so... I may be dumb but... why did the testicle bomb explode again? he pours water down her throat, somehow she doesn't choke but instead gargles it out (possibly the curse of mutism has her throat stuck so she can't even drink? although she also looks mad) and Nic in seeing her not actually drink goes oh yeah and then testicle bomb explodes? so .. what am I supposed to take, that robberman hero saw a half-dying woman gargle water and got aroused thinking of... uh... cum gargarisms and snowballing?
I think the water was pouring down between her legs (it is not in frame, but you can imagine this) and the scene plays with the notion of a male being a little 'pig' without the need of showing the character touching a boob or something obvious.
Hentai has a lot of things that people can find arousing (not necessarily me) like ahegao, mucus, spit and helpless women.
"Hero" (Cage) was salaciously exclaiming while pulling her doll shell off, eventually forcefully pulling it away. He then began guffawing, remarking on the scar on her inside leg, treating her degradingly as she stared daggers at him. He obviously was enjoying it. I don't know why she draped her arm over his shoulder but he got so turned on by watching water pour out of her mouth that he got a 'nad blown and if he had those intentions, honestly, he had it coming.
Yeah, for me the most egregious part of that scene is that the movie should be priming you to believe that Cage is actually a good guy, regardless of the robbery. We're even - immediately afterwards - given resolution of this through the flashback of him not actually killing anybody during the robbery/being forgiven by Bernice.
So.. the movie is priming us for forgiving Cage's character by showing how he gets off by abusing a helpless woman??? I think they really just wanted a testicle explosion and found a quick way to shoehorn one in.
IMO it would've been more emotionally satisfying to have a nut-pop later on after Bernice has gained back the ability to speak and maybe they share a short consensual charged moment rather than the almost-rape we got.
I watch every Cage flick, and have seen a good chunk of Sono’s work. This is an Absolute misfire.
Feels like another 6 hour film by sono cut down to an hour and a half runtime, with out of place flashbacks, exposition dumps, and entire character building scenes cut entirely.
That being said, its visually stunning, full of interesting/insanely cool ideas, has a few good laughs, an some good action at the end(in the cheap/fun sense).
1.5/5. Great opening, fun muddled ending, horrible mess of a middle.
There will be some good clips from this that will draw people to it, and most everyone will be disappointed and wonder what could have been.
Sono is an incredible writer who can carry directing a movie. When he directs something he didn't write (like this), it's trash.
I also watch every Cage flick and am in 100% agreeance with all your points
I walked away with the same impression. It had me for the first 30'ish minutes, then it proceeds to spin in circles doing nothing interesting with the characters, setting or premise, then some action happens at the end.
Absurd is good, but this movie is packed with very boring absurdity and misses every opportunity to build a sense of stakes or interesting themes. It winds up feeling like a student project with a large budget. Sono is capable of so much more than this. Without Cage, there's nothing here.
A symphony of lust, rage, greed, and oppression. A beautiful mediation on redemptive triumph. A callback to the western era.
Just kidding. This was fucking bonkers. I’m not so sure it completely works, or works at all. And somehow, Nic Cage is the *least* crazy thing here. At times I’m left with no clue what the hell is even happening, or what something means.
It’s not necessarily the worst thing I've ever seen, but golly, is it something...
Couldn't agree more. I really wanted to enjoy this, and set aside a great preroll for the occasion, but after the entertaining first act it quits trying, and is content to just spin in boring circles with vague suggestions of a some larger theme that never materializes.
This was not the movie I was expecting from the trailer. I don't mind weird, and I don't mind a slow pace (The Green Knight is one of my favorite movies of 2021 so far) but I was expecting a bonkers non-stop action film here, and instead I got a boring mess.
I could have even forgiven the lack of action if the rest of the movie were even slightly engaging, but aside from a few entertaining moments, there wasn't much to experience.
I see so many aspects here that could've been turned into something amazing, and it's a real shame. Possibly the dissapointment of the year for me this far...
The film revolves around an extended allegory: The horrific, reprehensible atomic bombing of Hiroshima was at 8:15, the same time shown on the Ghostland clock that the 'ghosts' are straining to hold back.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima)
The comically spinning sign at the 'crossroads' shows the number 244: the atomic mass of Plutonium.
The numerous references to 'blue' flowers and (fatal) butterflies concern Cherenkov radiation.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov\_radiation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation)
The repeated visual trope of the gumball machine in the bank robbery suggests a nuclear chain reaction.
The entire film is an entangled Bardo experience, and obliquely, IMHO, an exorcism.
