[Mathsorcerer]

I saw lots of character traits that Cage's Johnny Blaze had with Gibson's Mad Max, which is a good thing. A tragic hero with a defining moment of torment always makes for a great protagonist. The other reason I saw so many commonalities--it was filmed in/around Melbourne.

It's very refreshing to see a comic book movie have touches of horror; that happens so rarely but the scriptwriter really did a good job of it.

Nicholas Cage did a good job of portraying the heavy burden that the Rider has to carry; having a demon grafted onto is never an easy thing to bear. Of course, having a skilled actor can make a movie. This is the first off-season Marvel movie to equal the scope, scale, and feel of a summer blockbuster (I liked Punisher, but it didn't quite rise to the level of a Spiderman).

Excellent soundtrack, by the way. In fact, it's good enough to actually purchase and I rarely bother with movie soundtracks.

Rider's fights against Blackheart's minions don't last very long, but then the movie isn't about them and the script did have to introduce us to main characters with whom we can identify and care about. *shrug* No movie is perfect. Besides, the minions aren't really a threat...only Blackheart is.

Although they do touch on the whole literary theme of Faust/selling your soul to the devil, Blaze decides to keep the curse of the Spirit of Vengeance and use it against Mephisto (the movie uses the original full form, Mephistophales). With a real contract, Blaze would have had no choice--upon fulfilling the terms of the contract, the Spirit would revert to Mephisto's control. The fact that Blaze is allowed to keep the Spirit means that Mephisto has future plans for him. Oh--was that a hint to a second movie, or was I just the only one to realize this?

By the way, I thoroughly enjoy the Studio Movie Grill. Forget dinner and a movie when you can have dinner at at movie.

I almost forgot: trailers for both Spiderman 3 and Fantastic Four 2 (Rise of the Surfer). A great summer season coming up!

[tobnameless]

movie grill? please give details. E! hated the movie, but I trust you more.

[BaseballerX]

Im probably gonna go see it this afternoon

[The_Heroic_Loser]

I wish my local theaters had dinners available during movies...

[Sam]

Good to hear. I was worried when I heard GR wasn't being screened for critics.

[Super Ordinary Guy]

SHH is reporting HERE that GR

Originally Posted by SHH

rode home with an estimated $15.9 million its opening Friday, about $600,000 more than Johnson's Daredevil opened with over President's Day weekend four years ago. With that impressive an opening, Ghost Rider is looking likely to set a new record for a President's Day weekend opener if it hold up well enough to make over $45.1 million over the four-day weekend. Either way, it's likely to become Nicolas Cage's biggest opening movie to date by topping his 2004 hit National Treasure.

Other GR news/articles can be found at SHH HERE and HERE

SHH = Superherohype.com

[Mathsorcerer]

Of course E! hated the movie--Marvel isn't in Hollywood's good graces since they went solo and stopped letting other producers/studios make their movies. They lost a ton of money on Spiderman because they let too much of the ticket sales and merchandising go out the door. Marvel had no choice.

Just because a movie isn't screened for critics doesn't mean it will be a bad movie. Most movie critics are overpaid for thier narrow-minded opinions; I tend not to listen to them at all.

No, GR wasn't perfect--no movie is--but it was extremely entertaining and I really liked how they redefined the character. The key elements to defining a hero are present--someone who fights against the odds, someone who fights for the innocent and/or those he loves, and interesting character traits. He likes The Carpenters, so please don't interrupt his records.

As far as having access to the Movie Grill...as I said in another thread, that is what I so thoroughly enjoy about having excess money and living in real civilization once again.

[The_Heroic_Loser]

I think it's interesting that Cage redefined Johnny Blaze's character a little bit. Just little tidbits like making him listen to The Carpenters and eat jellybeans.

[tobnameless]

Cage always puts his own twist on every character he plays.

[catinamosh]

Like DareDevil and the Fantastic four..the movie wont suck...it just wont be great...It'll be a popcorn movie...