Like most superhero fans, I rarely thought about the Ghost Rider movies over the years. I knew about them and had an affection for the character, but I accepted the general consensus that they were disappointing misfires, rightly overshadowed by the launch of the MCU and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.
But here’s the thing: I had never actually seen either of the movies. I added them to my October spooky season watch list as a matter of obligation, using the excuse of a marathon to do some necessary gap-filling. But now that I’ve watched them, I can safely say this: the Ghost Rider movies are good.
Well, okay, Ghost Rider is good-ish. There’s lots of enjoyable stuff in there, as I’ll talk about in a minute, poking through some disinterested performances and inept direction. But Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is very good. Very silly, very hammy, and very fun.
Both Ghost Rider films star Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze, a stuntman in the mold of Evil Knievel, who cures his cancer-stricken father by making a deal with the devil Mephistopheles (Henry Fonda in the first film). Like everyone who prides themselves on the art of the deal, the devil double-crosses Blaze, removing his father’s cancer but setting the man up to be killed in an accident the next day. For his part of the deal, Blaze becomes Mephistopheles’s bounty hunter, the Ghost Rider – a metal cover come to life, with a flaming skull for a head and an imposing motorcycle with burning tires. Blaze rebels against Mephistopheles and refashions himself into a spirit of vengeance, coming to life whenever innocent blood is shed.
The Spirit of a Good Movie in Bad Movie’s Body
With Ghost Rider, writer/director Mark Steven Johnson has everything he needs for a successful film: cool visuals, straightforward redemption arc, and rabid superhero fan Cage in the lead. But it’s easy to see why the movie didn’t work for audiences at the time. Johnson’s script does feature the basic Ghost Rider origin but then muddies the story with side plots about Blaze’s childhood sweetheart Roxanne Simpson (Eva Mendes), a grudge between Mephistopheles and his son Blackheart (Wes Bentley), and a McGuffin in the form of a contract between Mephistopheles and his first Rider (Sam Elliott). The movie matches its over-stuffed script with a tonal mess of superhero action, western bombast, saccharine drama, and jump-scare horror, all of which Johnson hits with a thudding lack of nuance.
Worst of all, Johnson squanders the visuals of a character ready-made for film. Johnson sticks to the Rider’s comic book design, complete with a fiery chain he uses to dispatch baddies, but he too often places the character in poorly composed shots that diminish the design. Blackheart and his minions fare even worse, with the comics design of a lizard man with red eyes and thorny hair replaced by a charisma-less Bentley in a black leather duster. The Hidden, three fallen angels who bound with the earth, join Blackheart in mission and in fashion choices, forgoing any striking visual elements for black leather jackets, greasy hair, and a scowl.
And yet, despite these problems, there’s still fun to be had in Ghost Rider, beginning with Cage. A life-long comic book fan, who took his stage last name (to distinguish himself from his famous director uncle Francis Ford Coppola) from Luke Cage and named his son after Superman’s Kryptonian identity Kal-El, Cage had been champing at the bit to portray a superhero, and he makes the most of his one shot. In the same way the Rider comes bursting out of Blaze, Cage explodes from the damp movie in which he stars, imbuing his character with wonderfully odd choices. He plays Blaze not as a drawling hayseed doing a job designed for a macho braggart. And yet, he’s just as earnest about putting on a good show for spectators as he is winning back Roxanne.
Cage’s devotion to Blaze’s idiosyncrasies smooths over the film’s mess of tones, making him feel rich and varied instead of incongruous. Furthermore, it gives the other performers room to play their strengths in a movie that might otherwise dampen their charisma. Roxanne may be an underwritten character, but Mendes finds interesting line readings and reactions within it, as when she responds with escalating incredulity at the silly stunts Blaze pulls to get her to pull over and talk to him. Likewise, Cage’s sincerity lets the always-welcome Donal Logue be charming as Blaze’s motor-mouthed partner Mack, the only guy who acknowledges the absurdity of the plot and seems simultaneously excited and terrified by it.
But Cage is best when playing the Rider itself. Instead of a sneering tough guy, Cage’s rider acts more like the hero in an Elvis movie. Sure, his chain whip is cool, but even cooler are the poses he swipes from the King and the way he towers over his victims.
Is this enough to make Ghost Rider a good movie? Not quite, but it is enough to make it worth watching for those who want a taste of horror in their super-heroics.
A Second Ride is a Better Ride
Released in 2011, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance improves upon its predecessor in nearly every way. I know some may balk at my calling Spirit of Vengeance good. Most agreed that Cage was a good fit for Johnny Blaze, but that Johnson squandered the character’s big-screen potential. Coming off the cult hits Crank and Crank: High Voltage, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor seemed like the perfect directors for a course correction. Their excessive tastes not only directly counter Johnson’s bland earnestness but also better fit the gonzo spirit of late-period Cage.
