ouch... Ghost Rider flick getting slammed by the critics

[pastwatch2001]

So far its doing 29% at Rotten Tomatoes.

 

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ghost_rider/

 

 

Well, I wan't expecting a classic so I'm still going. But some of those reviews are really pooping on it. I don't get it, Nic Cage isn't such a bad actor, he's not the greatest just OK. But he's suposed to be a huge comicbook fan and Avi Arad is supposed to be involved with this as well. Haven't they learned from making all their crappy and good movies what works and what doesn't work by now? I just hate seeing good comic characters with lots of potential getting the cinematic shaft like this. Well there's still a chance I'll like it, FF and DD were panned by critics and I thought they were still watchable. Time to lower my expectations and go with a free and open mind before sitting down for this one. At least we got some great movie figs from it so far.

[KamenDreda]

Well two things about this don't surprise me.

 

1) Nick Cage is one of the worst actors in Hollywood (Right behind Keanu Reeves IMO) and

 

2) Ghost Rider is one of the dumbest comic book characters around (again IMO)

[OB1Killa]

I couldn't belive my eyes, so I seached for other movies, previous movie, & read thier critics....

Most of those critics are aimed either at the director of the film, or the main actor. They dont' focus on the film itself...sad... Movies are just better of being watched first than reading those sorry critics.

[evenflow]

I already bought my tickets for tonight, i will make my own choice.

[MX]

My cousin use to be a movie critic. Here's some insight, they all have their heads up their ass. If it isn't some artsy fartsy movie but a movie that's actually made for entertainment purposes, they'll hate it.

[biglebowski9999]

Who listens to critics? Very few comic book movies have ever been liked by the "experts." They're not made for them.

[Marvel_Joe_Spider]

Who listens to critics? Very few comic book movies have ever been liked by the "experts." They're not made for them.

 

 

Exactly, but the funny thing is then you'll see a commercial for the movie from some of these same critics that say "A MUST SEE", but I don't buy what they say ever

[The Avenger]

All superhero movies get bad reviews. For that matter, all blockbusters get bad reviews. And I could already tell that ghostrider wouldn't exactly be a classic from the previews. I'm not expecting a masterpiece, but I'll still go see it, it looks like fun, and isn't that the point of movies?

[So No Tornato]

Who listens to critics? Very few comic book movies have ever been liked by the "experts." They're not made for them.

 

And it will still make millions, despite what the idiot critics say.

[Bigsexy944]

Generally critics are right. Now not always, I remember Roger Ebert bitching about X-Men because he thought it was wrong that the movie centered around Wolverine and not Strom because she was obviously the most powerful and "not just a guy with knives on his hands".

 

But if you look at the hollywood blockbusters, 9 times out of 10 they are complete and utter crap.

 

The reason being is because they follow a strict protocall of predictable and cliche plot devices. They play it safe, have the main characters always come out in top meeting seemingly impossible odds. Theres always a bad guy with little complexity to his character, other than the fact that he's a bad guy who does bad things. Theres always corny and unnessisary one liners thrown in. "I'm good, I feel like my skulls on fire but I'm good". Usualy a weak love interest. Weather it's a secret agent or a guy on a motorcycle with a flaming skull people have seen this movie before. Many times and no one cares anymore.

 

The fact of the matter is that Spider-Man did well because Spider-man is a classic character and it was the first superhero movie from Marvel to do the origin storyline where the everyman becomes a superhero. Other than that the movie had little depth but it still seemed relateable and fresh. The second movie which i thought sucked, gave you more of the same thing, and by then you had already invested your trust and familiarities with the characters so thats why it was failsafe. X-men did alright because Bryan Singer wanted to make a film that tied in ideas of ethics and personal relations and didn't want to succumb to the expected good guy vs bad guy routine like Fantastic Four did.

 

Why did the first Bade do alright? It hit the market by injecting a fresh modern twist a classic idea that had not been explored in years. It was not a good movie but in many ways it was a vampire-related trendsetter.

 

Ghost Rider is bombing. I knew it would bomb from the first preview I saw of it. I knew that with the Fantastic Four and Daredevil. Usually if the film doesn't have anything compelling about it, the preview will reflect as such. I'm always hoping to be pleasently surprised with one of these films. Guess its just not Ghost Rider.

[Mr. Fan]

By chance, do any of you guys know how long the movie is? I'm hoping its longer than X3...

[ARROW]

The reason being is because they follow a strict protocall of predictable and cliche plot devices. They play it safe, have the main characters always come out in top meeting seemingly impossible odds. Theres always a bad guy with little complexity to his character, other than the fact that he's a bad guy who does bad things. Theres always corny and unnessisary one liners thrown in. "I'm good, I feel like my skulls on fire but I'm good". Usualy a weak love interest. Weather it's a secret agent or a guy on a motorcycle with a flaming skull people have seen this movie before. Many times and no one cares anymore.

 

But that's true of about 99% of the fiction ever told...

[SlushyFrog]

I tend to follow Tomatometer pretty faithfully. I can't afford to spend 8-9 bucks on a crappy movie. However, I do give exceptions to comic book movies, because it's just fun to see them on the big screen. I've read a lot of bad comics and that hasn't stopped me from coming back for more. Anyway, unless it dips below 15% I'll watch - that is if I can convince people to go with me.

[leonardo]

Not this debate again. Sure most movies or fiction can be traced back to other stories all the way back to biblical times if you really want. It's the details that set things apart. I mean you think reality is all that interesting or great? History repeats itself. If you strip anyone to the bare bones we're all really similar. But with all the guts and skin we end up looking different. Sure you can say Star Wars is the greek mythology retold or whatever, except that star wars was in @##@@ outer space for gods sake, I'm not going to all of a sudden say I didn't like Star Wars because it resembles Hercules too much. God Father is considered one of the best movies, you really think God Father was anything new? Gangster movies were prevalent thanks to the 20's and 30's and prohibition. He (Coppola) just made a better movie with the same basic ideas.

