My knowledge of the Ghost Rider comic-book isn't very expansive. Unlike Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and X-Men, this isn't a superhero particularly well known by the general public. So will the upcoming movie starring Nicolas Cage fail because of lack of awareness? Daredevil didn't exactly set the box-office alight, did it?The international trailer for Ghost Rider has just been released and it actually does a good job of making me curious about this movie. The typically unlikely conceit finds biker stuntman Johnny Blaze (Cage) possessed by a vengeful flame-skulled spirit when the sun goes down. It essentially looks like an excuse for some great visuals, as the "Ghost Rider" roars around on his mean-machine bike, complete with a leather jacket full of whirling chains, with his wheels on fire.
The trailer certainly grabbed my interest and contains a few moments that look interesting (see above), but there doesn't look to be anything particularly new here. The market is crammed with superheroes at the moment, so is there room for an upstart like Ghost Rider? Well, sometimes ignorance of the source material can wield surprises; I remember watching The Crow and being amazed by the great work achieved there (deftly thrown away with the unworthy sequels, but never mind).
I'm willing to give Ghost Rider a chance based on the evidence of this trailer, though. There could be a cult hit brewing here at the very least. The production seems to have a polished feel and Nicolas Cage is always watchable onscreen. The effects look cool, the desert landscape gives it an original feel for comic-book properties (I'm fed-up of cities like Metropolis and Gotham City), but I'm not yet sold on the flaming skull head effects of The Rider. It looks a bit phony to me, but hey, it's possibly out of context in the trailer...
Take a look for yourself by clicking here.