In recent years, Nicolas Cage has become an ambassador of trash on screens. Trash of various kinds: sometimes very inventive and beautiful, sometimes raising the question: 'Why did I watch this?'. Unfortunately, Prisoners of the Ghostland falls more...

According to the plot of the film Prisoners of the Ghostland, a dangerous criminal (Cage) is sent on a mission to a radioactive wasteland inhabited by ghosts. He must return the local Governor's granddaughter. To ensure the hero returns and brings back the granddaughter (Sofia Boutella), the Governor rigs Cage with explosives and orders him to return in three days.

More Questions Than Answers

There was a phrase in it addressed to the viewer: 'Don't try to understand, feel it.' However, that didn't work. It doesn't work here either. Most of the visual feast is never explained. Although the viewer is carefully led by the hand through the most important plot points, this is not the case in all other instances. How does the insane world work? Why does the crowd try to stop time (literally)? Why does the silent samurai help Cage and then try to kill him? There are no answers. And the authors probably didn't want to give any.

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Although some details don't require explanation. The radioactive wasteland is a national trauma for Japan, a country that survived the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the 21st century, these tragedies were joined by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Most likely, the creators were referencing it. The Governor represents the arrival of Americans in Japan: he disregards everyone, feels like a full-fledged master, and exploits women. But that's it. Like the Japanese mentality, everything else remains mysterious and incomprehensible to the gaijin.

Everything requires explanation, but none is given. Here's what remains in the end.

Beautiful Visuals and a Crazy Cage

This low-budget film can compete with the heavyweights of major studios in terms of visuals. There is almost no computer graphics here, and all the sets are handmade and crafted with love. Extravagant costumes reminiscent of Fallout, Mad Max, and God knows what else; sets combining a cowboy town, traditional Japanese villages, and amazing wastelands. You want to get lost in it, spend more time there, but the lack of understanding of the logic of what's happening prevents you from immersing yourself in the film.

Among the pluses of the film Prisoners of the Ghostland, one can also note Cage's expressive performance, who simply revels in the madness unfolding around him. His character periodically makes faces, shouts something incoherent, and seems to fit well into what's happening in the Ghostland. And that's wonderful. It's a pity that the action scenes with him are staged a bit clumsily and sometimes cause confusion.

On paper, Prisoners of the Ghostland looks like an interesting project. But in reality, it's too strange a product that will only appeal to the most die-hard Cage fans. Others will only be left bewildered.

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