The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) got a bit more hellish over the weekend. It was announced that Ghost Rider would be returning to the big screen. The last time we saw the motorcycling spirit of vengeance in theaters was with Nicolas Cage in 2007 and 2011. They were …movies. Yup. Certainly were movies. Considering they were not part of the MCU that kicked off in 2008 with Iron Man, it’s not surprising that they lacked the kind of quality that became a staple of Marvel’s slate of projects. But with the rights to the franchise back in Disney’s hands, it was only a matter of time before Ghost Rider got revved up again.
And now it is… but with Ryan Gosling in the role. Damn it.
The Rise of Gosling
Look, Gosling is a great actor. Many people fell in love with him because of The Notebook. He proved his dramatic chops beyond any doubt in Drive. Then his career started rocketing higher after The Big Short in 2015. He had The Nice Guys, La La Land, Blade Runner 2049, Barbie, and most recently, Project Hail Mary. That’s not even counting some of the other films he did in between all those. There’s no way to deny that he is a truly great actor. But do we need him to be in a Ghost Rider film?
We highly, HIGHLY, doubt he’s going to give a poor performance. You can cast him in virtually anything, and you can be assured you’ll get a quality performance. But you could say the same thing about Pedro Pascal. He turns in a fine job each and every time. Do we need him to be cast in everything, though? Did we need him as Joel in The Last of Us in addition to the titular Mandalorian and Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four? Was that much Pedro Pascal absolutely necessary? As it turns out, probably not. The same thing can be said for Gosling, who’s also going to be in the upcoming Star Wars: Starfighter.
Maybe a Fresher-Faced Ghost Rider
It makes sense that production companies want to cast the hot hand, especially when they have a reliable track record. Gosling positively reeks of reliability, and that may not be as good of a thing as they think it is. Familiarity breeds predictability, and that in itself is causing issues in Hollywood right now. Franchise fatigue and a feeling of “sameness” are causing tentpole franchises to flop while new, fresh ideas are rising. The live-action Moana tanked; The Mandalorian and Grogu didn’t fare too well. But Obsession and Backrooms hit pay dirt with relative newcomers and less exposed faces galore.
Again, this is nothing against Gosling as an actor or a talent; the guy’s great and he’ll do fine as Ghost Rider. Surely there was another actor who could take on the jacket of Johnny Blaze, though. Or whatever iteration of Ghost Rider he’ll be playing. Disney knows what they’re getting in Gosling and so does the audience. And the latter part of that is the problem.
We need something unpredictable and less quantifiable. We need to see someone less tested rise to the occasion and show us what they’ve got. That’s part of what makes movies exciting. And when this announcement came out, excitement was not something we felt.