 

Anyway Ghost Rider looked like crap from the beginning. Cages name attached pretty much ruins anyone's hope that it'll do good. And ever since the Hulk bombed, the movie that was going to take superhero movies into the artsy fartsy direction, they've played it safe and aimed all superhero movies at the kiddy/pre teen crowd.

[cold war revival]

Screw critics! Their opinion means nothing to me whatsoever. I'm sure the movie will be bad but still enjoyable................ like the punisher...

[Mr. Yac]

i still find it shocking that people get shocked when comic movies suck....

[Bigsexy944]

Well I've been told that there are only 22 original ideas in the world, and everything else is a variation of one of them. It's true in saying that 99% of fiction follows a straight protocall.

 

However its what you do within your boundaries that makes something compelling. It's all about spin.

 

Batman Begins was a good example of how good storytelling, pacing and characterization can inject life into something that could have been no different from Spider-Man or Daredevil from a plot standpoint alone.

 

It comes down to taking the character seriously. Even from he previews i could tell tha the filmmakers did not take Ghost Rider seriously and they were marketing the movie to kids who thought a skeleton on a bike was cool and they would bring in cash, plain and simple.

[nagauthier]

Anyone here actually seen it yet?

[Mr. Terrific]

the critics have shafted most of the better marvel movies.... Hulk wasn't as bad as they say, neither was punisher, Fantastic four, or Daredevil.

 

they may not be the best movies ever, but generally critics don't read comic books.

[Nightwng1]

Why did the first Bade do alright? It hit the market by injecting a fresh modern twist a classic idea that had not been explored in years. It was not a good movie but in many ways it was a vampire-related trendsetter.

 

I'm not saying this to come off badly, so dont start flipping out on me when I say this, but Blade did well when it debuted in theatres for a few reasons:

 

1)It wasnt marketed as a comic book movie. Marvel didnt have the logo plastered all over the posters or on the opening of the film. It just Marvel Entertainment presents. Marvel was afraid it would bomb, so they played it safe not putting the big red and white Marvel logo all over the place.

 

2)It was marketed towards horror fans. Smart move, but that wasnt their primary audience (at least when it came to the marketing and the release)

 

3)It was market towards a predominantly black audience, just like any other Wesley Snipes movie. I'm not saying this to sound racist, but its a fact. Go back and look at the commercials and look at what movies the trailer was played with. It was played with sci-fi. horror, and black audience movies.

 

They werent worried about setting a trend with it or injecting a classic take with a new twist. I hope no one thinks I'm being a dick when I say it, but its true. Look at how different the marketing became with Blade 2 and Blade Trinity was compared to Blade.

 

As for Ghost Rider, I'll make my own judgement when I go see it. I'm looking forward to it. It'll be a good time. There was a lot I didnt like about Daredevil, but I was stil able to enjoy it. Quite honestly, Ben Affleck wasnt as bad as everyone thinks. Currently, my favorite Marvel movie is The Hulk. I thought it was thrilling. I loved the pacing. I thought it was perfect. I thought Blade was terrific, although I still wish they went with the alternate ending on the DVD with Morbius.

 

Alas, whenever the movies suck, I just take Alan Moore's advice. If you hate the movies so much, go pull out the comic book and enjoy that for what it is.

[Last Son of Krypton]

Well, I just saw it. I thought it was GREAT!!! Its right up there with Elektra in my book. We all remember how good that one was...

 

 

Yeah, it WAS THAT BAD!!!!!!!!!

 

A few cool scenes, but I expected more than 10 good minutes out of a 110 minute film.

 

@onthecan@

[The Avenger]

the critics have shafted most of the better marvel movies.... Hulk wasn't as bad as they say, neither was punisher, Fantastic four, or Daredevil.

 

they may not be the best movies ever, but generally critics don't read comic books.

I hated Fantastic Four and Hulk, but Daredevil and Punisher are two of my absolute favorite movies, among the few I ever rewatch. So I definitelly understand that sentiment.

 

Ghost Rider does seem like it will probably follow the Daredevil path, which is fine with me. Good actor who people hate because he's popular, and call talentless, even though they do a good job. A darker plot that will hopefully keep it from being childish like F4. So it will end up being called a bomb, but hopefully I personally will love it.

 

But there is always the possibilty it will go the F4, Hulk, Catwoman, route, and I will be among those who bash it.

 

I cant wait to see it, I'll have to check play times at my theatres.

[nagauthier]

I don't know, I sort of agreed with a lot of the points they made about all of those movies except DD. Hulk didn't have enough Hulk and all that Nick Nolte stuff was dumb. FF was good eye candy, but Doom, Reed, and Sue were pretty bad and there were more plot holes than any other comic book movie I've ever seen. Punisher should've been set in NY and had a much higher body count.

[The Avenger]

And for the record, despite all the superhero movies the critics crap on, the worst one of all time, including 90's Batman flicks, a movie called Superman Returns, which was loved by critics. It couldn't have been less entertaining, less well made, or less accurate to the source material, but because critics are a bunch of sheep, they ate it up, just like they do with any new Pixar movie, no matter how cliche they get (caugh caugh Cars).

[Nightwng1]

Damn....I thought Reed was inspired casting. Hated the idea of Jessica Alba at first, but she wasnt terrible. Doom was all I hated. I'm really looking forward to FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer