What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this comic book-based movie is
aimed right at kids. (They won't care that the CGI effects
aren't the best and the story is uneven.) Expect frequent
references to the devil and some grisly Renaissance-style
images of torture. There are motorcycle crashes (one ends in a
father's death), flaming leaps, falls, and skids, which produce
broken-looking bodies. The villain turns victims gray and
veiny, and Ghost Rider himself becomes a burning skull. Weapons
include knives, shotguns, and chains. Roxy shows cleavage, and
she and Johnny kiss several times (once quite passionately).
Characters drink and smoke cigarettes; language includes
"s--t," "damn," "son of a bitch," and "hell."
Families can talk about the relationship between Johnny and his dad. How does Johnny's good intention lead to tragedy? Did Johnny have any other alternatives than working for the devil? How does the movie differentiate between the monstrous Johnny and the monstrous Blackheart? Why is one "good" and one "bad"? Is that easy to tell the difference between good guys and bad guys in real life? Why are so many action/superhero movies based on comic books? What's the appeal?
Common Sense Media Review
Like many comic book-derived movies, GHOST RIDER is corny,
fiery, and outsized, but unfortunately it's not very
entertaining. When young motorcycle stunt rider Johnny Blaze
(played by Matt Long as a youth) sells his soul to the devil
(Peter Fonda), he thinks he's doing the right thing -- that is,
saving his father, Bart (Brett Cullen), from a horrific death
by cancer. But Johnny soon learns that Mephistopheles is not to
be trusted, and he eventually has to fulfill his contract and
become the devil's bounty hunter.
This occurs after Johnny grows up to be a fiercely lean Nicolas Cage. Johnny's still doing motorcycle stunts, drawing big crowds because he regularly delivers horrific, Evel Knievel-style crashes, but he never dies (the devil looks after his own). His crew chief, Mack ( Donal Logue), worries because his boss is reading books about religious rituals and demons instead of drinking beers with the guys. (Johnny's chosen way to relax is to eat red and yellow jellybeans by the martini glassful and listen to the Carpenters.)
The turning point comes when kohl-eyed son-of-the-devil (literally) Blackheart ( Wes Bentley), ascends to earth in order to track down a contract that will grant him access to a bunch of bad souls. The whys and wherefores are a little confusing (they're narrated mostly by the Caretaker, who's played by Sam Elliott), but the point of this plot development is this: Johnny is transformed into the Ghost Rider, complete with leather jacket, chains, and skull face a-blazing.
At around the same time, Johnny's childhood love interest, Roxy ( Eva Mendes), returns. Now a TV reporter, she arrives at one of Johnny's most outrageous stunts dressed in a white, not-quite-angelic dress. He's re-smitten, as is she, and they spend the rest of the movie trying to get back together but also not get back together, since if they do, the devil or Blackheart (or both) will surely target her.
While the Caretaker makes lots of noise about the Ghost Rider's "legend," the movie's action and plotting are uninspired. Cage does some more Elvis impersonating, Mendes shows cleavage, and Elliott looks leathery, but none of these details helps create a sense of grand mythology. The Rider's gift/curse is his ability to assault his bad-souled victims with a Stare of Penance (he commands them to "Look into my eyes," like Dracula used to) and then make them suffer the pain of the innocents they wronged. But the visual delivery of this trick is feeble, a mostly blurry, vaguely fiery, utterly un-menacing montage of screaming, collapsing faces. This is Ghost Rider's big trick? It's hardly the stuff of legend.
Fans might like other comic book-based movies featuring troubled heroes, like Spider-Man and Hellboy , or the R-rated Constantine and The Crow.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
0 |
