Ghost Rider (2007)

Nicolas Cage eats jelly beans out of a martini glass in this movie, and that’s the boldest choice anybody made. Ghost Rider takes a great comic idea, a stunt rider who sold his soul and now turns into a flaming skeleton, and plays it like a late-night ad for a monster truck rally. Cage is visibly having fun, which helps. Eva Mendes is stuck as the reporter girlfriend who exists to be in danger. Wes Bentley’s Blackheart is a sulky guy in a long coat whose big plan is mostly walking toward people. The effects looked shaky even in 2007, and the burning skull growls its lines like a trailer narrator with a cold. Sam Elliott shows up as a graveyard caretaker and gives the film its only cool. It made $228.7 million worldwide, and it holds a 28% on Rotten Tomatoes. A 3.3 because a motorcycle on fire looks great on a T-shirt and not much else. $7.46 says you serve jelly beans in a martini glass at your next party and nobody gets the reference.

What works: Sam Elliott is effortlessly cool as the caretaker, and Cage’s first transformation scene is a goofy blast of fire and howling.

What doesn’t: The villains are bland, the romance is flat, and the dialogue sounds like it was written on the back of a cereal box.

Who it’s for: Nicolas Cage completists and anyone who doodled skulls and flames on a notebook in middle school.