MOVIE: Prisoners Of The Ghostlands
STARRING: Nicolas Cage, Sofia Boutella, Bill Moseley, Teresa Ruiz, Imogen PottsNick Cassavetes, Takato Yonemoto, Kanon Nawata, Tak Sakaguchi, Lorena Kotô
RELEASE DATE: September 17th, 2021
WHERE TO WATCH: Theaters / VOD Rental ( Amazon Prime, Apple, Google Play )
By Justin Pomerville (2 Broke Geeks)
Nick Cassavetes and Nicolas Cage in PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND, Courtesy of Mongrel Media
Back again with the newest Nic Cage film, Prisoners of the Ghostland. The last two films I have reviewed of his had been 50/50 so far, with Willy's Wonderland being less than great, and Pig being one of the best films he has put out since Mandy. So, where will Prisoners of the Ghostland sit upon Justin's self-made "Nic Gauge"?
The plot of the film is fairly simple when it's described to you; Nic Cage (whose character's name is Hero in the cast list) is imprisoned for robbing a bank and being a part of a shooting in the bank. The Governor (played by Bill Mosely) makes a deal with Cage; go and save The Governor's adopted granddaughter, Bernice (played by Sofia Boutella), from The Ghostland. If so, Cage will be set free. To ensure that she is returned safely and unharmed, Cage has to wear a leather onesie that has bombs attached to each wrist, the neck, and one on each testicle. Yup, you read that right.
Sofia Boutella in PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND, Courtesy of Mongrel Media
The overall package of this movie is interesting. There are two locations within the entire film, Samuari Town and The Ghostland. Both look really interesting, but the story provides extremely little information about the places. Samurai Town is a small town that not only has samurai running around, but also cowboys and geishas. The Ghostland seems to be a wasteland in a junkyard that everyone else lives in. Why do they people live there? I'm not sure.
Scene from PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND, Courtesy of Mongrel Media
This film feels like there is a lot of plot that was cut out for unknown reasons. It felt disjointed and everything kind of just happens too easily for Hero. Even when some of his costume bombs explode (I'll let you guess which ones), they just feel like a minor inconvenience for him. Bernice is supposed to have her own path of redemption when you meet her, but it does not actually come across very well.
I commend this film for being pretty insane. I have not seen any other film from director Sion Sono, but I have heard these violent and bizarre films are his kind of thing. But this film felt very empty in terms of dialogue and character development. Was it better than Willy's Wonderland? Yes, but only by a small margin because of how insane Cage acts in this film. He goes nuts.
So, if you want to hear Cage yell "Hiya" and "My Testicle", then this is the movie for you.
Check out Justin’s other “Cage” reviews at www.atomicgeekdom.com and stay tuned for his next “Nic Gauge”.