PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND

 

Nicolas Cage himself quoted Prisoners of the Ghostland as "The wildest movie I've ever made" and to be fair to him, he's made some pretty damn crazy films. The enigmatic actor gets put down a lot for some of his more out-there roles but you can always depend on him to deliver when it matters however, I do think his comments about this film may do it a disservice and set it up for a bit of a fall with audiences.

Set in the treacherous frontier city of Samurai Town where a ruthless bank robber (Nicolas Cage) is sprung from jail by wealthy warlord The Governor (Bill Moseley), whose adopted granddaughter Bernice (Sofia Boutella) 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 three days, the bandit sets off on a journey to find the young woman and his own path to redemption.

From start to finish, this is one of the weirdest films you could go to see all year, and that's not necessarily as much of a compliment for the film as you may think. It moves along at such a meditative pace that I could feel myself zoning out at several moments throughout. I can handle weird sure, but weird for the sake of weird doesn't really cut it for me if there isn't much substance to it.

That's not to say there isn't anything to enjoy throughout the experience that is Prisoners of the Ghostland, with the array of colourful characters that Cage's Hero comes across on his chaotic journey towards redemption providing the entertainment factor. This is where the film doesn't live up to Cage's own hype for me because there's a distinct lack of energy to a lot of the film, particularly any of the action.

Nicolas Cage is the main reason a lot of people will watch this film and he certainly knows how to make himself the man to watch however, Prisoners of the Ghostland isn't exactly his finest hour. I mean, he certainly goes for it all guns blazing but compared to the stellar work we got from Cage earlier this year in Pig, this is utter nonsense that does not warrant much praise at all. As much as I admire the man for being fully committed to the surrounding craziness of his films, sometimes they just don't work and this one is a certain misfire.

Look, I wasn't expecting high art here but there is some level of expectation that comes about with Nicolas Cage leading a film and, rather sadly, Prisoners of the Ghostland just doesn't live up to it.

Verdict: ★★