Ghost Rider (2007)

Overall: C+
Cast: B-
Plot: C
Special Effects/Stunts: B
Similarity to Comic: C
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Comic Company: Marvel
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Sam Elliot
Rating:PG-13
See the IMDB page
See the Rotten Tomatoes page

This movie had some confusing plot points and it started off being pretty accurate to the comic book but then just kind of... blazed off.  I definitely prefer Mark Steven Johnson's previous superhero movie (Daredevil) to this one.

The Good: One thing that makes comic book franchises so successful is the fact that every hero is different, and the ones that aren't don't make it.  For example you have heroes that defend one neighborhood (Daredevil), you have heroes that defend entire cities (Spider-Man, Batman), you have heroes that defend the planet from intergalactic foes (Superman, Green Lantern) and heroes everywhere in-between.  So naturally there's a hero that defends us from Hell, an idea that I find incredibly creative and intriguing.  And with that I'm done talking about the plot for now.

Eva Mendes did okay, I can never really tell if her acting is really that good or if she plays characters similar to herself in real life all the time, but regardless it was a good performance.  Sam Elliot was really good, I wish his character had a bigger role though.  I thought two of the best actors in the movie were the kids that played young Johnny and Roxanne, they should have given some of the adults in this movie acting lessons.

The Bad: Pretty much the entire plot.  It was difficult to follow, wasn't very true to the comic, and filled with plot holes.  I really like the idea of a superhero who fights demons, but this movie took a good idea and squashed it.  For the most part the effects were pretty good, but there were just a couple parts that you could tell they didn't put a lot of time or money into and they should have.  One or two bad shots ruins the preception of the effects for the rest of the movie.

Some cruicial roles were filled with questionable actors.  Like the Ghost Rider.  I'm still not sure what to think, Nicolas Cage seems to play the same character in all of his movies but I feel like he changed it up just enough to maybe make it work?  I spent so much time trying to decide that I got distracted from the movie then gave up.  Another poor actor was the guy who played Blackheart.  First off "Blackheart"? Really? Talk about a generic evil guy name.  Second, he was a pansy.  Not in his actions really, but his voice? His hair?  Something about him just didn't say "evil villain".

The Interesting: I really like how when Johnny becomes the Rider, he seems to lose all intelligence and barely retains the ability to speak english, yet he still knows that he loves Roxanne.  I like how all he has to do is say that he comtrols the fire and all of a sudden he can control it, without practice or hard work.  I like how Blackheart was dumb enough to absorb all those souls then look right into Ghost Rider's eyes, and why did that kill him anyway?  He had no soul, at the most it should have just taken all those other souls out of him.

I thought that giving him a fire chain for a weapon was a very creative touch, though some of the ways he used it didn't really make sense.  I was surprised at the end how much damage they were able to do to Super Blackheart using guns.  And how come Ghost Rider kept his curse?  And why couldn't the devil just take it back from him the same way he gave it to him?  These are the questions I asked myself through the whole film.

Conclusion: Here is another good idea that Marvel killed.  They could have turned it into a darker comic, maybe put some violence, bad words, and sex or something in the movie and make it rated R, that would have fit this type of character better I think.

Fantastic Four (2005)

Overall: C+
Cast: B
Plot: C
Special Effects/Stunts: C
Similarity to Comic: B
Director: Tim Story
Comic Company: Marvel
Stars: Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis
Rating: PG-13 
See the IMDB page
See the Rotten Tomatoes page

I was not super impressed with this movie, it seemed very childish but with a PG-13 rating it didn't exactly appeal to that audience.  In my opinion, this movie was not as good as it could have been.

The Good: There was one thing this movie did right, and that was casting Chris Evans, Jessica Alba, and Michael Chiklis as The Human Torch, The Invisible Woman, and The Thing.  They all did really well, as did Julian McMahon in his role as Victor von Doom.  Other than that I'd have to say the best acting probably came from the actress who played the blind girl and Stan Lee.

This movie also did a pretty god job of following the comic book.  I like how their transformation into heroes took almost the entire movie, it was a nice change of pace from the usual accident scene or montage.  I'm going to say about 70% of the effects in this movie were pretty good, mainly the landscape or cityscape ones, the character CGI could be greatly improved.

The Bad: I just said it, the character CGI in this movie was pretty bad.  I especially didn't like how they did Mr. Fantastic, he didn't look real at all.  The Human Torch looked okay for most of it but The Invisible Woman had a couple rough patches.  The Thing looked good throughout the whole movie but that's probably because he was the only character who wasn't all CGI.

