nexxyz – Gameboy chiptunes and general weirdness

The newest Marvel Comic movie on the market is Ghost Rider. I have to admit, that aside from one story in “Gespenster Geschichten” that I read about 15 years ago, I have never taken the time to really read any comics about this character, although I peeked into the early volumes at one point or another. I found it rather bland, except that no one can possibly deny that the main character has a pretty cool look.

The movie is easily understandable for a non-reader (as in “I didn’t read the comics” not as in “I’m an analphabet”), however I found the Nicholas Cage’s display of Johny blaze a little too…well…not depressing, he was probably supposed to feel detached, but instead felt a little….well I’m really struggling to find a word other than “retarded”, but that’s what I think the character feels like in the movie. The Rider himself feels very impersonal, and while I do not really know whether or not that is intentional, this feeling of artificiality is reflected in the animation. He feels stiff and boxy.

What I especially liked, as usual, were the evil guys. However they’re pretty clichee as well, as can be expected from comic villains. I just wish they had an little more original feel to it, nothing big, just a few specific quirks other than the over-used “fully evil son demon wants to dethrone half-evil demon father”. And the “guy misses date because of being a super-something” scene should have been banned from movies from being recorded on camera from the early Superman on.

Also, maybe it’s my age, but the “let the evil guy get what he wants so we can see him in his most powerful form and can utter a modified but easily recognizable quote and then let the hero destroy him shortly after with his unique abilities by exploiting a tactical mistake of the viallain in a final fight”-thing is getting really, really old. Although I must admit, for a comic or super-hero movie there’s not really an alternative. I’d like it if someone found one, though.

All in all, it’s a nice movie, but for me it was a standard comic movie. Nothing more, nothing less. To be honest, I was expecting a bit more, especially about the look of the Ghost Rider.