By Steve Biodrowski

Despite Hollywood's love for superheroes, comic book adaptations had seldom yielded consistently successful results until the 1990s launched a trend with BLADE, which was followed by X-MEN (2000), SPIDER-MAN (2002), and BATMAN BEGINS (2005), among others. Sadly, the trend shows signs of petering out with GHOST RIDER. Though not a total disaster, the film works only in bits and pieces, with the occasional flash of visual excitement compensating for a slow pace and an uninvolving storyline.

If you have seen the trailer, you much know the set-up before the first frame of the film rolls, yet the screenplay takes its time introducing the characters and laying out the back story in an extended prologue. After jumping forward in time, there is even more exposition as Johnny Blaze (Cage) reunites with his old girlfriend (Eva Mendes) in between risking his life as a motorcycle-riding daredevil. In theory, it is nice to show some attention to character and story detail, but the details here are hokey and cornball, leaving viewers aching in anticipation for the comic book superhero action they paid to see.

When the plot finally kicks into action, it serves up a reasonable does of simple-minded fun. Years ago, Blaze sold his soul to Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) to save his father from cancer. When Mephistopheles’ son, Blackheart (Bentley), arrives on earth to collect an old contract (which will give him the power to usurp his father's place), Mephistopheles sends Blaze, in the form of Ghost Rider, to stop Blackheart and reclaim the contract. Along the way, Blaze is aided by an old caretaker (Elliott), who turns out to be a Ghost Rider from the Old West, who kept the valuable contract from reaching the hands of Mephistopheles.

Cage is adequate as Blaze, but he never quite comes off as a tormented man weighed down by his deal with the Devil, and it's really not too much fun to see him replaced by computer-generated graphics when he turns into Ghost Rider. The proportions seem off: Ghost Rider's torso is too bulky for his skeletal neck and head, and one suspects it might have been better to use prosthetic makeup and reserve the CGI for the blazing flames around his skull.

Eva Mendes is gorgeous, but she and Cage never sell the love story that is supposed to juice up the action with some genuine romance. And it's rather funny that this woman, who makes a point of telling us that she got a college education, never learned how to button up her blouse more than halfway (not that there's anything wrong with that!).

Wes Bentley has the right look as Blackheart, but he lacks the overwhelming menace the character needs. (One suspects Stuart Townsend, of QUEEN OF THE DAMNED, might have been a better fit.) Peter Fonda is fine as Mephistopheles. But the real highlight is Elliot as the "Caretaker." He lends a nice Western feel to the proceedings, which the film exploits with wonderful open-road landscapes and - in what is probably the highlight of the action - a cross-country nighttime dash through the desert, the Caretaker's flaming horse side-by-side with Blaze's flaming motorcycle - set to the tune of "Ghost Riders in the Sky," no less.

As fun as bits like this are, the film cannot escape its overall structural clunkiness. Blaze's best friend gets fried by the bad guys, but Blaze barely gets in one word of mourning. Mendes' character is really just there to be kidnapped, so Blaze will have a last-act complication in his struggle against Blackheart. And in a truly head-scratching bit of inexplicable nonsense, after riding with Johnny hell bent for leather to the final confrontation, the Caretaker just turns around and rides off without lending a hand, leaving viewers to ponder why the hell he bothered coming at all.

At best, GHOST RIDER is adequate popcorn entertainment, with enough effects and action to make it sporadically enjoyable. Clearly, most of the effort went into crafting a film that would launch a lucrative franchise by establishing the character and leaving the door wide open for sequels. Hopefully, next time (assuming there is a next time), the filmmakers will take the elements that worked here and then concentrate on simply making a good film.