A Columbia Pictures release in association with Crystal Sky Pictures and Relativity Media / A Marvel Studios/Michael De Luca production
Running time — 110 minutes / MPAA rating PG-13

I’m not a comic book aficionado but I liked GR. Who was that bewigged 30 year old pretending to be Nic Cage?

In all candor, I do not read comic books, but that doesn’t mean I am prejudiced against possible money-making comic book franchises – which this clearly is. Done right, of course (I hate those soulless “Fantastic Four”). Nic Cage wanted to play Superman. Yes, he was a tad old for that gig even back a few years, but many people indulged him in that fantasy.

Looking 30 years old – with a botoxed brow and skin stretched too tight over cheek implants – Cage shows off a ripped, youthful body. He’s lithe, he’s thin, he’s wearing the movie star wig. He is not chewing up the scenery with over-acting. And we all know Cage is in the cabal of over-acting stars led by 1st Place Holder Jack Nicholson and 2nd Place Holder Al Pacino.

I did not know anything about Marvel’s “Ghost Rider” except we applauded the trailer when it was previewed a few weeks ago. How often does the audience do that?

Ben Affleck picked a superhero (“Daredevil”) with a disability (blindness) for his foray into Franchiseland – a stupid choice (but it took many more bombs than DAREDEVIL to sideline his career). Cage chose a motorcycle-riding anti-hero that spits fire and has a major flaw – he sold his soul to The Devil-With-A-Facelift. Don’t you just love it when The Devil is wearing a stylish Prada long trench and the latest in Brazilian faces?

The living emblem of cowboy righteous, Sam Elliot, opens GHOST RIDER with the story’s masculine history. It is the run-up to young Johnny Blaze (Matt Long) who works alongside his father Barton (Brett Cullen) in a circus motorcycle act.

Finding out Barton is dying of cancer, Johnny quickly does the right thing and sells his soul to Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) in exchange for his father’s clean bill of health.

Johnny does not read the fine print or have a lawyer present.

Instead of running around bragging, “Guess who I just met!”, Johnny is hoodwinked by The Big D. In the manner of the great Don Corleone, The Devil tells Johnny: “Someday – and that day may never come – I’ll call upon you to do a service for me.”Upset over his devil dupe, Johnny leaves his young girlfriend Roxanne (Raquel Alessi) and finds fame and fortune. Thirty years later, when we meet up with Johnny (Nicholas Cage) again, he’s a huge motorcycle-jumping superstar. He cannot die! He is invincible. He looks like he’s 30 years old too!

At Johnny’s career apex, Roxanne (Eva Mendes) returns. She is a TV reporter. She’s been watching him get filthy rich and famous. He’s been watching her interview mugging victims on local TV.

But, wouldn’t you know it? It’s payback time. No, Mephistopheles doesn’t need a birthday cake. He requires the services of a bounty hunter and calls upon Johnny to become his motorcycle-riding “Ghost Rider.” Johnny gets a neat superpower now. He can tell when evil people are around and he transforms into a fiery, skeleton in black leather. He kills bad people.

Mephistopheles has a problem: A mean, ungrateful son named Blackheart (Wes Bentley). His kid runs a gang of three buddy-demons. If Johnny gets back a1,000 Souls Contract that Blackheart is after, and kills the bastard, Mephistopheles will rescind his contract. He gets to keep his soul!

Lucky for Johnny, his new friend, graveyard denizen Caretaker (Sam Elliott), considers him “a kid” without a mentor. He tells him the ground rules and the lay-of-the-franchise-land.

Director-screenwriter Mark Steven Johnson redeems himself from the debacle that was DAREDEVIL. But DAREDEVIL did have an interesting look, and so does GHOST RIDER. At times Johnny’s lair reminded me of the J.F. Sebastian’s warehouse. GHOST RIDER’s story is nicely presented with a Devil Pact as the hook. While GHOST RIDER does not have the SPIDERMAN cartoon special effects budget, it has a gritty atmosphere that would have suffered with over-the-top digital effects.

Nic, you have your franchise now and I liked your goofy charm. Who, in Johnny’s place, wouldn’t try out a few superhero poses in the bathroom mirror? And you didn’t look fat in that Elvis motorcycle jumping costume.

Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Mark Steven Johnson
Producers: Avi Arad, Steven Paul, Michael De Luca, Gary Foster
Executive producers: E. Bennett Walsh, Ari Arad, Stan Lee, Norm Golightly, David S. Goyer, Lynwood Spinks
Director of photography: Russell Boyd
Production designer: Kirk M. Petruccelli
Film editor: Richard Francis-Bruce
Costume designer: Lizzy Gardiner
Special visual effects and animation: Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc.
Music: Christopher Young
Cast: Johnny Blaze: Nicolas Cage, Roxanne: Eva Mendes, Blackheart: Wes Bentley,
Caretaker: Sam Elliott, Mack: Donal Logue, Mephistopheles: Peter Fonda.

DAREDEVIL opens with our superhero crashing through a church. He’s hurt. He took a really bad fall, but don’t worry, he’s got a medicine cabinet filled with vicodin. The story then unfolds at the beginning, as young Matt Murdock is being raised by a less-than-honorable prizefighter dad, Jack “The Devil” Murdock (David Keith), in Hell’s Kitchen. Shocked at seeing his father rough up a guy, Matt is then blinded by a hazardous chemical and, though not bitter, aims to help others less fortunate then himself. Recovering in the hospital, Matt quickly notices that, even though he is blind, his other senses are stronger. He puts himself through law school and builds a life for himself.

Now, twenty years or so later, Murdock (Affleck and an army of stuntmen) works with his disgruntled partner Foggy Nelson (Jon Favreau) helping the under-privileged. Why Foggy keeps complaining about having poor clients and keeps working for them is one of the mysteries of the sloppy screenplay. New York City is under the spell of a crime boss known only as Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan). Murdock meets up with socialite/martial arts expert Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner), the daughter of Ambassador Natchios (Erick Avari). When the Ambassador is murdered, Elektra decides to avenge his death. Elektra thinks Daredevil is responsible. Kingpin’s chief henchman is the dashing Irish villain, Bullseye (Colin Farrell), who utters the definitive comic book line: “I want my own bloody costume.”

But he never gets it.

The blind superhero thing is lost on me. Affleck, wearing Al Pacino’s wig * , looks lost in a rushed production. Affleck does not have the emotional range to play blind. Isn’t acting hard enough? I like him in his self-effacing interviews, especially his recent comment that he is certainly not leading an “unexamined life,” though his comments on the celebrity life is incredulous ** . But am I the only one that notices Affleck’s acting instrument is his mouth? Slightly open is “concern,” barely open is “grief,” wide open is “lust,” somewhat open is “confusion,” and open is “intelligent.” Held tight shows “introspection.” If Murdock had the kind of heightened sensory acuity claimed, why would he have to look far off in the distance when spoken to? Sound vibrations, as well as a person’s breathing, would direct him right at a person’s eye level. Matt’s blindness means he can’t see people’s reactions but his heightened sense of hearing should give him the skill to tell by a person’s vocal inflections if they were being deceptive.

The problem with DAREDEVIL is, regardless of the glut of PR hype, Affleck doesn’t have sexual charisma. He can’t hold the screen – with or without the mask. I’ve done a quick survey among my female friends. Affleck is just not “hot.” We know Affleck isn’t always in that costume and it is stuntmen who are in the fight sequences and leaping off buildings. CGI effects dominate the film, but when the character of Daredevil is on screen, it has to be played by someone who can deliver nuance and a sense of inner turmoil, or how about fun? Having a high profile personal life, or being named “The Sexiest Man Alive” by People Magazine, does not translate on the screen.

A great deal has been written about Daredevil’s costume. Well, it’s safe to say the costume is still cloaked in darkness and mystery. The tiny devil horns are barely visible. We do see at lot of shots of boots hitting the pavement. The question about Affleck’s hair continues in DAREDEVIL. Hair, and the lack thereof, is a big character in DAREDEVIL. Murdock may have a hornet’s nest on top of his head but everyone else is bald. Bullseye, New York Post reporter Ben Urich (Joe Pantoliano), Kingpin, and Ambassador Natchios are all bald.

Colin Farrell plays Bullseye and, even though I have absolutely no objectivity regarding Farrell (after THE MINORITY REPORT, THE RECRUIT, and reading his interview in the March issue of Playboy, he can do no wrong), his Bullseye nearly takes the movie out of Affleck’s hands. Lucky for us, an actor like Farrell can communicate sexual vitality. When Farrell is on screen with Garner their chemistry ignites the movie. So why kill off Bullseye and keep Kingpin for the sequel? It doesn’t make sense. Will Kingpin – all three hundred pounds of him – really suffer in prison? Why does Daredevil let him live, but kill Bullseye?

While the director, Mark Steven Johnson, does give the production an interestingly dark and moody, washed-out look, where is the story? How is it Daredevil can leap off buildings and fly around New York City? What’s with Murdock “seeing” when it rains? Shouldn’t Daredevil move to Seattle? Couldn’t the writer, again Johnson, have come up with a better story than the tired, old, now-standard one about a son avenging his father’s death and an over-the-top grinning crime boss? While DAREDEVIL may be staying true to it’s comic book roots, the movie audience is entitled to something fresh and novel. We’ve seen this movie before.

The entire movie looks like an assembly line production pieced together merely to give a movie star the biggest perk of all – a franchise. In Affleck’s case, DAREDEVIL is another failed attempt.

* According to Vanity Fair’s March cover story on Ben Affleck, his hair is all his. It just looks really, really fake in movies.

** However, a very public life does pay well indeed. Affleck was paid $12.5 million for GIGLI and $15 million for John Woo’s upcoming film PAYCHECK. Vanity Fair quotes Ben on the price of stardom: “You have to become a whore. Nobody’s paying anybody money out of the goodness of his heart. What is it worth to whore your private life and have every aspect of it totally exposed? When you consider that, I feel like I’m underpaid.”

Cast:
Matt Murdock/Daredevil…Ben Affleck
Elektra Natchios…Jennifer Garner
Kingpin…Michael Clarke Duncan
Bullseye…Colin Farrell
Foggy Nelson…Jon Favreau
Ben Urich…Joe Pantoliano

Written and Directed by…Mark Steven Johnson