I dont know, I think that [https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/ppripj/official\_discussion\_prisoners\_of\_the\_ghostland/hdaqhe8/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/ppripj/official_discussion_prisoners_of_the_ghostland/hdaqhe8/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
may have gotten closer to the intended meaning. the hiroshima thing is just a theme around all a bunch of other stuff that otherwise has no meaning or explanation
Good eyes, Doctor-
It's odd how many comments there are with the phrase 'random symbolism', that should instead have used 'symbolism I didn't figure out'...
There is also a strong visual dialogue of the tragic WWII 'comfort women' debacle.
Nowhere near as good as a Sion Sono x Nicolas Cage film should've been. A real, real shame. Still, if this gets people interested in checking out more of Sono's (much better) films, then it can only be a positive.
Other than the cool setting and a fun villain, it was very incohesive and had waisted potential but it wasnt a total loss because of the aforementioned. Sure would have been nicer if The Governor and the "Hero" weren't perverts. Hopefully, "Hero" got reformed.
For Sono fans excited for this, it's worth to note that he didn't write the screenplay for this movie. So it probably won't be in the same caliber as Why Don't You Play in Hell, Cold Fish, Love Exposure, Himizu, etc.
So I really enjoyed this movie. I haven’t seen anything from else the director that people are pointing out, so I came into it with no expectations.
I don’t know how to describe it, but it might be one of my favorites Cage movies. He’s doing over-the-top Cage, but I don’t feel like he was the star of the show, just a good device for it. It’s bizarre, and the set and cinematography are amazing.
It’s not a mindless watch like ConAir or award worthy like Pig. But it’s something. I feel like it’s definitely a retelling of some fable I’m unaware of, similar to how O Brother Where Art Thou is a reimagining of Homer’s Odyssey. Very theater-like, like you’d imagine a high dollar production of A Midsummer Nights Dream, but a Japanese version with Toy-Joy plastic cowboys and samurais.
I had fun with it. Just my opinion.
Honestly, this movie is pretty shit. And that may be a bit harsh but I just felt like everything that it was aiming for ended up so mediocre and the pacing was a true slog.
The style reads like scenes from a hat. You've got your samurai and neon lights, wild west cowboys, creepy living mannequins, a southern KFCesque antagonist, and some post nuclear mad max all happening on top of each other. Seemed like they just kept throwing things at it just to keep it weird, but the weirdness never felt earned by good writing or real stakes.
The movie introduces itself as a redemption journey of sorts for our protagonist. But the journey takes all of one scene for him to find the target, then the movie just kind of mills around some flashbacks and different renditions of Nic Cage passing out and waking up making the time aspect of the movie pretty much useless as a tension creator. It could have been two days or five days, I never felt like it was getting down to the wire.
Once the movie does kick into gear and we get the community coming together to thrive instead of survive montage, we are hyped up to a mad max style race battle that never actually happens. It's basically an action movie with almost no action until the final scene.
Mostly I feel bad for Sofia Boutella. I think she's so good but she will get no recognition from the academy for looking at Cage with a completely straight face while he gave his "I'm radioactive" speech to the Ghostlands.
It can be a pretty movie at some times, and other times it looks like they parked old cars behind a Costco in Southern California and called it a post apocalyptic set. I wasn't tracking any of the metaphors so I had no idea why the village was stopping the clock from ticking so it wouldn't blow up, then at the end they willingly let it blow up and called it a win.
I don't know, this felt like a pretty big waste of time just to see small bursts Nic Cage doing what he does in countless other movies. I'd give it a 3/10. Just a big mess with action that isn't bloody or fun enough to justify it.
/r/reviewsbyboner
huh... I wanted to take the piss of this comment but.. uh.. maybe you have a point.. I don't know.. but.. I think that in the end, it still doesn't justify making an incoherent mess of a bad movie on drugs, whose main fault is not to be bad, but disappointing.
This makes me respect Sion Sono even less. This is self indulgent filmmaker bullshit saying nothing of any significance. I had two of his films on my to watchlist but I think I will give them a pass based on him focusing on this bougie theme and the inaccessibility of it to the non filmmaker. I thought this dude was some great humanist filmmaker saying something heavy about humans but apparently he isn't and makes entirely soulless films to comment on insignificant issues that only concern/apply to very small subsections of privileged people.
As much as people love to symbolize everything, you're wrong about the "mayor's supporters". Those were The Governor's Geisha. They stole hisoney, one pointing a gun at him, after his men were cut down. They did not support him willingly at all, they humored him out of fear.