However, many found the end result disappointing. Despite marketing materials that promised over-the-top shenanigans like Ghost Rider pissing fire, the movie struck some too dull and reserved, marred by a surprisingly somber plot and a Cage who did not meet their expectations.
To which I say, “Good!” I have to admit here that I’m not much of a Neveldine/Taylor fan. I like the idea of their movies, but their approach has too much of a “hat on a hat” quality. It’s one thing to have a movie where the lead attaches jumper cables to his nipples or turns into a kaiju, but it’s another thing to shoot those events with a wild shaky camera, Dutch angles, and frenetic editing. The crazy camera work distracts from the crazy visuals, undercutting the power of both.
So it works for me that Neveldine/Taylor pull back a bit. This isn’t to say that the movie isn’t crazy, because it is. A glorious set piece involves the Rider hopping into a wrecker and transforming it into a fiery monstrosity with a giant flaming saw, which he uses to squish his enemies. In place of Bentley’s slightly sneering Blackheart is Carrigan/Blackout (what kind of name do you expect from edgy 90s Marvel comics?) played with swagger by Johnny Whitworth. And, yes, Ghost Rider does indeed piss fire.
But Spirit of Vengeance doesn’t let these (literal) pyrotechnics distract from its solid superhero plot, based on a story from David S. Goyer. At the behest of former priest turned vigilante Moreau (Idris Elba), Blaze agrees to defend Nadya Ketch (Violante Placido), whose son Danny (Fergus Riordan) was the result of her own deal with the devil. Mephistopheles, now called Rourke and played by Ciarán Hinds, wants to make Danny his new vessel on Earth, something a team of monks lead by Christopher Lambert’s Methodius will kill the boy to prevent.
The narrative arc of this film plays up Blaze’s relationship to the Rider, which is reframed as a sort of Hulk-like monster. In the film’s animated opening, in which the skull fills the screen and searchlights shoot from its eyes, Blaze’s ominous voice-over explains, “See, there’s good and bad in all of us, and maybe you’re not a murderer, but you did something that you didn’t want the Rider to see: a white lie, an illegal download.” Sometimes, Cage plays his reluctance to turn into Ghost Rider as a joke, like when he guzzles down water to keep his head from flaring up. But he just as often plays it straight, as in a genuinely moving scene in which Moreau performs the Eucharist with Blaze.
Elba walks a similar line in his performance, playing an actual person when the opportunity arises but never missing the chance to chew some scenery. In lesser hands, Moreau would be an ancillary sidekick, with no motivation beyond helping the hero. But Elba finds ways to ground Moreau as a man whose devotion to his faith has cost him his status. There’s a glee to scenes in which Moreau reveals an armament to fend off Blackout and when he uncorks a bottle of centuries-old wine. And the line reading he gives to describe the feeling of the Rider trying to get out — “He’s scraping at the door!” — rivals the “You ripped my shirt” moment in Mandy. But Cage also brings reverence to the aforementioned Eucharist scene, genuinely pleased to participate in the traditions of his office.
But the real secret weapon here is Hinds’s Mephistopheles. Best known to most superhero movie fans as the voice behind the CG abomination Steppenwolf from Justice League, Hinds gets to give a full-body performance here, chewing as much scenery as his co-stars. As a malevolent spirit trapped in a decaying body, Hinds shuffles and sneers his way through the movie, greeting plot absurdities with a crazed grin. Hinds buys into the premise in a way that Fonda never did, making him a better devil on the Rider’s trail.
The only place that Spirit of Vengeance doesn’t outdo its predecessor is its portrayal of Ghost Rider’s signature move, the penance stare. When fixed with the penance stare, the Rider forces his victim to feel the pain incurred by everyone they’ve wronged, often driving them mad. In Ghost Rider, Johnson visualizes the stare as distorted faces composited along with explosions and flames. It’s not the most striking image, but at least it is an image. Neveldine/Taylor don’t even give us that. Instead, we simply watch the Rider as he stares at a victim who just stands there and whimpers. There’s certainly an awkward comedy to these moments, but that’s not exactly appropriate to a guy burning alive in the face of his guilt.
Fortunately, such missteps are few, as Neveldine and Taylor offer many other striking visuals to sell the horror of Ghost Rider and his world, without ever losing the characters in the mix.
Ghost Rider and Spirit of Vengeance may never sit atop the list of all-time best horror movies, but they’re both worthy watches for anyone missing new superhero movies this October.
