lookingland: (ghost rider)
lookingland ([personal profile] lookingland) wrote2007-03-07 10:45 am
Entry tags:

ghost rider keeps on riding ~

last sunday i went to see the new Ghost Rider movie. i was dreading going because i am a pretty hardcore fan of the original Ghost Rider series and you all know how picky i can be. my brother convinced me by saying that i should just ignore the plot and the fact that nicholas cage is hideously miscast as Johnny Blaze and go and revel in seeing Ghost Rider on the big screen, brought to life and on his flaming bike.

so i went.


the director is the same guy who did Daredevil a few years back. i don't understand why they put it in his hands. his abilities at writing and directing are very marginal. the plot here was weak, the script pretty lousy and disjointed, and a needless departure from the original series on endless levels.

all that said, Ghost Rider brought to life on the big screen and on his flaming bike is pretty darn cool. but what really almost made it worth the price of admission was Sam Elliot as the caretaker. i love Sam Elliot just on principal to begin with, but here he was awesome! unfortunately i can't even find a cool picture of him to share. just take my word for it.

final analysis: even despite my bias, this is just a bad film, but visually it's got some cool stuff and if you're at all a fan, it's worth sitting through at least once.


some notes: my first encounter with Ghost Rider was in the above Marvel Team-up (i was probably about 12 or 13 years old). I was immediately hooked (a good guy who looks like that ~ !) and shortly thereafter went about collecting every appearance of the character i could find (to date, i think i am only missing a few issues of The Champions (a short-run team spin off) because it was a lame series, but otherwise i have every appearance of Johnny Blaze in Marveldom, ever (even the really rotten stuff). I also have a pile of the original original Ghost Rider (back when it was a western, with Carter Slade).

one year for my birthday, my brother made me a Ghost Rider cake (i need to find a picture of that!), but one of my best birthdays ever was more recently: my brother got me an original page of Ghost Rider art from issue no. 5 (the one page that is quite possibly my favorite ghost rider drawing ever) and a sketch, both signed by jim mooney.

i have the best brother in the world.

: D

[identity profile] utter-scoundrel.livejournal.com 2007-03-07 07:19 pm (UTC)(link)
As a HUGE Hulk fan who had to sit through an hour and forty minutes of Angst Lee dross with one really cool 20 minute desert battle, I sympathize...

Sam Elliot was one of the few good things about that movie, too. Hmmm...the "Sam Elliot Factor".

[identity profile] lookingland.livejournal.com 2007-03-07 07:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Sam Elliot tends to be the best thing about a lot of bad movies ~ hahahahaha.

: D

[identity profile] astamaria.livejournal.com 2007-03-07 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
wow, that comic book cover brings back memories...I used to read those Marvel Team-up comic books all the time! I don't know why they stopped making them...

[identity profile] lookingland.livejournal.com 2007-03-07 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
they were very fun ~ ! and certainly my introduction to a lot of marvel characters i otherwise would not have come across.

: D
sparowe: (Default)

[personal profile] sparowe 2007-03-08 01:52 am (UTC)(link)
Well, you have made me feel somewhat better about not getting to see the movie last weekend. Thanks. ;)

[identity profile] lookingland.livejournal.com 2007-03-09 04:38 pm (UTC)(link)
yeah, i dunna think you missed anything.

: D

[identity profile] tillane.livejournal.com 2007-03-08 05:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Hmm. I was already having second thoughts about going to see Ghost Rider, and I think you've just made my mind up for me.

BTW - Sam Elliott is also due to be in the film version of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials: Northern Lights. Hopefully he won't have to rescue that one, though I'm sure he'll be good...

[identity profile] lookingland.livejournal.com 2007-03-09 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
i'll have to keep my eye out for that one ~ thanks for the head's up!

: D