Review of Ghost Rider - Extended Cut

Introduction

Comic book movies have such a tumultuous history that -- aside from the established franchises that have proved to work well -- I don`t think anyone really cares about them anymore. At least not in the same way they did when you couldn`t move for palpable anticipation over the next one. The minor success of the excellent `Blade` kickstarted a trend back in the late 90s and opened a door heralded as the new `golden age` of comic book movies, with Bryan Singer`s `X-Men` first out the door, and the box office success of Sam Raimi`s `Spider-Man` leading to a full-on revival at the hands of the studios. But of course, when they start to run out of fresh IP, that`s when they start raiding the lesser-known strips for source material, cutting budgets and employing the less talented elements. Which leads to dross. A helluva lot of dross. While there`s still the next instalment in the Nolan`s re-envisioning of the Batman franchise and some sort of reboot-cum-sequel of the Incredible Hulk to look forward to in the new year, the reception of the majority of comic book movies over the past few years can account for the general apathy towards anything new with the likes of Avi Arad and Stan Lee`s names attached.

`Ghost Rider` slipped into the C-to-M portfolio earlier this year, but unlike much of its fast-tracked brethren, this one`s been dancing around in the flames of development hell for a long time. Johnny Depp was originally attached, but it wasn`t until self-confessed GR fan Nic Cage came aboard that the flame-retardant wheels of the bone-headed one`s chopper started greasing up. Genre alumnus Mark Steven Johnson (`Elektra` scripter, `Daredevil` writer/director) brings the Faustian story of Johnny Blaze to the screen.

Teenaged Blaze is a carny stunt rider who sells his soul to the devil Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) in return for curing his father`s cancer. But rather than hang around waiting to collect on his investment, the trickster waits until Johnny is all growed up (played by Cage) and enforces his contract by having him act as a bounty hunter of sorts. Becoming the Ghost Rider, a fiery leather-clad skull-thing, his first (and only - ho hum) job is to send Blackheart back to Hell. Blackheart being Mephistopheles` son who`s acquired ideas above his station and wants to create a new hell on earth, something he plans to do with the help of three fallen angels and an ancient contract binding a thousand cursed souls to its keeper. Johnny also has to contend with the re-introduction of his teenage love interest (Eva Mendes) into his life, and a glittering career as a rock-star version of the late Evel Knievel.

Video

`Ghost Rider` gets a really rather splendid 2.35:1 high definition transfer. While some scenes look more impressive than others (namely anything involving a lot of CGI, computer effects or high contrast backdrops - bright day, dark night etc) the whole thing is very sharp and has a superb clarity. There`s quite a bit of noise now and again, and this does tend to dull the impact of the hi-res visuals, but when `Ghost Rider` is on, it`s on like Donkey Kong, with nothing in the way of flaws or imperfections; Sam Elliot`s weather-beaten puss couldn`t look any clearer if you leaned in to tug on his massive manly moustache. The CGI in general is fairly impressive, and there`s a lot of it. But you can`t shake the impression that Johnny Blaze in his Ghost Rider form looks like a piece of clip-art or a cheap animated gif. He does however, look like a high definition and unmistakenly vivid piece of clip-art.

* Viewed on a 32" 1366 x 768 panel at 720p

* The screenshots featured here are for illustrative purposes only. They were not taken from the Blu-ray source, and as such, the images are not representative of the quality of the disc.

Audio

Wow. And again, Wow. You probably couldn`t ask for a better surround track than the disc`s Dolby Digital 5.1 - which is just as well as the only others on the disc are the uncompressed PCM 5.1 (which I won`t be reviewing due to current hardware limitations) and an English descriptive audio track. The compressed surround track is phenomenal, very clear and bass rich, and not only finds good use for proper implementation of the soundstage, but manages to make use of it in its entirety to make each speaker feel like part of an ensemble - as it should. Spot effects travel in the right direction with solid depth, dialogue and central effects funnel through the middle and the rears are constantly put to good use for atmosphere. Brilliant.

Features

The disc features two commentary tracks, the first by the director and visual effects supervisor, the second from producer Gary Foster. If you`re reading this review chronologically, I don`t want to spoil anything for you, but I wasn`t about to watch `Ghost Rider` three times, even for my art - and I`m not shameless enough to make out I did. I did do a substantial spot check on them both, and they seemed to be fairly decent yak-tracks, Foster`s leaning towards the anecdotal end of the spectrum and gushing about the experience of making the flick, while the director`s commentary was more technically and thematically minded. There`s also a robust and fairly comprehensive `making of` feature. Running around 90-minutes and split into half-hour chunks titled `Spirit of Adventure`, `Spirit of Vengeance` and Spirit of Execution`, this behind the scenes covers the entire process from genesis to post production, and at times takes on a documentary-style approach which makes it one of the better features of its type I`ve come across.

Conclusion

In the overcrowded pantheon of comic-to-movie adaptations, `Ghost Rider` wallows somewhere in the shallow end that sees `Constantine`, `Hulk` and `The Punisher` tread water, but its luminaries look all that much brighter after a ride with Mark Steven Johnson`s grossly fumbled play with one of Marvel`s second-tier intellectual properties. Hammy, underwritten and uninspired, `Ghost Rider` is possibly the flattest, most unintentionally comical two-hours and three minutes of superhero action since `Superman III`. And at least that had the awesome clash between Clark Kent and The Man of Steel. `Ghost Rider` has no such magnificent saving grace, aside from the oft-stunning Blu-ray visuals and storming 5.1 on this particular edition. At at least it looks good at being bad. I don`t know what extra this 9-minute extended cut brings above and beyond the theatrical edition, but it sure isn`t quality.

With any IP having salacious devotees with expectations, you have to have some level of fanservice, but those here are ugly, embarrassingly ham-fisted exposition or character-introduction scenes, lighting themselves up like cheap Soho window placards. And these aren`t the only "oh god" moments either. The film is partial to audience-insulting flashback scenes reminding us of events we witnessed mere minutes ago, making sure we`re following the limp, sterile plot properly. Despite the weak script, terrible characters and muddled direction, what really brings Marvel`s flame-grilled hellion to his knees is the insufferable amount of clumsy, cliché, B-movie dialogue that wouldn`t sound out of place in a videogame circa 1996. And this from the man who penned the scripts for `Grumpy Old Men` and its sequel? Clearly Johnson`s talent, like a bottle of milk, curdles with age. Cage, under the circumstances, turns in a typically quirky performance as Johnny Blaze, but his support couldn`t be more wooden if Gepetto himself carved them out of a table leg.

Eva Mendes - Worst. Actress. Ever. Or at least if her barely functioning performance here is anything to go by. Granted, she doesn`t have a lot to do besides look pretty and shake her bazumbas, but even this is flat and forced, constantly acted off screen by Peter Fonda`s hairpiece. Fonda himself looks like he simply needs a good lie down. The pasty-faced goth prettyboy version of Blackheart is simply another example of the film`s dumbing down, with Wes Bentley as the fearsome devilspawn being possibly the single biggest piece of miscasting since Mary Corleone in `The Godfather: Part III`. Or maybe Keanu Reeves` "dude, where`s my stake" turn in `Dracula`. Yes, if it wasn`t for the fact that it isn`t particularly good, you might think a second Coppola had a hand in the making of `Ghost Rider`. As it fades to black with the promise of a franchise in the making, not particularly good is how it`ll be remembered, if not as another nail in the coffin of Nic Cage`s career and another kick in the teeth for comic book fans everywhere.