Prisoners of the Ghostland

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Prisoners of the Ghostland

2021

1h 40m

Action

Adventure

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

62%

Tomatometer

159 Reviews

49%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

In the treacherous frontier city of Samurai Town, a ruthless bank robber (Nicolas Cage) is sprung from jail by a wealthy warlord, The Governor (Bill Moseley), whose adopted granddaughter Bernice (Sofia Boutella) has run away. Strapped into a leather suit that will self-destruct within five days if he doesn't find the missing girl, the bandit sets off on a journey to find the young woman -- and his own path to redemption.

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Critics Consensus

Prisoners of the Ghostland is far from Sono's most distinctive work, but viewers in the mood for a deliriously gonzo genre mash-up featuring an explosive performance from Nicolas Cage just might have a ball.

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Wendy Ide

Observer (UK)

09/19/2021

2/5

Utterly barmy.

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Richard Roeper

Chicago Sun-Times

09/17/2021

2/4

Prisoners of the Ghostland isn't campy enough to be camp.

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Nick Allen

RogerEbert.com

09/17/2021

2/4

No movie with Nicolas Cage, directed by the wonderfully weird Japanese director Sion Sono, should be this taxing, drawn out, and plainly boring.

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Noah Berlatsky

Everything is Horrible (Substack)

2d

Part of the magic and beauty of movies, Sono seems to say, is that at least for a little bit they and you don’t need to make any sense.

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Maxance Vincent

InSession Film

03/05/2024

D

Prisoners of the Ghostland lacks any excitement and catharsis that made Sono the filmmaker he is today.

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Manuel São Bento

MSB Reviews

07/24/2023

A-

A world of total anarchy where samurais, cowboys, nuclear explosions, modern cars, and more collide to surround an otherwise simple narrative with nonsensically hilarious storylines and awesome action sequences.

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logan mac

09/21/2021

This film is not for everyone, by no stretch of the imagination. But if this is the film for you, it is hands down the craziest Nicolas Cage movie ever made. Im not sure how to describe it, a Japanese Arthouse Fantasy Western? The trailer for the movie makes it seem as if its a balls to the wall action flick. It is not that at all. While we do get some great fight scenes, this is more of a slow, mythical, almost dream like adventure. If you want some nice Cageplotation, I would highly recommend this movie. There is a scene so crazy in this movie, my jaw dropped to the floor...

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Deanna

09/20/2021

I thoroughly enjoyed this most recent Nick Cage film. It was gore filled, a great nod to kabuki noh style plays. I really enjoyed the symbolism and the dreamlike style was reministent of othe films I enjoy such as Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.

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Knots

09/19/2021

Cowboys and Samurais in the post apocalypse are badass.

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John U

@RT95846921 Nov 8

This was the most amazing thing on a cup of mushroom tea. Absolutely stunning, every scene dripping with symbolism. Cage at max unhinged!

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Nat T

@RT96288499 Aug 23

This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen, but was so bad I somehow couldn't stop watching it. That's the only reason I gave it two stars instead of one. Also, some of the visuals were interesting. Utterly chaotic and kind of stupid. Dialogue was like if you told a chatbot to write a movie using only language a five year old would understand.

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John S

@RT19031314 04/20/2025

After watching this movie I joked with my wife about coming to RT and writing a convincing review falsely claiming this movie is good and that people who don't like it "just don't get it", but to be honest I didn't have the heart. This movie is seriously awful. We're talking the type of unmitigated disaster that even booze can't help. I'm saying this as someone who watches a lot of really bad stuff and usually still has fun - Watching this movie was torture, and I squirmed through the entire thing.

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Sion Sono

Director

Nicolas Cage

Hero

Sofia Boutella

Bernice

Nick Cassavetes

Psycho

Bill Moseley

The Governor

Tak Sakaguchi

Yasujiro

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Prisoners of the Ghostland: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

In the treacherous frontier city of Samurai Town, a ruthless bank robber (Nicolas Cage) is sprung from jail by a wealthy warlord, The Governor (Bill Moseley), whose adopted granddaughter Bernice (Sofia Boutella) has run away. Strapped into a leather suit that will self-destruct within five days if he doesn't find the missing girl, the bandit sets off on a journey to find the young woman -- and his own path to redemption.

Director: Sion Sono
Producer: Nate Bolotin, Michael Mendelsohn, Ko Mori, Laura Rister, Reza Sixo Safai
Screenwriter: Aaron Hendry, Reza Sixo Safai
Distributor: RLJE Films
Production Co: RLJE Films, Eleven Arts, Patriot Pictures, Untitled Entertainment, Boos Boos Bang Bang, XYZ Films, Baked Studios
Genre: Action, Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 17, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 17, 2021
Runtime: 1h 40m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)