5 Comic Book Movies That Deserve A 2nd Chance (And 5 You Should Forget)

2. Ghost Rider

Nicolas Cage has made a career out of being the best thing in bad movies (see: Gone In 60 Seconds, National Treasure etc) and here he elevates an otherwise uninteresting film to a level that approaches awesome. The amount of exposition and a dull romantic subplot weigh heavily against him, but Nic tries his best to keep things afloat.

In order to stop a demon who looks like one of South Park’s emo kids from finding the contract of San Venganza (which will allow him to rule the Earth), Nic transforms into a flaming skeleton who in one of the best sequences saves Rebel Wilson from a mugging. He punishes the mugger by giving him the “Penance Stare”, sucking out the guy’s soul and leaving a black-eyed corpse behind. As an agent of Mephistopheles, the Ghost Rider doesn’t sit around debating vigilantism with his buddies in the MCU, he just gets on with ridding the world of evil.

There’s a lot of dumb fun here, including a scene where Nic transforms into the Rider in a prison cell and floors every convict dumb enough to take him on, but best of all is the chase sequence that follows. Pursued by a police helicopter, Nic grabs the landing skids with his flaming chains, forces his way on board and tells the pilot, “You’re £$%&ing me off!”

Then he drives away on his bike, exploding storefronts as he goes. Every movie should have a sequence like that.