![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Why you should go see Ghost Rider...
Feb. 25th, 2007 10:38 amReason number one?
It is a FUN movie. Yes. FUN is the right word.
Nick Cage is not one of my favorite actors, but in this particular story he seems to work just fine. Add to this the fact that he has a tiny bit of "Squee! I get to be a SUPERHERO" going on, and I always get a kick out of that. (It's an attitude thing; some actors take being in a comic book movie VERY SERIOUSLY, and try really hard to be a Serious Artist about it, and leach all the fun out of the thing. Some actors don't really commit to the whole "super hero" thing and try really hard to treat the script as a Great Dramatic Story, which also doesn't really work. It's a matter of balance. Take the script seriously, take the subject matter with a small quantity of child-like glee, and take the time to UNDERSTAND the material.)
Sam Elliott is one of those grizzled old actors that you pay money to see in any damn thing. In this case, he steals every scene he's in. He's clearly having a great time with this one, too. I have images in my head of this guy showing up for wardrobe and growling, "Well, whenever I'm in a new picture, I just grow the whole thing out. What parts do you want me to shave for this one?" and wardrobe looked at him and said, "Nothing. Leave it alone."
Mr. Elliott grows hair on his face clear up to his EYEBALLS. So, three cheers for charming, grizzled old guys with deep voices, eh?
For those of you who like girls, there's a love interest who shows more and more cleavage throughout the film. She also does a pretty good job of inventing some chemistry between herself and Johnny Blaze. Her best scene, however, is the one where she does what I hope to see every time the situation occurs, and yet, I rarely do. You know the scene: The hero comes to rescue the girl, and while he's wrestling with the enemy, she stands by the side and screams, or puts herself into more danger so that his attention is split between vanquishing the enemy and saving the girl.
No. This time she picked up the fallen weapon, and doesn't even bother to toss it to him: She trains that shotgun on the villain and fires until it's out of ammo. YEAH! Ok, THEN she tosses it to him, but there's good reason for THAT, too.
Ghost Rider himself is the real deal. They did something really simple yet cool for the voice, and he does have that edge of mania that ol' bonehead always seemed to have. The laughter as he takes form, the take-no-shit attitude, the dark humor; it's all there. The CGI is finally good enough for it to be seamless, too. The stuff they do with his flames is every bit as good and artistic as what they did in the comic.
It's a comic story that is true to the original. It has the four goth boys of the apocalypse in it. (Whiny, Skanky, Emo, and Perky.) There's Evil Cows! (Ok, not really.) There's sexy motorcycles all over the damn thing.
Did I mention Peter "Easy Rider" Fonda plays Mephistopheles?
Go see the damn thing, already!
It is a FUN movie. Yes. FUN is the right word.
Nick Cage is not one of my favorite actors, but in this particular story he seems to work just fine. Add to this the fact that he has a tiny bit of "Squee! I get to be a SUPERHERO" going on, and I always get a kick out of that. (It's an attitude thing; some actors take being in a comic book movie VERY SERIOUSLY, and try really hard to be a Serious Artist about it, and leach all the fun out of the thing. Some actors don't really commit to the whole "super hero" thing and try really hard to treat the script as a Great Dramatic Story, which also doesn't really work. It's a matter of balance. Take the script seriously, take the subject matter with a small quantity of child-like glee, and take the time to UNDERSTAND the material.)
Sam Elliott is one of those grizzled old actors that you pay money to see in any damn thing. In this case, he steals every scene he's in. He's clearly having a great time with this one, too. I have images in my head of this guy showing up for wardrobe and growling, "Well, whenever I'm in a new picture, I just grow the whole thing out. What parts do you want me to shave for this one?" and wardrobe looked at him and said, "Nothing. Leave it alone."
Mr. Elliott grows hair on his face clear up to his EYEBALLS. So, three cheers for charming, grizzled old guys with deep voices, eh?
For those of you who like girls, there's a love interest who shows more and more cleavage throughout the film. She also does a pretty good job of inventing some chemistry between herself and Johnny Blaze. Her best scene, however, is the one where she does what I hope to see every time the situation occurs, and yet, I rarely do. You know the scene: The hero comes to rescue the girl, and while he's wrestling with the enemy, she stands by the side and screams, or puts herself into more danger so that his attention is split between vanquishing the enemy and saving the girl.
No. This time she picked up the fallen weapon, and doesn't even bother to toss it to him: She trains that shotgun on the villain and fires until it's out of ammo. YEAH! Ok, THEN she tosses it to him, but there's good reason for THAT, too.
Ghost Rider himself is the real deal. They did something really simple yet cool for the voice, and he does have that edge of mania that ol' bonehead always seemed to have. The laughter as he takes form, the take-no-shit attitude, the dark humor; it's all there. The CGI is finally good enough for it to be seamless, too. The stuff they do with his flames is every bit as good and artistic as what they did in the comic.
It's a comic story that is true to the original. It has the four goth boys of the apocalypse in it. (Whiny, Skanky, Emo, and Perky.) There's Evil Cows! (Ok, not really.) There's sexy motorcycles all over the damn thing.
Did I mention Peter "Easy Rider" Fonda plays Mephistopheles?
Go see the damn thing, already!
