My thoughts on…Ghost Rider
March 14th 2007 -
I don’t normally do movie reviews (mainly because I don’t go out and watch much movies), but this one stood out from others in its genre, and I think that makes it postworthy. Sunday I saw Ghost Rider at my next door neigbour’s house (bootleg of course). Not that I’m against movie companies making a profit, I just think that in this age of filesharing, $50 for a movie is just ridiculous, especially given the fact that they mark them up to ridiculous levels out here. Here that RIAA! I watched a bootleg movie and there is nothing you can do about it! Better shut up. For all I know they could be tracking my IP address right now. I knew of the character. I don’t quite know how. Maybe I saw his comic on the shelves or flipped though a friend’s in my youth. So I didn’t know what to expect. with Nick Cage as the star, I knew that there’d be good acting (from him at least). But I don’t know how I’d like it overall, as the starpower of one isn’t enough to carry even a superhero movie. Case in point: Daredevil.
Turns out I loved it. There was more supernatural horror than I expected, but it was tame compared to the comic, and many events of Johnny Blaze’s dark past were omitted. Natural, as the directors need some “artistic flexibility.” I thought it would’ve been a flop at the box office, because Ghost Rider is such an unknown. Turns out it made US$180 million. Why was it so successful, when superhero movies are now a dime a dozen? Well I think it’s mainly because of Johnny and his alter ego. Johnny’s a regular guy. He makes mistakes. He’s been through tragedy. He has regrets. He’s not like that perfect goody-two-shoes farm boy from Smallville, so this cynical generation can relate to him. Unlike Superman. Sure, as of late they’ve tried to make him seem more human, by making him make mistakes and throw the occasional temper tantrum. But overall, he’s still too perfect.
Ghost Rider is also an anti-hero, the kind whose comics your mother warned about. He won’t hesitate to kill and he breaks the law. His powers stem from the forces of darkness themselves, and let’s face it, we’re fascinated by the dark side, as we’re all fascinated by the forbidden. He’s got the whole badass biker thing going, not to mention the fact that HIS HEAD IS AFLAME! All of this should make him quite popular. Also, the movie was more raw than many superhero movies, most of whom are so cheesy that they bleed Brie. Not saying that Ghost Rider was the best superhero movie ever. The Rider didn’t seem lifelike and the acting was lacking. But I expected that. It is a superhero movie after all. Given the success of the movie, I think Ghost Rider will finally get his props.
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- My thoughts on…the relevance of the Oscars
- My thoughts on…the Spiderman 3 hype
- My thoughts on…parody movies
- My thoughts on…the death of the movie theatre
Mighty Afroditee Says:
March 14th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
…Went to see it when it was here, but it was sold out. I think that I will do the bootleg thingy too…something about the movie appeals to me, so I will see if I agee with your movie review. Toodles.
M Says:
March 14th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Hooray! You’re blog is finally legible to me! I haven’t seen the movie but I love your line, “so cheesy it bleeds brie”!
Yatta Says:
March 15th, 2007 at 11:21 am
I haven’t seen the movie as yet but I will weekend. You are the ONLY person I know who has watched it so far and says it is good. I believe the people I know who have watched the movie never really read the and truly understand it. So they watched the movie expecting something different from what they actually saw.