What s the worst adaptation of a comic you ve ever seen? Batman & Robin ? Catwoman ? Electra ? Fantastic Four ? or perhaps the father of all bad superhero flicks Captain America ? With the Ghost Rider premiere it seems prize for worst comic-book film is still up for grabs. Though the adaptation of the 70s cult books by the same title, isn't likely to be on top of anybody s worst-of list, it comes very close. The Ghost Rider comics never did achieve the kind of wide popularity of, say, Spider-Man, X-Men or the Fantastic Four. Instead, it had to settle for a minor spot with other Marvel Comics that appealed to specific, limited readers of darker, Gothic stories such as Blade, Daredevil and The Punisher. The Ghost Rider books were never as good as many of their devoted fans would like you to believe. The stylistic violence and darkness that infuses the books were completely outmatched by "Hellblazer, the Frank Miller series ( Sin City , 300 ) and the brilliant Neil Gaiman stories ( Sandman ) and Alan Moore s graphic novels ( From Hell and V for Vendetta ). Sadly new Nicolas Cage film, which topped the world box-office last weekend earning $52 million in North America alone, doesn t improve much on its source material. Ghost Rider tells the story of Johnny Blaze, a young motorcycle champion who sells his soul to the devil (a very creepy Peter Fonda) to save his father from cancer. Mephistopheles, the devil, as expected, swindles the naive, dumb kid and kills his dad almost immediately in an accident. Blaze parts from his sweetheart Roxanne and begins to lead a double life: he becomes a famous stunt cyclist during the day and the devil s bounty hunter at night. Blaze reunites with Roxanne (Eva Mendes), now a TV reporter, and tries to rekindle their romance while fighting Mephistopheles conceited son Blackheart (Wes Bentley) who, like all Hollywood villains, is trying to take over the world. Writer/director Mark Steven Johnson, whose previous movie was the misbegotten Daredevil, is ardent to make his leading character as likable as possible. When Blaze is not risking his life with his unbelievable gravity-defying stunts or battling demons, he sits and watches his favorite cartoons, munches jelly beans and listens to The Carpenters. But Cage filches every moment to emphasize his own coolness resulting in an egocentric performance from an Oscar-winning artist who hardly ever attempts to engage the audience. The other characters don t have any substantial function in the story except to show Blaze s greatness. Mendes second role in the film is to give the audience the proverbial pretty face (not to mention the cleavage). Although it remains far from appealing, the second part of the film, where Blaze is finally transformed into the burning skeleton (his alter ego), is a drastic improvement on the boring, ostentatious first half. The superhero's power lies in his ability to make the bad guys get a taste of their own medicine: he makes them experience the physical pain they inflicted on their victims through his Stare of Penance. And it must be said, the scenes where Rider unleashes his merciless powers are the movie's only highlights. They make up for Rider's long fiery chain metal armor he dons in the half-baked CGI action scenes. The appeal of Ghost Rider comics has been due to the subversive spirit in the stories and their untraditional characters. What the film version of the book presents is another tremendously conventional superhero flick. Cage s Blaze, with his cliché monologues, is perhaps one of the worst comic-book heroes in recent film history. Ghost Rider will likely fade from memory very quickly. But do not despair: Spider-Man 3 will hit film theaters all over the world in May. But if you can t wait that long, rent the first two parts of the series, or get your hands on the special DVD edition of Batman Begins .
