Marvel has been bringing their comic book heroes to life on the big screen for the past several years. It seems to be working for them. It seems that the process of adapting these popular comic book heroes to the silver screen always involves making certain decisions and, inevitably, certain changes to the characters or storyline. Ghost Rider is no exception. The Johnny Blaze portrayed in Ghost Rider by Nicholas Cage doesn't drink and isn't into hard rock. Instead, he's empathetic to the Carpenters and has an addiction to jellybeans. Die-hard fans of the Ghost Rider comic book may not like these sorts of changes. For the rest of us, these little points make a more human Ghost Rider and contribute dimension to the character.

In this retelling of the Ghost Rider story (legend?), Johnny Blaze was a teenager who worked in a motorcycle stunt act with his dad. When Johnny's dad was about to die from a life-long smoking habit, Johnny sold his soul to the devil (Peter Fonda) in exchange for a full recovery for his dad. His dad fully recovers and the deal goes about how you'd expect a deal with the devil would go. The long-term result for Johnny is that he now must serve the devil whenever he decides the time is right to call on him.

Years later, Johnny is a world-renowned motorcycle stuntman, with a knack for living through horrific accidents that should have claimed his life. When the devil shows up, it's time to put his money where his mouth is and put the pedal to the metal, as he's charged with the task of finding evil souls who have escaped hell and are plotting a coupe against the devil, himself. The good news is that if he can complete the task, he has a shot at winning back his soul and, possibly, the love of his life (Eva Mendes). The other good news is that as the devil's bounty hunter, he is the latest "Ghost Rider" and at night, and in the presence of evil, he transforms into an otherworldly skeletal figure with amazing strength and a horrific flaming skull, not to mention a fiery flaming motorcycle that looks half Harley, half demon that can defy physics and can run like a bat outta... well, it can go fast.

His quest has him hunting down and squaring off against Blackheart (Wes Bentley), the devil's son and nemesis, and four elemental demons he's teamed up with.

The special features on Ghost Rider: Full Screen Edition are limited in number, but they are quite interesting. I watched Spirit of Vengeance and Spirit of Adventure back to back, so I'm not going to be able to specify which one had what material, but it was neat to see that the graveyard was, for the most part, simply a "found" location. It was also really interesting to hear how Nicholas Cage affected and helped to shape the Johnny Blaze character. He also was responsible for getting Peter Fonda to play the part of the devil. For those who are as intrigued as I am by the Hollywood magic of special effects, there is some interesting material showing how the flame effects were added to the footage and how a practical effect was used to give a very realistic appearance to a scene where Ghost Rider grabs an elemental demon's shoulder, by not using computer graphics.

Fans of Ghost Rider who want lots of special features may want to look for a Collector's edition and those with home theaters may want to look for a wide-screen version, but if you're more interested in the movie itself and you're not opposed to full-screen (or you're not making the leap to wide-screen anytime soon), then Ghost Rider Full Screen Edition may be right up your alley.