Ghost Rider

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Year:	2007
Country of origin:	USA / Australia
Director:	Mark Steven Johnson
Genre:	Tortured superhero fodder
Starring:	Nicolas Cage, Wes Bentley, Sam Elliott
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259324/
Tagline:	Long ago he made a deal to save someone he loved.
Favourite line:	"It's said that the West was built on legends. Tall tales that help us make sense of things too great or too terrifying to believe. This is the legend of the Ghost Rider."

Johnny Blaze is a carnival motorcycle stunt rider, following in his fathers footsteps.
One day, he discovers that his father is dying of cancer and, that very night, a mysterious stranger approaches him and tells him that, if he sells his soul, his father's cancer will be cured. Skeptical at first, he inadvertantly signs the contract in blood, and the cancer disappears, but that doesn't save his Dad.
Skip forward a few years, and Johnny turns into Nicholas Cage, a celebrity stunt rider in the same mould as Evil Knieval. But he's not happy as the bargain he made all those years ago still hangs over him.
And the time for payback is approaching....

Based on a comic book, this has all the trappings of a big budget blockbuster, and yet still manages to retain an element of credibility.
The imagery is excellent - burning skulls, blasphemy and morphing, organic motorbikes will win my vote everyday of the week - and the plot substantial enough to maintian the momentum.
Far from the best film I've ever seen but I hope there's a sequel, which can't be all bad, surely.