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Ghost Rider (film): Difference between revisions
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Johnny Blaze, the son in a [[Badass Family|father-son motorcycle stunt team]], is in love with [[Unfortunate Names|Roxanne]], the daughter of the richest man in town. After planning to run away with her, Johnny discovers his father is terminally ill with little time left. [[Satan|The Devil]] (in an awesome [[Cameo]] performance by Peter Fonda) shows up and offers Johnny a [[Deal with the Devil]]. Johnny asks the Devil to save his father's life. Miraculously, Barton Blaze is [[Literal Genie|cured of his cancer]], but dies immediately afterward in an accident because the Devil wants Johnny freed up.
Realizing what he's just gotten himself into, Johnny takes off and abandons his sweetheart at their meeting place.
[[Age Cut|Fifteen or twenty years later]], we join Johnny (now portrayed as an adult by [[Nicolas Cage]]) on the road. He's now a world-famous stunt cyclist, and repeating the [[Survival Mantra]] "you can't live in fear", knowing the Devil hasn't come for him yet, but he keeps living through the increasingly insane stunts he does.
Meanwhile, Blackheart, son of the devil, shows up and has decided it's time for the old man to step aside for a new Lord of Hell. He summons [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|three elemental demons]] to serve him, promising that if they help him defeat the Devil, he'll give them nobility in Hell.
Meanwhile, Roxanne has turned up to interview Johnny after his stunt. Johnny takes this as a sign and asks her out. But the Devil of course picks the night she agrees to give him another chance to call in his marker. Johnny refuses, but cannot resist the power of hell. He transforms into the Ghost Rider and dispatches the first of Blackheart's minibosses. Now Johnny must try to control the power of the Rider, defeat the elemental demons, and Blackheart - all while trying to keep Roxanne out of the line of fire.
The rest of the film plays out like a video game. Meet [[Mentors|a mentor]]. [[Character Development]] (such that it is), [[Boss Fight]] with one of the minibosses.
Despite the critical consensus, the film managed to do well at the box office. A not-quite-sequel/not-quite-reboot was released in 2012, subtitled ''Spirit of Vengeance'', which featured Idris Elba in a supporting role and was helmed by Neveldine/Taylor, the guys behind the ''[[Crank]]'' films and ''[[Gamer]]''. Currently, the sequel was met with the same critical response of the first, if not worse, however worldwide it's becoming a modest financial success.
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* [[Call It Karma]]: The Penance Stare. If you look into GR's eyes while he's within an arm's reach of you, he can force you to experience every iota of pain you've ever inflicted on others without cause in your entire life. Your average hood just realizes he should go home and rethink his life. A [[Complete Monster]] will be reduced to a vegetable - unless they [[Our Souls Are Different|don't have a soul]].
* [[Civvie Spandex]]: [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that Johnny is a performance motorcyclist so wears biker gear as his street clothes.
* [[
* [[Cool Bike]]: The Ghost Rider's flaming bike.
* [[Cool Horse]]: The previous [[Ghost Rider]]'s flaming [[Stealth Pun|metal-banded horse]].
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* [[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.
* [[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.
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'''Ghost Rider:''' All their souls? A thousand souls to burn. '''''[[Hoist by His Own Petard|LOOK INTO MY EYES.]]''''' }}
** 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.
* [[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.
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* [[Large Ham]]: Nicolas Cage.
* [[Leitmotif]]: The Ghost Rider has one, as does Roxanne.
* [[Laughing Mad]]: Johnny while turning into the Ghost Rider for the first time.
* [[The Magic Touch]]: Johnny's motorcycle and a shotgun.
* [[Magic A Is Magic A]]: The 'At night in the presence of evil' rule for Johnny's transformation is adhered to begin with, and the fact he can't transform while in direct sunlight is made a critical part of the final battle. However, Johnny and the gravekeeper transform despite the fact that there's no evil around, basically [[Rule of Cool|so we can see two Ghost Riders riding together]]. Later, Johnny rides through a swamp, at night, with a demon nearby and doesn't transform until it's [[Rule of Drama|dramatically appropriate]]. In the final moments of the film Johnny [[Rule of Cool|rides into the camera and transforms]] despite the fact that it's dusk and he's not near any evil beings.
** [[Fridge Brilliance|Though the latter one may be due to him now being free of his contract.]]
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* [[Marquee Alter Ego]]: How frequently the Rider gives way to Johnny... especially in the big fight scene at the end.
** [[Justified]] by adhering to the very earliest comics, where Johnny only became the Rider at night/in the dark.
* [[Mind Rape]]: In addition to being [[Hellfire]], the Penance Stare of the Ghost Rider rips a target's mind open, so as to make them relive the pain they've caused others with every sin they've committed.
* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: Johnny's reaction when he revisits the scene of his rampage the night before.
* [[Mundane Utility]]: Johnny Blaze uses his [[Nigh Invulnerability]] to... be a great stunt driver.
* [[Never Say That Again]]: Blackheart, when asked about Mephistopheles by name.
* [[New Old West]]: The movie tied in an older Western character by the same name (who existed in the comics but was unrelated to the modern character, initially).
** Besides being set in the American Southwest, the creators of the movie were intentionally going for a Western feel in several areas, albeit with a supernatural twist. For example, the clothing of Blackheart and his henchman were made similar to traditional Western costumes with an updated look.
* [[Nitro Boost]]: What Johnny uses in his Blackhawk Helicopter jump stunt.
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* [[Power Echoes]]: Upon {{spoiler|absorbing all the souls in San Venganza}}, Blackheart's voice is his voice ''plus all of theirs''.
* [[Power Incontinence]]: Small case, [[Played for Laughs]]. Johnny's mere presence is enough to make a policeman's lighter flame flare up.
** Played straight with Moreau in ''Spirits of Vengeance''.
* [[Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner]]:
{{quote|To the Wind Demon -- "Let's clear the ''air''!"
To the Earth Demon -- "Hey ''dirt'' bag!"
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** Years later, Johnny goes to some lengths to get Roxanne to agree to dinner with him. She grudgingly agrees, but this same night is the night Mephisto calls in the marker and forces Johnny to become the Ghost Rider for the first time.
* [[Super Strength]]: All over the place.
* [[Sweetie Graffiti]]: Young Johnny carves "J & R Forever" into a tree.
* [[Thememobile]]: The rider's motorcycle takes on that whole 'flaming demonic skull' motif. To a lesser degree, it's true of the previous Ghost Rider's horse as well.
* [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]: The rider won't kill humans, though the Penance Stare leaves its victims [[Fate Worse Than Death|mentally ravaged]].
** Though even that is directly proportional to the amount of senseless pain and suffering they've caused others.
* [[Touch of Death]]: Blackheart's preferred method of killing his victims. When he touches you, your skin melts within seconds, leaving behind only a charred skeleton.
* [[Trademark Favorite Food]]: Jelly beans.
* [[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]]
* [[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.
* [[Villains Never Lie]]: Mephisto.
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{{quote|'''Johnny''': This power that we have comes from a dark place, but it's not who we are. And we can use it to help people.}}
* [[Big Bad]]: Roarke.
** [[Non-Action Big Bad]]: Roarke is unable to use The Devil's powers without burning out his body, so in a fight he's pretty much just a dude in a suit. He at least seems to be a decent getaway driver, though.
* [[Bloodless Carnage]]: People are turned to ash and set on fire. But, as you can guess from its PG-13 rating, there's no blood and gore. Though there is one very quick aerial shot in which a mook is cut in half by the Ghost Rider's chain and you see that his upper half plops on the ground, with what appears to be a puddle of blood.
** A few mooks are also taken down with gunfire with no signs of blood.
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* [[Continuity Nod]]: While in a restaurant, Johnny drinks water straight out of a pitcher.
* [[Creator Cameo]]: Directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.
* [[Darker and Edgier]]
* [[Decoy Protagonist]]: Moreau shows up in the first scene and has an extended action sequence before we ever get a glimpse of Ghost Rider or even the title. Additionally, the opening sequence is set up with the possibility that Moreau died, but we quickly learn he survived.
* [[Demonic Possession]]
* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]:
** Carrigan, a puny human, manages to K.O. Ghost Rider during their first encounter, a feat that ''high-level demons'' couldn't manage in the first film.
** Also, more literally near the end, where a [[Brought Down to Normal|de-powered]] Johnny punches s Satan/Roarke right in the face.
* [[The Dragon]]: Carrigan.
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* [[Hot Mom]]: Nadya. Dear God, Nadya.
* [[Jerkass]]: Carrigan, Even before {{spoiler|getting turned into [[Walking Wasteland|Blackout.]]}}
* [[Knight Templar]]: The Rider is depicted as having become much more merciless in this film, to the point where Blaze suggests that it would use the Penance Stare on someone simply for [[Digital Piracy Is Evil|illegally downloading an mp3]]. This explains why Blaze abandoned his original plan from the end of the first movie to use the Rider's powers for good, and is hiding out in a warehouse in Eastern Europe.
* [[Large Ham]]: [[Nicolas Cage]] seems to have forgotten to take his anti-crazy pills because he's friggin' insane in this.
{{quote|''It's scraping at the door! '''IT'S SCRAPPIN' AT DA DAAAAAAAWWWWWW!!'''''}}
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