Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider – When stunt rider, Johnny Blaze, sells his soul to a demon to save his father’s life, he is betrayed and loses everything. Many years later, Johnny has become a successful stunt rider, doing increasingly dangerous stunts believing that the demon is keeping him alive. When he meets former flame, Roxanne, his hopes for a brighter future are dashed when he becomes the demon’s bounty hunter: Ghost Rider. 

Ghost Rider (2007) – Director: Mark Steven Johnson

Rating: 12

Running Length: 114 mins

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Wes Bentley

Genre: Action, Comic Book, Horror

REVIEW: GHOST RIDER

With his flaming skull and flaming motorbike, Ghost Rider is automatically a cool character that visually stands out against other comic book characters. It’s surprising it took so long for a big screen appearance to manifest! The first cinematic version to Marvel’s demonic vigilante stars Nicolas Cage as the eponymous anti-hero who plays both the vulnerable, naïve human side and the confident, brutally violent demonic side with aplomb. He clearly relishes the panicked hysteria Johnny experiences as he transforms and his overall performance ensures everyone else fades into the background.

The villains of the movie look suitably monstrous and are callously evil enough, however, none are especially hard for Ghost Rider to defeat. Even the leader, Blackheart, (who admittedly puts up more of a fight) soon succumbs to Ghost Rider’s power. Unfortunately this makes the movie more about the visual effects than the adversity Johnny faces when he first becomes his fiery alter-ego. Ghost Rider is instantly sure of himself so there is no internal struggle of what he is expected to do.

Overall, ‘Ghost Rider’ is fun and cool to look at but has little depth or decent characterisation. It’s fine for a light-hearted action movie but hardly operating on the level that Marvel has since grown to.

CONTENT: IS ‘GHOST RIDER’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

Johnny is approached by a sinister man when he is alone at night at the circus he works at. There is thunder and lightning, making the scene particularly spooky and as the man walks through Johnny’s tent, a lightning strike highlights a demonic shadow beside him.

The demon who Johnny sells his soul to touches Johnny’s chest causing fire to course through his body. He groans in pain and the fire can be seen under his skin. This lasts for around 5 seconds.

Another demon, Blackheart, looks normal for the majority of the time, however he sometimes becomes monstrous with black eyes and a grotesquely large mouth with sharp teeth and his voice becomes distorted. When looking like this, he often lunges suddenly at the screen.

Blackheart goes to a biker bar and touches the chest of a man who has been unfriendly to him. The man shakes as his eyes and face turn black, he groans and then collapses to the floor, dead. Later, a woman is seen cowering inside the bar, she looks out from her hiding place and sees the bodies of all the patrons in the bar turned black. Blackheart is still in the bar and attacks her.

When Johnny first turns into the Ghost Rider, the transformation is graphic. His head burns and he screams as his skin peels away. His head turns into a flaming skull. This only takes a few seconds and after he changes, he is totally fine but it could be distressing for younger children.

During a fight, Ghost Rider is suddenly hit by a large truck. This would kill an ordinary person but he walks away from this unscathed and continues to fight.

Ghost Rider interrupts a man who is attacking a woman in the street, grabbing him and saying ‘Your soul is stained by the blood of innocents, feel their pain’. The camera then zooms into Ghost Rider’s eye socket and through fire. We see flashes of a couple being attacked; a knife thrusts forwards implying one of them is stabbed and a gun is shot. Both of them scream in terror and it is heavily implied that both are murdered. The fire is in the man’s head and as the camera zooms out from his eyes, they are completely black although parts of the fire can also be seen. He collapses to the floor and blinks so he is still alive but nothing is mentioned of the character again.

The attacker from before stabbed Ghost Rider in the shoulder which had no effect on him, however when he transforms back into Johnny, he is wounded. There is some injury detail of a large gash but there is no blood. Another character stitches the wound with a curved needle which is shown to penetrate the skin a couple of times.

Johnny is put into a prison cell with numerous criminals. They begin to beat him but soon after, Ghost Rider emerges and easily fends them off.

Ghost Rider and another character speed through the desert, a lizard watched them but as the whizz past, the speed they are going at incinerates it and it’s bones crumble to dust.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘GHOST RIDER’ FOR CHILDREN?

Cool but superficial, ‘Ghost Rider’ is more a visual vehicle for Nicolas Cage than anything else but it’s still fun to watch. We recommend this movie for kids aged 8 and over but advise caution as it could be quite scary for more sensitive children.

• Violence: 3/5 (mostly implied violence, Ghost Rider makes people see their crimes from the points of view of their victims. The way Blackheart kills people is quick but nasty)
• Emotional Distress: 2/5 (an established character is killed unceremoniously, this isn’t dwelt upon but the character has been nice throughout so could be upsetting for some kids)
• Fear Factor: 3/5 (lots of scary demons lunging suddenly at the camera. In one scene, a character walks around in darkness and the soundtrack makes it spooky, there is then a jump-scare where they are suddenly attacked)
• Sexual Content: 1/5 (a female character sometimes wears revealing clothes)
• Bad Language: 2/5 (infrequent mild to moderate cursing and blasphemy)
• Dialogue: 2/5 (some of Ghost Rider and Blackhearts dialogue could be a bit frightening for younger kids)
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of selling one’s soul and expecting a positive result, lost love, fighting evil, stopping criminals, believing that you are invincible and accepting that a bad decision early in life could have far-reaching effects in later life)

Words by Laura Record