Ghost Rider (film): Difference between revisions

Line 26:

* [[Absolute Cleavage]]: Roxanne seems unaware of the top two buttons of every shirt she wears.

* [[Age Cut]]: The film starts with young Johnny and Roxanne, then cuts to the adult Johnny.

* [[As the Good Book Says]]: Blackheart says the [[I Am Legion]] line verbatim.

* [[As the Good Book Says...]]: Blackheart says the [[I Am Legion]] line verbatim.

* [[The Atoner]]: Both Riders.

* [[Awesomeness Is Volatile]]: Implicitly the reason that Ghost Rider's bitchin' hellcycle tears up the road, sets things on fire and sends cars flying.

Line 42:

* [[Confessional]]: Blackheart mockingly confesses to a priest before killing him.

* [[Confused Bystander Interview]]: This scene happens with a goth girl who is not so much confused as ''impressed''.

* [[Convection Schmonvection]]: [[Justified Trope|Justified]] since it's magical fire.

* [[Convection, Schmonvection]]: [[Justified Trope|Justified]] since it's magical fire.

* [[Deal With the Devil]]: Johnny's [[Deal With the Devil]] is an odd one. He did it to save his beloved father rather than for personal gain, which is presumably why he is able to control the Ghost Rider's powers so quickly.

** Additionally, in the movie Johnny never actually agrees. He cuts himself, bleeds on the contract, and Mephisto considers it sealed. That may actually account for his inability to remove the powers once the contract was complete.

Line 54:

* [[Flipping the Bird]]: Ghost Rider does this when he escapes from the police (See [[Under the Sea]] below)

* [[Freaky Is Cool]]: See also [[But Your Wings Are Beautiful]].

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Johnny recognizes [[Good Cop Bad Cop]] when he sees it.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Johnny recognizes [[Good Cop, Bad Cop]] when he sees it.

* [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]: Blackheart after getting the contract.

* [[Good Cop Bad Cop]]: The police try this on Johnny when he's suspected of murder. It fails because Blaze knows that they are both good guys.

* [[Good Cop, Bad Cop]]: The police try this on Johnny when he's suspected of murder. It fails because Blaze knows that they are both good guys.

* [[Good Is Dumb]]: Inverted, bigtime. TWICE.

** Blackheart - [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain|Way to set yourself up with a fatal weakness]]:

Line 65:

** Really, Mephistopheles -- you kill the guy's father, force him to abandon his [[Love Interest]], and then make Johnny [[Stood Up|stand her up]] when he reunites with her, and you're ''surprised'' that Johnny can control the power of the Ghost Rider, doesn't have to give it back after fulfilling the terms of the contract, and has sworn to fight your evil influence wherever he finds it?

** Also happens in ''Spirits of Vengeance'' when Roarke gives Danny his power, not realizing Danny will actually use it for good.

* [[Good Smoking, Evil Smoking]]: The police try [[Good Cop Bad Cop]] on Johnny and the good cop smokes a cigarette.

* [[Good Smoking, Evil Smoking]]: The police try [[Good Cop, Bad Cop]] on Johnny and the good cop smokes a cigarette.

* [[Hellfire]]: It burns hotter the more sins the target has. This tends to show up as the Rider's penance stare (or as fireballs he can throw). It sears souls.

* [[Hellish Horse]]: The previous Ghost Rider's horse is a black horse. Nothing special until the Ghost Rider powers up. Then it's a flaming metal skeleton horse which leaves fiery hoofprints.

Line 97:

** Johnny Blaze seems to lose his free will as a consequence of selling his soul to the Devil, as he is unable to refuse to become the Ghost Rider, or even to get off his bike when Mephisto doesn't want him to. Once his big mission is complete and his soul restored, though, Blaze has no trouble refusing the Devil's offer to free him of the Rider or in using the powers of the Rider against Mephisto's plans on Earth.

** Souls are the source of free will, and if one makes a [[Deal With the Devil]], they ultimately become a puppet. ''However'', the intent behind the deal can make this more complex: Most specifically, because Johnny "did it for love, to help someone (he) cared about, not for money or fame" "puts God on (his) side."

* [[Post Modern Magik]]: The [[Ghost Rider]] of the past hands the current one his shotgun which fires Hellfire (if in the hands of a Ghost Rider).