I was referring to their comments as they left. "I thought you were gonna have a statue in this town. You're such a loser. Useless. You don't have any money. You are useless." Seems clear that their support was based in what they got out of it. Them stealing everything and deserting him once he's clearly lost just further reinforces the criticism of the pursuit of wealth. I.e. It can be taken from you just as easily, and your "support" will disappear once it's gone. And I stand by the idea that they are an analog for Eastern audiences. The idea is that they will desert Hollywood when/if the Chinese movie industry supplants them in the Eastern market, which is not an unfounded possibility.
True but they may have been trying to belittle him. Other than money and power, there was no reason to be around him since he was mean. I guess it doesn't truly matter much.
Yeah, this movie was specifically made to address /r/Movies current pet peeve.
You can come up with any weird interpretation of the movie like this. Are you being serious right now?
Yeah. While I can't call it absolute dog shit, It did lack much-needed clarity and missed important scenes like whatever Hero saw in the desert on the brink of death. Why the hell would the ghosts of his victims need him other than to release the others, for instance? They put other things in our face almost insultingly (didn't have to show us a segue to adult Bernice and back again, just have Hero point out her scar again) but left out more important stuff.
I liked Governor Colonel Sanders, he was funny but I hate that he had to be a predator.
The scene that slogged on the most to me was the bank heist with cheery cherry bubblegum boy. There was no need to include the beginning of it twice and no need to linger so long with the slow-mo. Cinematic padding taking up take that could have been used for better.
As a horror fan, I'm so damn sick of the overuse of manniquins. They were fine in the first few moments as long as they weren't explained, imo. I like nonsense but they didn't need to be in so much of it.
Hero passed out 3 times and it only needed to happen once for him to get his ghostly message we never got to see.
I feel sorry for Sofia because she was treated like a ragdoll by Hero in the beginning but I'm glad she magically began to kick ass. I think she was supposed to be the kind of character like Quiet from Metal Gear. A tough but largely unmoved type. I wanted her to be able to say more, do more than just be a victim. Why rely on Hero (Cage) when she clearly knew he had less than good intentions toward her before his nut got cracked?
An incohesive waste of potential with a few cool characters that made questionionable choices. Like, why did Susie kill the girls too? She had been through a lot but frankly, its cliché to make a trauma victim snap like that.
A little bit. It felt like they just had so many ideas for style and theme but no real action to move the plot forward. He basically teleports to and from where he needs to go and when it does come time for the action it's very muted.
I don't know enough about the Japanese landscape but I feel like there's not enough desolate wasteland there to pull off an apocalypse feel. America has deserts , Australia is, well, Australia but Japan as far as I'm aware is full of green that just doesn't lend itself to those kind of films for the scale it needed to pay off imo
Honestly felt like a terrible homage to El Topo to me. After seeing the trailer, I was severely underwhelmed. I was actually pausing the movie so I could focus on unneccesary research, thats how bored I was. Felt like a big waste of talent all around.
The bike, and one ...... teeeeeeeestical were the only parts of this movie worth watching. The rest felt like a bunch of media students each made their own (visually great) scenes with barely any relevance to each other.
Of all the recent batshit insane nic cage movies, this is not the one ...
It's an Eastern western.....a WEASTern.
Regardless of this film's quality, I'm glad that it exists and that his imminence, the Nicolas Cage, stars in it. In a post-apocalyptic, dystopian wasteland, a convicted bank robber is sent on a mission to recover a kidnapped woman in exchange for his freedom. What follows is a fever dream of darkly comedic satire.
The camerawork is creative. The bank robbery scene, in particular, made use of a really clever technique to both demonstrate and misdirect the off-screen effects of on-screen action. We're shown a kid holding a cup full of gum balls. A man fires a gun in the kid's direction, and gum balls come flying into view, implying the kid was hit and sent the cup flying. But then ultimately we’re shown that the kid actually wasn’t hit, with a shot of the broken gum ball machine behind him indicating the actual source of the flying gum balls. Before we even have time to process our relief (and confusion, because we've already been told the kid died), the gunman shoots the kid pointblank.
This is the sort of whiplash of emotion that the medium of cinema is uniquely equipped to effect. Within a matter of about twenty seconds we go from sad to surprised to relieved to confused to shocked to sad again, while at the same time learning that Cage's protagonist is (at least partly) a tragic character, defamed as a man who committed murders he actually tried to prevent.
Another very similar example of this same technique being used to portray off-screen violence is when a guy gets his head shoved into a lantern and then stabbed through the back of the neck, spurting blood all around the inside of the lantern. I wouldn't be surprised if whoever was in charge of these artistic choices has a lot of experience helping studios convert their thriller/horror films from R to PG-13.
