Ghost Rider (2007)

dir. Mark Steven Johnson

A man sells his soul, and technically gets his side of the bargain, but it’s underpinned with tragic consequences. He hurtles himself into a void of risk-taking and self-destruction, with his old childhood sweetheart being his only potential source of salvation. His old demons come back to haunt him, as he has to reckon with the decisions of his past and whether he can truly be saved in the present. Oh, and all of it centres on the man being turned into a flaming skeleton creature who rides around on a motorcycle. Ghost Rider is hilarious because it genuinely takes itself so seriously, it’s hard to tell whether it ever realises how totally insane it is. When Nicolas Cage’s tormented tough guy is swigging jelly beans from a martini glass, you’d think that maybe, just maybe, the movie realises what it’s doing. But it never lets up. It never gives the audience a cheeky wink. It just goes full throttle into this made world of evil spirits, blazing cadavers, and candy cocktails. That’s why it’s so much fun.