* [[Post-Modern Magik]]: The [[Ghost Rider]] of the past hands the current one his shotgun which fires Hellfire (if in the hands of a Ghost Rider).

** This might be a subtle nod to an era in the comics when Johnny Blaze lost the mantle of Ghost Rider, but used a shotgun that could shoot hellfire with what remaining power he had.

** To be more specific: He gave up the powers of the Ghost Rider (By then revealed as a demon called Zarathos, and later realed to not bethe actual Ghost Rider at all (it's a very long story)) willingly in the comics, and actually ''gained'' the power to shoot hellfire through a gun when he, believing that the new Ghost Rider was the demon he was originally bonded to (he wasn't), tried to trap him in some kind of mystic circl. The Rider simply gave him a minor pulse of Hellfire. The problem? This jumpstarted Blaze's ''own'' ability to channel Hellfire, and turned his gun into a foci through which to use it. Almost killed the Rider while using it initially, too.

Line 112:

* [[Rule of Cool]]: The reason Johnny took out the cars and instead put in six Blackhawk helicopters? "My dad thought it'd be cool." His manager agrees Johnny's dad was right.

** Also the direct basis for the character in the first place. His appearance was too cool to waste on a 1-shot villain, as was originally intended.

* [[Shout Out]]: The [[Running Gag]] of Johnny eating jellybeans from a margarita glass could be a nod to the infamous [[Urban Legend]] about [[Van Halen]] having a rider in their contract that stipulates that they be provided with a brandy glass full of M&Ms (minus the brown ones) before every concert.

* [[Shout-Out]]: The [[Running Gag]] of Johnny eating jellybeans from a margarita glass could be a nod to the infamous [[Urban Legend]] about [[Van Halen]] having a rider in their contract that stipulates that they be provided with a brandy glass full of M&Ms (minus the brown ones) before every concert.

** Which is [[Truth in Television]]. [http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp They use it as a test to determine that the venue has read their contract carefully.]

*** In the anecdotal case, the venue had screwed up so bad that simply setting up equipment broke the ''floor''. And considering that Johnny is an uber-Evel Knievel stunt biker who thinks nothing of '''jumping six Blackhawk helicopters on a whim''', any screw-up at all could turn him into [[Ludicrous Gibs]]. So, yeah - specific jelly beans in a specific distribution or he '''''WALKS!'''''

Line 134:

* [[Transformation Trauma]]: Johnny's first transformation into the Ghost Rider is seriously disturbing. The indicators of his condition go from his skin turning red and steaming when wet to his eyes lighting with the fires of hell, to the ''flesh burning off his skull and hands''.

* [[Under the Sea]]: Okay, under the river. The police barricade a bridge, so Ghost Rider drives off the bridge into the river. He emerges with his skull and bike still on fire.

* [[Variable Length Chain]]

* [[Variable-Length Chain]]

* [[Victorious Childhood Friend]]: Subverted. Roxanne wants to not forgive Johnny, but their love for each other has not been diminished by the years. Only once they get through the events of the movie, she knows they still can't be together because Johnny has sworn to fight Mephisto in revenge for what he did to Barton Blaze.

* [[Villain Ball]]: While screwing people that make a [[Deal With the Devil]] is pretty standard, it isn't very smart to do it with a prospective Ghost Rider, since the event that starts the plot proves Ghost Riders can in fact ignore the Devil's orders. Given that Mephisto doesn't use Johnny until years later, there was little reason to let his father die immediately.

Line 141:

* [[Voice of the Legion]]

* [[What Could Have Been]]: The novelization ended with an explanation of how Johnny Blaze got off the murder charges, having "some hotshot New York lawyer" make a mockery of the prosecutors case. Said lawyer was supposed to be [[Daredevil|Matt Murdock]].

** Almost certainly a [[Shout Out]] to the original Ghost rider concept. He was intended to be a Daredevil villain, but it was just too good of an idea.

** Almost certainly a [[Shout-Out]] to the original Ghost rider concept. He was intended to be a Daredevil villain, but it was just too good of an idea.

* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]: Blackheart tends to kill anyone who he has finished questioning, and sometimes kills people [[For the Evulz|just for fun]].

* [[You Killed My Father]]: Johnny says this outright to the Devil, and it's his reason for not giving up the Ghost Rider powers after he's fulfilled his end of the bargain.