This movie simple didn't deliver, as one person wrote on 'Rottentomatoes.com' it was "all foreplay and no climax" and I think that pretty much sums it up.  It slowly built up and then the climax of the movie was a real letdown.  I also didn't like how they never really explained Dr. Doom's power, if I have any pet peaves about superhero movies that'd be number one; always explain a superpower clearly.

The Interesting: The science in this movie seemed flawed.  When Mr. Fantastic created his machine designed to change them back he said it worked by re-exposing them to the same kind of radiation and that would change them back.  So let me get this straight; that's like saying if I hit my hand with a hammer, I can make it better by hitting my hand with the same hammer again?  That doesn't make sense.  I also didn't understand how The Thing could use the machine to change back into a person, but then he uses it again and it changes him back into The Thing?  These are superpowers we're talking about here not clothes, you can't just use a machine whenever you want to get them (unless you're the Green Goblin or Captain America ect.)

My final beef with that machine is that Reed said "it has a high chance of increasing our powers or killing us" then he uses the machine and what happens?  He steps out, melts, and then is just fine in the next scene.  WHAT?!  This movie had some serious consistency issues.

Conclusion: I guess this movie wasn't too bad, maybe I've just outgrown it, but if I have then so have the majority of people who would have gone to see it or bought it on DVD, so overall I'd call it a fail.

Daredevil (2003)

Overall: B
Cast: A
Plot: B
Special Effects/Stunts: C
Similarity to Comic: B
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Comic Company: Marvel
Stars: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell
Rating:PG-13
See the IMDB page
See the Rotten Tomatoes page

After reading the first Daredevil comic and seeing this movie I have to say Daredevil is among my favorite superheroes now.  This movie is very much like the comic book and the cast was great.

The Good: This is one of the best casts I've ever seen in a superhero movie.  It had Ben Affleck who did great as Matt Murdock, Jennifer Garner was terrific as Elektra, and Colin Farrell (as annoying as his character was) did well too.  Even the unknown actors at the time were good.  It had Jon Favreau who has gone on to be in several good movies and direct the 'Iron Man' movies, Joe Pantoliano has been in several good movies, and Ellen Pompeo went on to be the star of 'Grey's Anatomy'.  Oh and let's not forget about Michael Clarke Duncan who was the perfect Kingpin.  I also really liked David Keith as Matt's dad.

I think one of the best things about this movie is just the character of Daredevil.  He isn't an easily recognizable superhero like Superman or Spider-Man, instead nobody really knows what he stands for or if they can trust him.  One kid even started crying and Matt had to tell him that he wasn't the bad guy.  I also liked how they put two villains in this movie, I think the best superhero movies always have more than one, as long as they don't butcher it like 'Green Lantern' did.

The Bad: Special effects are the backbone of any superhero movie, and this movie was very similar to 'Spider-Man' in the fact that there wasn't much CGI, but what there was wasn't very good.  Everything would be cool up until they'd show a shot of him flying through the air or falling from a building, the CGI looked like good Nintendo 64 graphics.

Bullseye bugged the crap out of me.  He walked around with that dumb scar on his face (how do you get one like anyway?) and held his hands out like he thought he was Jesus reincarnated the entire movie.  Although that's very true to the character, it was really annoying, and took away some of the realism this movie was going for.  The first fight between Daredevil and Elektra also seemed very unrealistic.

The Interesting: First off, I would like to thank the writers/directors/designers of this movie for making Daredevil's costume look almost nothing like his original yellow one from the comic books, I think that really helped out this movie.  What I do not understand though is why they decided to introduce Elektra in this movie.  Don't get me wrong Jennifer Garner is perfect for the part but I think it would have made more sense to make a sequel and introduce her in that one.  They did a good job using her story and intertwining it with the rest of the plot, except for the fact that they got her story almost all wrong.

It seems to me that even if you have heightened senses, wouldn't  having sight still be more of an advantage than echolocation?  Especially the one scene when he's in the bar when it shows his point of view and everything just seems like chaos.  And even with heightened senses you could still get hurt right?  But he seems to heal almost s fast as Wolverine, he just gets scars and bad knees.

Conclusion: Even though I don't fully understand Daredevil's abilities this was still  very entertaining movie (with a great soundtrack I might add).  They stayed pretty true to the comic book and the characters and the acting was great.