks the guy who played Blackheart looks like Adam Lamberts even less successful emo twin brother?

I tend to love comic book movies, but I found this one to be just...boring. I didn't care. The plot either confused me or bored me. I didn't like the CGI. Cage seemed to be on autopilot...

About halfway through the movie, I was just waiting for it to be over.

The previews for the sequel make it look like it might be better. I might see it if there's nothing else out.

I wanted this movie to be good. I even saw a bit of it thinking it couldn't be as bad as I felt it was going to be. Too bad I listened to my mom and not my gut.

Also, why is there a limit on how many times a Rider can change? It doesn't make sense to me.

I knew from the get-go that this film was going to be boring and well, Film Brain you proved me right. I had friends that wanted to see this film and I didn't go see it for pretty much the reasons that you stated on why this movie sucks.
Nice work Film Brain, can't wait for next week.

It was very uninteresting, the only thing I liked was Nic Cage acting as Nic cage

Ya I did this review with another guy on the forums almost a month ago. I also did the Twilight joke about the piss pore Black Heart in this movie. I have higher hopes for the sequel/remake but they are not up that high, as these people constantly want to reinvent an already solid comic book character. BTW you can find my review here, http://blip.tv/ madmattreviews/mad-matt- reviews-episode-32-ghost- rider-5510877 and I do go a lot more into how this compared to the comics. All I can say is, thank god it wasn't based on Ghost Rider: Hammer Lane. Other wise it would look even worse.

soooooooooooo have you thought of doing lesbian vampire slayers yet

Hey, that's a GOOD movie :)
Freaking funny ! I mean, not all the jokes are spot on, but those that are... damn, I never laugh that much :)

Film Brain please don't EVER do a Nick Cage impression ever again that was so painful to watch even more so then this movie. -_-

I actually didn't think Ghost Rider was too bad, in any case, it's better than Spider-man 3.

I could swear I've seen Film Brain review this movie before, or at least someone else at this site.

You may be thinking of The Spirit. Both are comic book movies with Eva Mendes.

I don't know about you, but I'll take Ghost Rider over The Spirit any day. As far as I'm concerned, The Spirit is our generation's "Howard the duck".

[q}You may be thinking of The Spirit. Both are comic books movies with Eva Mendes[/q]


lol, I remember that review, "Oh we get to see Eva Mendes' backside, I guess this won't be such a bad movie after all."
"Who are you Frank Miller?"


That was funny XD
Though I swear that ass-shot was heavily CGI no woman could have a butt that firm and round without some hours on the "stairmaster".

Always on point!

I actually like the movie, I had a lot of laughs... oh wait, it was supposed to be thrilling and dramatic.

Where did the Ghost Rider buy his outfit?
Or does the curse of being the devil's bounty hunter come with the blessing of fire-resistance to the clothes you are currently wearing?

I remember seeing this movie on TV. I found it boring, which may not say much but it is a movie about a motorcycle riding bounty hunter for the devil with a FLAMING SKULL FOR A HEAD!!

How is it even possible to make that boring?

I actually expected this movie to be worse than it looks here. It doesn't look painful, just too long. Having been warned that it's too long, I think I might enjoy it since I kind of like ridiculous when it has to do with the devil XD

I thought this was a comedy

This movie IS a comedy.

Excellent! I "love" this movie.