Nicolas Cage*
plays the Marvel comic character of the Ghostrider (Johnny Blaze), a man who (when young) sold his soul to the devil, to try and save his dying father. Johnny’s love interest Roxanne (**Eva
Mendes**) is ultra hot. I wish I could stop the review at her, but I can’t because her full name is shorter than 150 words.
The special effects are great, but the action scenes are too few and very far between. The best (and maybe the only) novel action scene is when Blaze performs a death-defying stunt in a Superbowl stadium. Nicolas Cage tries his best to match his acting up to the Marvel character, but the result is lukewarm.
The director tries hard to give dimensions to Johnny’s character, by touching on the struggle Johnny faces within himself, i.e. fate and destiny, choices made, responsibility, etc... but not much success. This could have been a real whopper, **if there were better action scenes, and
more chemistry** between Cage, Mendes, the evil Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda)
and Blackheart (Wes Bentley).
The plot is good, but its badly implemented*. Only reason to waste ticket money on this movie, are the few action scenes and some (repetitive) special effects. Eva is a crowd-puller, but she should have had more time onscreen.
Check it out on CD only**, because there are not enough stunts, special effects, or spice to
make it worth watching in theatre.