Prisoners of the Ghostland

Prisoners of the Ghostland

In the treacherous frontier city of Samurai Town, a ruthless bank robber is sprung from jail by wealthy warlord The Governor, whose adopted granddaughter Bernice has gone missing. The Governor offers the prisoner his freedom in exchange for retrieving the runaway. Strapped into a leather suit that will self-destruct within five days, the bandit sets off on a journey to find the young woman—and his own path to redemption.

  • Released: 2021-08-31
  • Runtime: 103 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Horror, Thrillers
  • Stars: Nicolas Cage, Sofia Boutella, Bill Moseley, Nick Cassavetes, Tak Sakaguchi, Yuzuka Nakaya, Young Dais, Lorena Koto, Canon Nawata, Louis Kurihara, Tetsu Watanabe, Yunho, Charles Glover, Cici Zhou, Takato Yonemoto, Shin Shimizu, Matthew Chozick, Constant Voisin, Maya Carraz, Ilsa Levine, Yurino, Chiho Fujii, Christina Virzi, Riko Shibata
  • Director: Sion Sono
 Comments
  • calandrellis - 9 April 2024
    Some cool visuals but horrible, messy story
    I had high hopes for this movie. First, the cover art looked fantastic and it had a really cool name. I thought the trailer looked cool and Nicolas Cage! Cage rarely lets me down... unfortunately this was one of those rarities.

    A little while ago I saw the movie Mandy also starring Cage. That movie was an experience, while I thought the first half was a bit slow and trodding, the second half kicked into high gear and was like an LSD fever dream! It was fun, it was gory and it was hyper violent, by the end I had a great time with it. I thought this was going to be similar since it had the same producers as Mandy and looked to have the same tone and feel. Once the movie began I realized pretty quickly this wasn't the same as Mandy. Mandy had an easy story to follow with a lot of cool, freaky visuals. Prisoners of the Ghost land had some cool visuals but story that seemed easy to follow but kept getting more convoluted as the movie went on.

    The main story is that Nic Cage was a criminal that was let out of jail by a man called the Governor (Bill Moseley.) He wants Cage's help to find his adopted daughter Bernice (Sofia Boutella) who disappeared in the mysterious, dangerous area of the Ghostland. He offers Cage his freedom if he can bring the girl back in 3 days. So Cage follows his rules he puts him in a leather suit fitted with explosives that are wired to explode if he tries to "be naughty" with her or if the time expires. It has a band on his arm that shows numbers with lights that represent the days but there are 5. The Governor says if you have her by the third day but haven't returned yet have her speak into the microphone and he'll get 2 extra days to get back. He gives Cage a car to use and we're off to the races. Fine, that seems simple enough, a rescue mission. Except the rescue mission does not last for the entire, really only the first quarter.

    Yeah Cage finds the girl pretty damn quickly and easily. He walks into Samurai town, oh and by the way, who the hell knows when or where we are. I assume we're in modern times because we see smart phones but at the same time we have cowboys and samurais and Japanese geishas. One of many things that's never clearly explained. So anyway Cage enters Samurai Town and finds her there with a bunch other girls who were turned into living manicans by this weird guy in a top hat. Who is this man? Why is he turning the girls into manicans? Who knows, once again never explained. We find out Bernice is unable to speak because she was cursed when she was taken to the Ghostland. Yet a bit later on when she has to speak into the microphone when the 3 days are up so Cage doesn't explode, she puts some effort into it and what do you know, she's able to talk again. Why is she able to talk again? Did she break the curse somehow? We don't know, it's never explained. A character even outright asks her "how did you get your voice back?" They never tell you.

    So at this point I'm really disappointed because this story has so many holes it's unreal it got made. Guess what, it doesn't end there. We get continuous flashbacks to an incident that happened in the opening of the film. Cage and his partner Psycho are robbing a bank and there happens to be a little boy holding a cup of gumballs (because there was a giant gumball machine in the bank, just go with it.) His partner, out of nowhere really, decides to shoot this kid. Cage tries to stop him but is not able to in time and the boy dies. Cage sees visions of this boy all through the film. What does this lead to? Absolutely nothing. What the f$!k is with this movie!? I thought for sure by the end it was going to turn out the boy was leading him to something but no he just always sees him. I'm assuming it's because he feels guilty but that's it, there's no reason given for why he sees this.

