To enjoy this film you have to buy into its weirdness. I did and had a good time with it, despite the bonkers plot. Cage is great here bringing his usual brand of cool and he is clearly having a good time in the role.
What a bunch of nonsense this movie was. From the ridiculous plot, to terrible acting, this was like Kill Bill on acid. Awful waste of time.
I respect to the people who have managed to finish this garbage. I have no idea what the purpose of this movie is. I would say they wanted to make a cult movie but everything is so silly. Just do not waste your time. It is really so bad like the comments here. Cage was already at the bottom but this movie sunk him below ground.
I tried, but after 30 min, I could no longer.
The first half was so nonesensical and boring that I stopped watching.
Don't waste your time with this.
The crime of this movie isn't that it's bad - but that it's BORING.
It's a great allegory. One that is a wasted opportunity. I wish I could change couple of things in the script.
total mindfuck action with mr.cage loved it even tho it was boring at times. anyway it was a pleasure to watch nicolas
After 30min I could no longer keep watching, one of the worst things I ever watched.
I'd call this not a movie, but rather a fever dream starring Nicholas Cage.
[Sitges FF] The script not written by Sion Sono, however, leaves the director free to introduce his own universe, but makes his film less personal. Taking the iconography of western and samurai cinema combined, the Sono-Cage union works worse than expected, less flamboyant and more domesticated than we would have liked. There is a constant creativity, but one that is less cohesive than in his previous films.
Sono Sion and Nicolas Cage, I was so waiting for this one... but it's a big disappointment.
What is good: the visuals. The first scene is so Sono Sion, too bad the rest is not at the same level. Anyway the japanese town decor is great, and the ghostland town, and all the costumes there too. It looks great, there's no denying that.
The governor's character is really good too. A sharp contrast with the hero that is totally bland.
And it starts well too. The introduction of the hero, the costume that might blow his balls off, and the leaving for his mission on a bicycle instead of the car he's given.
Aaaaaaand, that's it. After that, nothing much is worth watching. Well except actually having one of his balls blown, without touching the other!
His mission is to go to this mysterious ghostland to find a girl. But he just gets there, and here she is, doesn't even have to look for her. Not exactly sure what the people there are. Rebels ? Criminals ? Society rejects ? They're forcefully stopping a clock, that seems to be the main activity.
There seem to be issues with the so called ghosts, but it's not exactly clear what the issue is supposed to be as the hero just meets with them, is like "be cool guys" and they're like "sure", and that's it.
So part from the reveal (not that it was not obvious before) that the governor is the bad guy here, it feels like the whole main part of the movie is missing. There is no real action, nothing significant happening. The whole ghostland part, between the intro and the final fight, is basically empty.
Not clear either what the world is. Whether the japanese town or the ghost land. Are they an artificial world/virtual reality, a mind prison or something ? Or a metaphor for something else ? The world looks more normal in the bank robbery flashback, you kinda expect to come back to that, but no, never any mention.
There are some fights, not that interesting, and they mostly focus on Yasujiro, the governor's bodyguard. Strangely it's never clear who/why he's fighting. In the beginning he seem to protect the hero from the mob around (though why would they attack him in front of the governor giving him a mission ? Made no sense). But in the ending, as he is clearly fighting the hero, he's still protecting him from the other guys that attack him, exactly like in the beginning. Makes even less sense.
There is probably some meaning behind all that, and not that hard to find, but the story and action were boring enough that I didn't manage to pay attention.
17 minutes into this film and I stopped. Just stopped living for that day m
At this point i HAVE to believe that Nic Cage just do it for the memes and for shit and jiggles. The trailer wasn't that bad, but the movie itself?? What a waste. It's a Kill Bill meets Fury Road meets Nic-Cage's-weird-shit-movie-world. Both acting and plot are a joke and a big accumulation of nonsense. At any point it seems to follow a logic thought. It's sad to see Nic Cage in this kinda of crap, when he brought us so many good and decent movies. Just move on and don't waste time watching this
This movie is VERY bad storywise (like... horrendously bad), but the visuals were interesting.