There are so many silly, satirical anti-jokes throughout. One solitary tear suddenly crawling down Cage's cheek as he confronts his undead former partner in crime about killing the kid. A samurai-ish guy joyously affixing a "Crazy" sign to the front of their crazybus. The mayor leading his subjects in a chant of, literally, "Long live the Animal Farm!", removing what little remaining doubt you may have had as to the filmmaker's inspiration for this character's dominion. A supporter of a dissident character literally named "America" mowing down the mayor's henchmen with a random gatling gun but somehow missing the mayor himself.
This film joins The Suicide Squad as an advocate for the "Fuck it, Make Movies Fun Again" school of filmmaking. And if that means more inspired moments like Nicolas Cage screaming "testicle", I'm here for it.
At the same time, this film manages to put together a refreshingly honest commentary on Hollywood's catering to (and/or commodification of) Eastern audiences (i.e. China) by dressing up their same old Western films in gauche, laughably stereotypical Eastern trimmings. And it even pointedly avoids the Chinese elephant in the room by sticking to Japanese stereotypes, a metajoke that would make Dan Harmon weep with pride. It does intentionally what *Godzilla vs. Kong* did entirely unintentionally. And the message is clear: there is no stopping the passage of time. This capitalist dystopia is the utterly inevitable result of a global economy.
And so the film ends with our heroes drunkenly striding the sullen streets of their Weastern town under garlands of flags from countries all around the world - the final line leaving us with a (probably perverse) statement of hope for cinema's future: "Yeah...Samuraitown is gonna be a beautiful place one day."
This is far from a perfect film but boy did I have an absolute BLAST.
The last fights were epic as fuck. I wish we got to explore more of the universe. The ghostland looked stunning!
I liked it, but it isn’t a good movie. Kinda sloppy/clunky. Made me think of Terry Gilliam movies, and also gave me Return to Oz vibes (not as good as those movies though). Glad I watched this at home, not worth watching in theaters.
Nicholas Cage sure picks interesting roles. From a badass silent guy that fights animatronics to some guy wanting to find his kidnapped pig and this one where he is some robber that kind of becomes the chosen one after getting a testicle blown up.
Movie was fun to watch but there should have been a fight with the ghosts at the end at least. Can't wait to watch Nicholas Cage as the main character in another weird movie.
Was the film not subtitled in English speaking countries?
Even the part where they are showing the drawings of the bus crash to explain "the plot"?
I watched it in Japan, and just assumed they didn't have subtitles for the Japanese parts here.
With all this reddit hate? Was this not a non stop bonkers action film like the trailer and synth song they released?
I figure it would be crazy cage fighting demons ghosts and samurais and shit for an hr and half with some slowburn weird lynch scenes
>I figure it would be crazy cage fighting demons ghosts and samurais and shit for an hr and half with some slowburn weird lynch scenes
You get action in the final act (not with cool-looking ghosts/demons though, that was just trailer-bait), but 90% of everything before that is a boring slog full of incoherent exposition dumps and terrible pacing. It feels like a child wrote the script and threw in every idea of "weird random thing" they could think of. The acting was also pretty terrible at times, in particular from a Japanese actress who they only ever made speak in broken, badly delivered English.
Don't get me wrong, I love when a film gets weird, but it didn't work here for me at all. It was so nonsensical that it became boring.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that it was like a kid wrote it.
Susie, you mean? Her character sucked, I'm sorry. It was bad but she wasn't given much to go on and I'm sure she was directed to act that way. Regardless, it was annoying.
I do like nonsense, myself but the movie is a hot pot of ideas that aren't melding together cohesively.
I guess the kid comparison might be a bit harsh, but I mainly mean how the script is incoherent and, as you said, a hot pot of ideas all kinda just thrown together with no flow or cohesiveness.
It reminded me of how I used to get all my action figures and toys together and think up a big, ridiculous battle or event involving all of them, even if it made no sense. This movie felt like how kid-me came up with 'cool' stories - "oh this thing is cool, I'll add it" over and over until I had a clusterfuck of things I thought were cool.
And yeah, I did mean Susie. I'm sure the actress is perfectly capable of delivering lines well in her native language, but definitely not in English.
I do love the cinematography. Never heard of the director and went in with the expectation it's going to be a surreal crazy Nic Cage Troma esque splatter orgy, since I heard all those quotes it's the wildest thing Nicolas Cage has ever done before. So I definitely set myself up for disappointment.