    The climax of this film has to do with Cage who's seen as a hero in Samurai town because he rescued Bernice has to take her back to the Governor so he can be free. Everyone tells him they can't because to get back and they have to go through the Ghostland to get back and they'll never make it. We got a glimpse of the "soldiers" if you will of the Ghostland once before and I wasn't sure if they were ghosts or not. They seem more like mutated zombies because of an explosion that happened years before because of toxic waste. So Cage and Bernice rally the town and they're all going to march through the Ghostland as one and make it through to the other side. Let me just tell you, the make it through absolutely fine. In fact they come face to face with the ghosts, zombies, mutations, whatever the f$#k they are and find out his old partner is their leader. Cage seems happy to see him... why? Last time you were together he shot a kid and you've been doing nothing but having traumatic flashbacks to it ever since. They have some dialogue which doesn't really mean anything and basically Cage asks him to let them pass and his partner lets them. So in essence the supposed main villains of this film, the ones that are in the motherf@!king title of the movie, do absolutely goddamn NOTHING!!! I couldn't believe that and I'm getting angry again just thinking about it.

    Let's wrap this up, the real battle is when they get back to the Governor who, get this is a bad guy! I was shocked, Bill Moseley who plays a villain in just about every movie he's in is a villain!? He was never going to give Cage his freedom and he orders his Samurai henchman to kill Cage. Credit where credit is due, this is finally a moment where the movie is fun. Cage vs. The Samurai is a pretty cool fight. It's not very long though and does not make up for the past hour and change of nonsense we put up with. The end sees Cage, Bernice and her friend (I didn't really talk about her but she's mostly just window dressing for the whole movie) walking off in the sunset together.

    This movie is not good, despite having capable actors and striking visuals, the end result is pretty awful. The movie has so many holes in logic, questions set up and never answered and anti-climactic let downs. Despite being from the same producers Mandy is a far superior film. If you want to watch a film that's really bizarre and violent and fun, pick Mandy. It's a good movie that you can follow, while at the same time going through an acid trip of weird visuals and bloody fights. I feel like Prisoners of the Ghostland tried to do the same thing but it failed. It has weird visuals but added nothing to the story and the story itself got so messy as the movie went on that it was almost impossible to follow.

    Sorry Nic, 9 times out of 10 you're a winner for me. This was not, this is one ride with the Cage-man you don't want to go on.
  • anselmdaniel - 20 September 2023
    Arthouse patience
    This review contains spoilers.

    Prisoners of the Ghostland is a psychological adventure movie that premiered in 2021. The movie is directed by Sion Sono and stars Nicolas Cage. In a post-apocalyptic world, Hero is given a mission to rescue a governor's daughter. Hero must navigate a world that was ravaged by nuclear waste.

    Prisoners of the Ghostland is a unique movie. This movie takes a unique concept and presents it in a creative way. This movie has a striking amount of color. The movie has wild sets and wild costumes. The movie utilizes the aspect of color in an entertaining way. Nicolas Cage looks like a ragged protagonist. The world that the governor rules is vivid in color. When the movie has Hero reaching the Ghostland, the movie understandably changes to a more muted color scheme. The producers and director put a lot of effort into this aspect and it shows.

    Prisoners of the Ghostland is a bizarre movie. The bizarre aspect can reduce the approachability of the movie. This movie is not easy to understand or be entertained by. There are many strange scenes in this movie that are never explained. These scenes are open to interpretation. An example of these scenes is the tie or tick-tock scenes. The governor and his henchmen are obsessed with the control of time. Time is evidently an important part of this movie and it is reflected in the main character, governor, and the ghostland.

    Nicolas Cage takes a starring role in this movie. However, the audience does not get to see a fun Nicolas Cage. Nicolas Cage is restrained in this movie and it feels like the movie could have used a more unknown actor for the same effect. Likewise this can be said about Sofia Boutella as Bernice. Sofia Boutella is an experienced dancer and this movie does not utilize this at all. The pair do not have much on-screen chemistry and it does not have much reason.

    I would recommend "Prisoners of the Ghostland" directed by Sion Sono. This movie is certainly not for everyone. However the movie has good parts that one can appreciate.

    Grade: C.
  • ashley-crookes - 27 October 2022
    Really, really...not great
    Well at least I have found the worst Nicholas Cage movie to date. I was really hoping it wouldn't be as bad as the review score it had. It was actually worse!

    Unlikeable characters, terrible voices, it was fine when there were sub titles during the Japanese dialogue, but near the end of the film there were some pointless secondary characters shouting, garbled words...who the heck knows what - clearly all the other fill in actors knew what was said as they were happily cheering. Gosh, it was just all so bad. Do yourself a favour - and go and catch a sun tan outside instead. You will achieve more and not waste your life on this boring drivvle.

    Avoid - worst movie I've forced myself to sit through in the past few years!
  • alymudge - 4 June 2022
    Disappointing
    I only decided to watch this because I'm a fan of Nicolas Cage movies. Not this one! Couldn't sit through it, very disappointed only gave it a one star because I couldn't give it zero stars.
  • letyzane - 3 April 2022
    The worst film watched in the last years
    Stupid, without a sense. Bad actors exept for Nicholas Cage, fortunately I ve not paid for it....................... . Etc etc etc etc. It Is Impossible to write 150 characters about this non film.