In all honesty, I expected Ghost Rider to flop, as far as the plot went because one of my colleagues had told me that it was slow. The movie was a bit slow in the beginning as you learned about Johnny Blaze’s background––why he sold his soul to Mephistopheles, how he became a ghost rider, and exactly what a ghost rider is. Once Johnny made his pact, the movie took off.

We’re catapulted to the present, where Johnny makes one death-defying stunt after another in order to atone for the death of his father. Soon Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) comes to Johnny and orders him to capture Blackheart (Wes Bentley), who literally plans to unleash hell on Earth. Once Johnny completes his task, his soul will be set free, or so the devil says.

Right about this time, Blackheart and his cronies appear in some small desert town to wreak their havoc as they searched for Blaze. This was the only character that disappointed me. While the makeup artists did a great job making Bentley look creepy, he fell flat on his acting skills. I expected to feel more hatred coming from this prince of darkness than I did. Instead, his words came out wooden.

Despite that, I enjoyed this movie. It had a solid storyline, a near-perfect cast, and superior special effects. Recommended for ages eleven and up, due to the violent themes.

I love it when critics pan a movie because, based on my experiences, they are usually wrong. So I will take my kids to see this movie on Friday with the hopes that the excitement will have died down by then. I watched the trailer in the movie theater last weekend and this morning. The special effects look cool, and Nicholas Cage seems to fit the ghost rider character pretty well.

Motorcycle stuntman, Johnny Blaze, makes a pact with a dark force, selling his soul to save his girlfriend. When the bargain goes sour and the girl isn’t saved, Blaze is transformed, gaining raging superpowers. Based on the Marvel comic series.

Yahoo! movie raters gave this film a B rating, while another reviewer stated that this film isn’t overly violent for young viewers (5 to 10). Where the violence scale is concerned, Ghost Rider doesn’t look any worse than Batman Returns.