Review: Prisoners of the Ghostland

Set in a nuclear-afflicted wasteland Japan where The Governor (Bill Moseley) rules a town that seems like a pastiche of Samurai and Wild West motifs. When the granddaughter of The Governor (and two other geishas) have managed to flee the town, The Governor decides to release incarcerated armed robber Snake Plis…er…, no this guy’s name is simply Hero (Nic Cage). Hero is tasked with finding and returning the adopted granddaughter (played by Sofia Boutella) within three days. The kicker? The Governor has Hero stitched up in a leather suit rigged with strategically placed explosives set to detonate at the end of three days.

 

Movies like this 2021 English language debut from Japanese director Sion Sono (“Why Don’t You Play in Hell?”) are tough to grade. Although in many ways it’s the furthest thing from a conventionally good movie, I nonetheless found this post-apocalyptic tale more interesting and entertaining than about 98% of Nic Cage’s output in the last decade or so. Hell, it’s an easier watch than a lot of his output during his career peak if you ask me. Any film with Cage, Sofia Boutella, and Chop-Top from “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2” likely isn’t going to be dull, whatever else one might make of it. Just be aware that this is uh…let’s say ‘niche’ entertainment to say the least.

 

Playing like a bizarre, Japanese-flavoured “Escape From New York”, humour is this film’s best asset in my view – especially given it’s rather goofy and stupid.  The way Bill Moseley delivers dialogue in a Southern fried accent was funny to me, and even Nic Cage – an uneven talent to say the least – is kinda funny here in a stoic, Snake Plissken-esque way. Look at the scene where Cage sets off on his quest, eschewing the cool black sports car in favour of a bicycle with a basket in the front. Yes, he ends up taking the car anyway but it’s still funny and I believe the humour is intentional. I’m not normally a fan of overly ‘Cage-y’ Nic Cage to put it charitably, but him waving his arms about and yelling ‘Hi-fucking-ya!’ at one point in anger is hilarious. The hilarity is partly because it’s a reprisal of a bit from his worst performance – in fact my vote for worst performance of all-time by a reputable actor – in “Deadfall”. Also genuinely funny is a later inspiring “Braveheart”-esque speech including a bit about Cage’s exploding testicles. Hell, he even quotes “Hamlet” at one point. Cage is a wildly inconsistent actor, with even his performances in his slumming direct-to-DVD efforts ranging from OK to dull to appallingly over-the-top. Here he actually gives an amusing and lively performance without indulging in too much scenery-chewing Nic Cage-y behaviour for my taste. A little of that goes a long way for me. Your mileage may differ. Sofia Boutella is really good too in support, and the aforementioned Moseley is fun here, if not remotely subtle. Subtlety isn’t really his thing nor would one want it to be.

 

This feels like a better and more comedic version of some of the C-grade and D-grade post-apocalyptic stuff we got in the 80s and 90s including all the Italian “Mad Max II” knock-offs, as well as the later direct-to-video sci-fi action stuff with the likes of Christopher Lambert and Rutger Hauer. As much as the majority of those weren’t any good, I have to admit this film – like “Turbo Kid” before it – sorta had me feeling a touch of nostalgia somehow. The only downside for me is that some of the Asian actors in the cast aren’t fluent or expressive enough in English, giving very noticeably stilted performances.

 

Is this a good film? LOL. It’s goofy fun, I’ll say that. I can definitely say that. It’s basically the kind of schlocky, tongue-in-cheek fun I expected from “Mandy”, instead of the self-indulgent, arty slog I received. Whatever you make of this film I don’t think you’ll be calling it boring, though shearing it of about 10 minutes might’ve made it even more enjoyable. Lean and mean is the best mode for this kind of thing. Still, I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. The screenplay is by debut writer Aaron Hendry (more prolific as a TV actor) and Refa Sixo Safai (more prolific as a publicist). Not to be confused with the unrelated “Incident in a Ghostland”.

 

Rating: B-