If you want something non-traditional with too many themes to count, colourful performances and cinematography as bizarre as Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain... then look no further than this nut busting freak show!
The hardest part of this film to stomach is continuity. There are a lot of strange cuts which lead to head scratching uncertainty. Coming in close second is the story which is almost complete nonsense. Although I could be alienated by some of the significant visuals as I am a cultural amoeba.
A disjointed arbitrary mess of a movie with embarrassingly bad action scenes.
Sono's visuals were incredible as usual. unfortunatley their is only so much he could do to hide the fact that the story is complete shit.
This is the worst movie I’ve ever seen. And I love bad movies. This is not good bad, it’s just flat out terrible.
I was expecting great things from this absurd Nic Cage and Sion Sono collaboration. The premise is excellent: Nic Cage is an outlaw in a Wild West kind of city in post-atomic Japan, where samurais and cowboys seem to coexist. He must save the governor’s favorite bitch while wearing a bodysuit that might make his testicles explode one at a time. Fifteen minutes in, and I was already in heaven. Too bad that the rest of the movie is a muddled mess of incomprehensible dialogue and a couple of poorly choreographed action scenes. Such a wasted opportunity.
A bizarre and surrealist film, Prisoners of the Ghostland is incomprehensible nonsense. The plot, what little there is, surrounds a convict being sent into an apocalyptic wasteland on a mission to rescue a girl. However, there’s so many strange and fantastic elements that it’s anyone’s guess as to what’s really happening, or whether it’s all a dream or some kinds of allegory. Nicolas Cage, Sofia Boutella, and Bill Moseley lead the cast and do what they can, but with this script, there’s not much that they can do; as it’s more about symbolism and evoking an emotional response than character and story. Completely pointless, Prisoners of the Ghostland is a confusing film that’s too abstract for its own good.
Bad performance of Nicolas Cage. Not recommended.
What the heck did I just try to watch…???
Don't expect a normal action movie!
If you're open to something alternative, it's an intriguing watch.
It's artistic.. like "The fifth element", has a bit of "Escape from New York" and "Kill Bill"
Set in a post nuclear japanese dreamworld with Western style elements.
Visuals and the score are very good, much details to see on the screen.
The story didn't really keep me interested, it's a ride..
You just have to switch into a different kind of mode to enjoy what's on display.
This movie is like a distant dream in that I don't know what happened or how it happened.
I watched about a third of this movie. But it was just a bunch of craziness for craziness sake without getting to much of a point.
I turned it off about when the "karate-chop" nonsense started.
I have not seen such a poor movie for a long time.
I liked it, the story is strange as hell and jumps all over the place. But, visually it’s a beautiful film set. The detail of Ghostland and props are amazing. The town is beautiful at night and all the Japanese color alone is worth it for the watch if you can look past the unusual storyline. Bonsai!
Ugh. What a weird movie.
If you are a Nicolas Cage fan, by all means, enjoy the movie. Otherwise, I'd skip it.
How I rate:
1-3 :heart: = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 :heart: = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 :heart: = I expect you will like this too
9-10 :heart: = movies and TV shows I really love!
Well... It's nick cage movie. So I knew what I was getting myself into. The story was just bad, but it had some really cool visuals at times.
Highlight of the film... was definitely nick cage getting his testicle blown off.
Instant delete after 30min. Don’t waste your time
total crap but the movie poster is ok
watched 20 minutes and turned it off. What an utter load of shit
Shout by KaibucVIP 9BlockedParent2021-09-14T18:45:24Z
What in the unholy movie hell, did i just watch. Im pretty much speechless. So many stupid things in this movie. But also feels like i just did magic mushrooms and had a weird trip thru Cages twisted mind.