Reviewed by: Debbie Walker — Copyright © Slice of SciFi.com

Ghost Rider (2007) PG-13
DVD released: June 12, 2007
Runtime: 110 minutes.
Names: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Peter Fonda, Sam Elliott, Brett Cullen, Wes Bentley
Director: Mark Steven Johnson

Story
One dark night young motorcycle stunt rider Johnny Blaze finds out his father is dying from cancer and receives an unexpected visit from Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda). He’s tricked into signing the sell-your-soul-to-save-your-dad contract and the next day dear dad is as healthy as a horse. Healthy enough to die a few moments later performing their regular sideshow act. Johnny abandons the circus and his girlfriend and grows up (as Nicolas Cage) to have an Evel Knievel-ish stunt show, only better as he never gets hurt because the devil looks after his own. Then in the same night his old girlfriend shows up as a TV reporter, so do the Ghost Rider powers.

Later there’s this confusing, yet kind of creepy appearance of Blackheart doing something to a bar full of bikers but I’m not sure what. Whether he was sucking out their souls or just killing them to empty out the bar, I didn’t quite understand it. His elemental pals show up, and off they go to hunt for a hidden contract that will grant him access to a thousand bad souls. This in turn will give him the power to displace his father as the ruler of hell. Only a thousand?

The devil proceeds to make a new offer to the Ghost Rider. Kill his son Blackheart and get his own soul back. Other than a fiery chain, the Rider’s big gift/curse is a Stare of Penance where he forces the bad guy to look into his eyes and feel the pain of all the people they’ve hurt and they . . . I would assume, burn up inside. He stops a mugging by doing this and later tries it on Blackheart and fails. He also meets up with the Caretaker (Sam Elliott) who explains some things but not enough. The bad guy soon spots Ghost Rider’s weakness (Eva Mendes) and takes the girl. The Caretaker reveals he’s the old Ghost Rider (quelle surprise) and you can guess the ending by now.

The visual effects were cool, but we’ve seen better. The motorcycle seems to have a life of its own but that’s not really explored enough in depth — perhaps in the sequel. Cage, as the Ghost Rider, occasionally morphs into Elvis and his personal quirks as Johnny are a needed bit of comic relief. Spiderman, Superman and Batman had television shows to provide background for the comic book novice like myself, but having barely ever heard of Ghost Rider before this film, I was not only at a loss, but remained that way through much of the movie. Why was the Ghost Rider only activated by Mephistopheles for this one mission and who’s been collecting the devil’s souls in the meantime? Another big question I kept asking myself while stuffing popcorn and soda down my gullet was , is it the Ghost Rider’s whole different personality that takes over or is it just Johnny pumped up ala Stanley Ipkiss with The Mask?

Overall Impression
Unfortunately, as is the case with this “Ghost Rider,” flick, it would seem that in the rush to push out comic book-derived movies with elaborate effects, the story gets lost somewhere in the shuffle.

Extras
There are two separate commentary tracks. One with director Mark Steven Johnson and visual effects supervisor Kevin Mack. This sounds like a pre theater release commentary track, full of enthusiasm. Producer Gary Foster’s track is more low-key, as if it was recorded after the fact with information you might find interesting and yet feels like he knew how well the movie did at the box office.

There is also two short (29 and 30 minute) featurettes. The first part is “Spirit of Vengeance” which is about general casting and production. “Spirit of Adventure” focuses largely on the conception of the hero’s motorcycle and stunt scenes.

There are no deleted scenes however, there is 10 extra minutes in the movie on the extended 2-disc DVD set so there should have been.

I would say, even if you loved the Ghost Rider story enough to see this movie in the theater, you’re not going to want to buy the DVD just for the extras.