By Kyle Wilson, '07 |Entertainment Editor

There are, I believe, two types of people in the world. Those that like movies that star Nicolas Cage as a Hell-bound motorcycle rider with a flaming skull for a head, and those that don’t. For the former group, they will find a fun, if silly, movie that entertains you for around two hours and does little else. For the latter, you have my sympathies.

Ghost Rider, based on the Marvel comic book, stars, as mentioned before, Nicolas Cage as the titular spectral bike rider Johnny Blaze. As a boy, he sold his soul to Mephistopheles (read: the Devil) in order to save his stunt cycle riding father from the ravages of cancer. Mephisto does indeed cure Johnny’s father’s cancer, but has him killed the next day in a horrific motorcycle accident. Oh, you tricky Devil you! Now Johnny’s soul is bound to serve Satan, knowing one day he will come to collect what is owed to him.

Johnny, desperate to gain some control in his life, continues in the tradition of his father and becomes a world famous motorcycle stunt rider. Ten years later, Johnny is at the prime of his career, and he has just pulled off his most dangerous stunt, and his ex flame Roxanne Simpson has come back into his life. This is when Mephisto calls on him to claim his due. Mephisto’s son Blackheart has escaped from Hell and, together with three demonic elementals, is trying to locate an artifact that would give him the power of thousands of damned souls. Mephisto transforms Johnny into the Ghost Rider, a servant of Satan who serves as his bounty hunter, bringing wayward spirits from the underworld back to Hell. The Ghost Rider then moves from one confrontation to the next, aided only by the mysterious cemetery man known as the Caretaker. He works his way through street thugs and demons until his final confrontation with Blackheart himself.

Okay, so Shakespeare this is not, but what it is, is simple entertainment that will keep you occupied for two hours. Blaze is played admirably by Cage, who is a self professed fan of the Ghost Rider character. He adds both humor and charm to a man condemned to Satanic servitude. Eva Mendez as Johnny’s girl Roxanne is passable, but not very noteworthy. She’s mostly there for eye candy. Wes Bentley plays Blackheart as a smarmy, preening villain, overtly evil with no subtlety whatsoever. The great Peter Fonda brings a great performance to Mephistopheles, evil yet charismatic. Finally, Sam Elliot as the mysterious Caretaker gives the film a bit of a cowboy influence, working mostly as the source of exposition in the movie but also adding a bit of charm to the rusty old cowpoke.

Now, as eye-candy movies go, this movie will not blow you away like a Spider-Man or a Pirates of the Caribbean movie would. However, the movie does its job serviceably. The fire coming off of both the Ghost Rider himself and his bike look fantastic. The demon effects look creepy, if a tad generic. And some of the stunts are awesome, such as Ghost Rider’s ride up the side of a skyscraper. But again, we have seen better things from other franchise movies.

Overall, this movie isn’t one of those that you should go to if you want a deep story or some life changing cinematic experience. It is the story of a motorcycle rider who has a flaming skull for a head. It is a fun two hours spent in superhero comic book world. As long as you don’t expect too much out of it, you should have a fun enough time.