Nicolas Cage plays Johnny Blaze, a stunt rider-turned-hero in "Ghost Rider."

Movie Reviews

By: David Coley

Posted: 2/19/07

In Theaters

'Ghost Rider'

Imagine if you will: a young boy sells his soul to the devil to save his father's life, only to have his father die anyway. Nothing happens for many years, and then suddenly the devil wants the young man to serve as his bounty hunter to capture souls and demons who have escaped from hell.

When the need arises, the man turns into a flaming skeleton and rides a fiery motorcycle, leaving destruction and several catatonic evildoers in his wake.

Such is the utterly ridiculous premise of the latest Marvel comics adaptation "Ghost Rider." Comics require a certain finesse to make the transfer successfully to the big screen, and in the hands of a good director this can happen swimmingly - see "Batman Begins" and the "Spider-man" series for examples. But that finesse is lacking completely from this film.

The approach director Mark Steven Johnson almost seems like the right one. He seems to not take the material too seriously, which is good since the story screams for an over-the-top style. However, there is a fine line between being intentionally over-the-top and downright cliché, and "Ghost Rider" indulges every tired action movie convention it can possibly get its hands on.

The main conflict of the film revolves around the aforementioned man, Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage). He has been given the new task of hunting down the devil's son Blackheart (Wes Bentley) and his evil elemental minions. Blaze must do this while trying to evade the police who are now hot on his trail and protect his sweetheart Roxanne (Eva Mendes).

Also involved is a former Rider (Sam Elliot) who dispenses pearls of wisdom when not taking a ride with Blaze on his flaming horse.

This main conflict comes around the middle of the movie and seems to only occupy a secondary attention as far as the film's narrative goes. The rest is populated with gratuitous special effects and laughable random showdowns between Blaze and the demons.

The villains look like rejects from "The Matrix," and circle each other dispensing taunts even pro-wrestlers would find cliché.

The dialogue is one of the biggest problems. With the actors chewing the scenery and milking each line to death, the already familiar words are sure to induce groans.

The cinematography doesn't help things, either. With the usual quick close-ups on eyes - in this case, flaming holes where eyes would be - and fists and Blaze's motorcycle, the camerawork is decidedly amateur and cartoonish, and brings to mind the other hundred movies that copied the style of "The Matrix."

From interviews, you get the impression that this is Nicolas Cage's passion project. He has loved the character since childhood and dreamed of playing him someday. He seems to be so absorbed in the silly style employed by Johnson. It makes one wonder if he was so blinded by his infatuation for the comic he didn't realize the film is an exercise in recycled style with little substance.

With so many horror and action films being made these days, the last thing we need is a big star, and usually good actor, getting passionate about a shoddily made biker's fantasy.

In Theaters

'The Good German'

Is film noir dead?

My immediate answer would be negative. Rian Johnson's film "Brick," released earlier this year, proved the genre still has legs, albeit in quite a different form than the classic molds associated with noir.

However, Steven Soderbergh's latest film, "The Good German," could almost single-handedly convince you otherwise.

In keeping with the aforementioned traditional film noir, Soderbergh has built a film almost completely mimicking the style and tone of those older films. It is filmed in black and white in a grainy style free of modern techniques like zoom lenses and sophisticated lighting.

The Berlin depicted here is one of shadows, reflecting the numerous deceptions at the heart of the story. The problem is all the stylistic choices push the story out of the heart of the film.

The movie revolves around three main characters who flit in and out of the spotlight of being the hero. Jacob Geismer (George Clooney) is a journalist who has returned to a Berlin devastated by war to cover the Potsdam peace conference between the Allied powers. His driver Tully (Tobey Maguire) is manipulating the quarreling military forces for his own economic gain. He is involved with prostitute Lena (Cate Blanchett), who also has a history with Jacob.

A key murder sets off the events of the film. It seems both the Americans and Russians are looking for Lena's husband, the presumed-dead Emile Brandt (Christian Oliver), who is able to testify against his superior in Nazi war crimes trials. They are looking for Lena to get information, and are using both Tully and Jacob to find her.

From then on, twists and turns abound until things reach an altogether confusing conclusion.

I wish I could tell you more about the plot, but I simply cannot for two reasons: the utter mess of a story prevents me from fully understanding what happened, and if I did understand, I'm pretty sure it would be too confusing to relate.

The story's continuous shifting from one central character to another is a problem in itself, but add to that the fact that the entire plot hinges on extremely minor supporting characters and you've got a story that doesn't even matter.

One of the main problems from which all the rest stem is that the film wants to be "Casablanca," but the filmmakers did not realize what made that great film a classic in the first place. The main difference between the two is that for "Casablanca," the war is only a backdrop for characters being brought to an emotional crisis that connects with the audience. In "German," the war is everything, and because the emotions stem from such a confused setting, the character arcs are tangled as well.

I admire Soderbergh's intentions. More people need to be reminded of the great classics of yesteryear. But to make a film with all of the trappings of a classic and none of the heart dishonors that legacy instead of praising it.

dcoley@unews.com