I was very surprised at Ghost Rider; SMJ tried very hard to tell the story of Daredevil seriously and create a 3D central character. With Ghost Rider, I think he realised the central premise is so ridiculous that it could only work as an overblown, cartoonish B-movie. We're talking about a biker with a flaming skull here, riding around judging evil-doers. Played by Nicolas Cage. It's never going to be taken seriously by the audience, so SMJ doesn't either. Ghost Rider is the most tongue-in-cheek superhero movie since....I was going to say Catwoman, but Catwoman takes itself more seriously.
Now, I know many fans will read that paragraph, and think that because I said Ghost Rider is not 100% po-faced seriousness, and compare it to Catwoman, that I'm saying Ghost Rider sucks for these reasons. I'm not.
It does suck, but that's because the script is lazy, the acting is awful (Mendes and Bentley especially), the direction is by-the-numbers....and because Ghost Rider is simply not cinematic material. It barely works in comicbooks, it doesn't work at all in a movie.