Tripwire Reviews Nicolas Cage’s Prisoners Of The Ghostland

Trapped In Its Own Genre

Tripwire’s contributing writer Simon Kennedy takes a look at Nicolas Cage’s Prisoners Of The Ghostland, on Blu Ray now…

Prisoners Of The Ghostland
Director: Sion Sono
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Sofia Boutella, Bill Moseley

Seeing that Nic Cage has created an immense lifestyle, which has led to a vast property portfolio, expensive chattel and a major tax bill. We all know that the IRS and those lifestyle facilitators have to be paid or else this lifestyle is over. So, Cage rose to the challenge by doing as many films as possible. He has made 32 films in 7 years. That is a heck of an output. It has led to that bill being cleared off, with his extravagant lifestyle is at least financed for now. To the film fan however, who remembers those highlights of Oscar galore for Leaving Las Vegas, Cult subversion of Wild At Heart, Neo Noir drama Red Rock West and the 90s action classics of The Rock, it’s a mixed bag. 

We have had the disaster of studio fuckaboutery Dog Eat Dog, the awful Primal and the utter brilliance of Pig. There have been many more but these are the highs and lows in frame. The lows, well for me, it is simple. I don’t get the whole, so bad its good schtick. Shit is shit and I have a limited number of seconds in my life. Sometimes though, the good is great. Along comes Sion Sono, Japan’s answer to Lynch and Bunuel. The film is Prisoners Of The Ghostland, and it is a strangely intoxication mix of both. The story revolves around Cage’s Hero, who starts the piece in captivity. He is stuck in a mix of Samurai legend and Western culture town called Samurai Town, that would excite Anime types and right-wing nuts equally. This place exists in a Japan devastated and quarantined years ago in an accident in which highly volatile nuclear waste was spilled. 

So far, so what. The ruler of the region is a Governor (Bill Moseley) whose town has many comforts, one of them being his brothel. This has one less member than it had the night before. Her name is Bernice (Sofia Boutella), she is on the lam but has become stranded in the Ghostland. The Governor has Hero freed but only because he is the man for the job. Hero is sent to retrieve Bernice from the Ghostland, and outfits him with a bodysuit which is set to detonate explosive charges in case he steps out of line (see Escape From New York or The Running Man as examples). Bernice must be rescued within five days or the deal or Hero’s freedom is over. Then like any good cult adventure into the realms of absurdity, it all goes terribly wrong. 

In the excellent Q&A with the film’s director, Alan Jones balances the utter insanity onscreen with a charged intelligence. Sono knows that his film is being made because of Cage and for his own viewing. This makes it actually a lot me interesting and frankly bizarre, than it need be. Finding the paper-thin plot, pointless, I looked at this as a vinaigrette of visual tropes from Samurai (Jedi Geki) and Western genre culture. Jones nearly says as much but holds back to let the creators add their desire for Anime culture as well. Prisoners of The Ghostland  Blu ray needs more extras to be honest. It needed a commentary from someone with at least a passing interest in the aesthetic or genre culture to frame parts of it (Jones would have been ideal imho) but the film will work for anyone that loves the idea of a Dr Who, Snake Pliskin, Katsuhiro Otomo world mash up. 

Extras:

UK Premiere Q&A with Director Sion Sono, Producer Ko Mori and Moderated by Alan Jones; Making Of Featurette; UK Theatrical Trailer

Here’s the film’s trailer