Prisoners of the Ghostland
Nicolas Cage leads this samurai-heavy post-apocalypse Western, the English-language debut from beloved filmmaking madman Sion Sono (Why Don't You Play in Hell?).
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.
2021103 minsUSAXYZ Films
Science FictionThrillerWestern
Prisoners of the Ghostland / Reviews
IGN
A particularly surreal tribute to the Western, the Samurai film, and the Mad Max post-apocalypse.
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Slant Magazine
The film is a profound disappointment in part because it feels so overdetermined to live up to Sion Sono and Nicholas Cage's respective brands.
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Screen Daily
A cheeky picture whose melodramatic grandeur is undercut by the story's knowing preposterousness.
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Film Threat
If you like Westerns, martial arts, Japanese cinema, Nicolas Cage, or anything weird AF, then this is certainly for you.
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Little White Lies
It is an excellent introduction to the director for anyone who hasn't dipped into his filmography. And Cage? It's another solid, snarling turn from the hardest working action man in Hollywood.
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Film School Rejects
Sion Sono's arguably got something to say here - he usually does - but his themes are typically far more successful when paired with more entertaining and/or thoughtful fare.
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