In order to save his dying father, young stunt cyclist Johnny Blaze sells his soul to Mephistopheles and sadly parts from the pure-hearted Roxanne Simpson, the love of his life. Years later, Johnny's path crosses again with Roxanne, now a reporter, and also with Mephistopheles, who offers to release Johnny's soul if Johnny becomes the fabled, fiery Ghost Rider, a supernatural agent of vengeance and justice. Mephistopheles charges Johnny with defeating the despicable Blackheart, Mephistopheles's nemesis and son, who plans to displace his father and create a new Hell even more terrible than the old one.

Superhero movies are a growing fad and have become yearly staples for theater releases. Last year we saw the likes of X-men and Superman take on the silver screen once again, and comic books flicks dating back to Tim Burton's Batman in the late 1980's have set the tone of what to expect from this sort of film. However, Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, which came out in 2005, pretty much broke into strides against all other movies in it's league and set a new standard for how comic book flicks could be done- and done right. Unfortunately, since Batman Begins, there has yet to be a movie that matches it's quo. This includes the latest superhero flick of 2007, Ghost Rider.

Ghost Rider tells the story of the Marvel character starting from the beginning: How young motorcyclist daredevil Johnny Blaze essentially traded his very soul to the devil in exchange for healing his dad's terminal cancer. While the deal initially works out with Satan (actually called Mephistopheles in this film), his dad suffers at the hands of fate in another way and sends Johnny on his way out of town and into the spotlight of fame, narrowly escaping death in exchange for his new high life.

His life of fun and fame, however, is suddenly cut short when Mephistopheles pays him a visit and confronts Blaze as the devil's bounty hunter, in other words the Ghost Rider. Blaze's new job is to hunt down Mephistopheles' son Blackheart and destroy him and his murderous band of villains and take the curse off himself.

The main thing you have to ask yourself is this - How much expectation can I put on a comic book movie for it to be a good movie? Or just a movie at all? Sure it's Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and of course you can't take any of it seriously - but still. The lingering thought of "Well, Batman Begins did it, why can't every movie follow suit?" Ghost Rider does not follow suit, and plays on the idea of exotic characters and special effects to rule the day. At times, I found it somewhat hard to take anything on screen even just a smidgen seriously. Camera angles, and the blatant use of special effects made it seem at times as if I was watching Power Rangers or some made-for-TV kids show. Even the very idea that the ghost of the worst superhero movie ever made (Batman and Robin... oh wait, Daredevil) may have haunted the set could be true.

The spook factor was the only thing that deterred the content of the film, that and the whole 'selling-your-soul-to-the-devil' thing. Many of the evil characters make crazy scary faces and Blackheart's way of killing people still creeps me out when I think about it. The violence is pretty much the norm for any comic book flick. Ghost Rider, although working for the devil (again not really addressed as such), plots against him and does work for good- even earning the comment that he 'may have God on his side.' The whole thing does get a tad spiritual at times, and I can see someone writing a book like "Finding God in Ghost Rider" sometime in the future. It teaches a very good lesson, and has no hindrance in the way of communicating it. There is a few spots of language, and no nudity or sex- though Eva Mendes wears ridiculously revealing clothes in just about every scene.

Nicholas Cage was convincing. Many people were seriously doubting if the old dude could pull off a "cool" role. I can safely say he does. His attitude and somewhat despondent behavior makes him able to 'fit' into the role soundly. Cage also provides humor at times, even protecting his sacred Karen Carpenter in one scene (this is genuinely funny). The role of Cage's lover Roxanne, by Hitch's Eva Mendes, also is done well. It's the supporting cast, the throng that surround Cage and Mendes, that literally tear up the film. I found these other characters, especially the antagonist Blackheart, to be the downfall of the film. Perhaps it would've been better if, you know, they weren't in the film to begin with. The story provides enough of an idea of a plot, but the follow through is, at times, poorly executed. Does anybody remember the build up of story in Hulk and then remember only watching a total of like 20 minutes of the actual Hulk smashing things? Yeah, a little bit of that Marvel mistake lingers in this film. I wish there was a little more Ghost Rider romping and stomping, and a little less "stranded-hillbilly-attacked-innocently-by-villains" scenes.

I hate to ruin your expectations for this film, but the best course of action is probably to not have any going into it. Let it surprise you. Let the action and special effects lift you off your seat and pummel you into the ride and adventure that is Ghost Rider. While I thought it was less than spectacular, it may entertain you and give you a longing of what you've been waiting for in a comic book flick in a long time: another Batman Begins.

If you have any questions or comments about the film, knock yourself out and go ahead and e-mail me.