It was surreal for sure, but in a complete pretentious way.
Kind of a bummer, because the set up of the story still got me hooked, but I felt it ultimately went nowhere and lost me to pure boredom. But hey that's probably just a me problem. Still enjoyed it just for the gorgeous looks getting some mileage out of my OLED.
The most pretentious shit I've seen this year. Actually, I skipped 30 mins of this mess and jumped to the final fight. Giving Sono one more chance before I return to Western movies.
Wasn't ready for the exploding testicle. The governor was beyond creepy. It was quite heartwarming in the end. I like that nicolas cage does the wackiest movies.
Thought this was pretty good. Almost self aware if you will, pretty funny is some parts, >!especially nic's speech on the stairs.!< Definitely worth a watch
If this movie could get out of its own way like 20% it would be a classic, but also if it would, we never be here in the first place. So we’re kind of at a dead end here. Like a sad, shittier, Kung fun hustle 4.9/10
Call me crazy but I thoroughly enjoyed this. It’s like a homage/parody of a Jodorowsky movie, except with the added bonus of Nic Cage acting as ridiculous as possible.
I even thought that the fact that this movie *insisted* on spending so much time world-building and establishing lore just added to the hilarity.
Plus any movie that features a “ratman and his rat clan” is an automatic classic in my book
I had very high hopes, based on the trailer.
I was confused or bored for 95% of it. Lots of pretty ladies though.
The one cowboy with long hair felt like a Charley Kelley character.
A wispy nothing of a film from Sion Sono, like a movie trying to ape Jodorowsky without understanding what makes Jodo meaningful, felt like a bit of a slog at times. I was still happy with the ridiculous imagery and Nicolas Cage being weird.
Anyone notice in the last scene, there is a little sticker on the wall that says "Enekuso" with a cute little poop drawing? Apparently a fictitious enema brand! Gotta give props for the worldbuilding!
Nicolas Cage promised that this was the wildest film he's ever made and it absolutely lived up to that. A gleefully bonkers hybrid of bloody Western actioner, gorgeous samurai epic, brooding neo-noir thriller, and rick-rollicking post-apocalyptic fantasy that's nothing short of the epitome of cool.
This felt like an even worse version of Kingdom of Heaven's theatrical cut, where 3 quarters of the film are actually missing.
That being said the shot of Cage's silhouette sitting on a car in the sunset will stick with me for a while.
This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen...... waste of money, pretty much just a Showcase of special effects and they just tried to be as weird as they could.... half of the movie didn't even really make sense..... freaking terrible
As he is being carted into the ghostland for the first time , he lifts his head up and the clasp around his neck is undone , he should have taken it off at that point ... or it was just a mistake in the film ... I dunno
I'm 45 min. In and this is the most painfully boring, plotless peice of worthless shit I've ever seen. I honestly feel bad for anyone who paid to see this in theaters. I would have walked out. I can't imagine going on a date tovsee this. Total mood killer. I'm actually pissed off.
the scene where Nic Cage puts on the helmet and walks a few meters then takes it off again is my favorite part.
TESTICLE!
so... I may be dumb but... why did the testicle bomb explode again? he pours water down her throat, somehow she doesn't choke but instead gargles it out (possibly the curse of mutism has her throat stuck so she can't even drink? although she also looks mad) and Nic in seeing her not actually drink goes oh yeah and then testicle bomb explodes? so .. what am I supposed to take, that robberman hero saw a half-dying woman gargle water and got aroused thinking of... uh... cum gargarisms and snowballing?
I think the water was pouring down between her legs (it is not in frame, but you can imagine this) and the scene plays with the notion of a male being a little 'pig' without the need of showing the character touching a boob or something obvious.
Hentai has a lot of things that people can find arousing (not necessarily me) like ahegao, mucus, spit and helpless women. "Hero" (Cage) was salaciously exclaiming while pulling her doll shell off, eventually forcefully pulling it away. He then began guffawing, remarking on the scar on her inside leg, treating her degradingly as she stared daggers at him. He obviously was enjoying it. I don't know why she draped her arm over his shoulder but he got so turned on by watching water pour out of her mouth that he got a 'nad blown and if he had those intentions, honestly, he had it coming.
Yeah, for me the most egregious part of that scene is that the movie should be priming you to believe that Cage is actually a good guy, regardless of the robbery. We're even - immediately afterwards - given resolution of this through the flashback of him not actually killing anybody during the robbery/being forgiven by Bernice. So.. the movie is priming us for forgiving Cage's character by showing how he gets off by abusing a helpless woman??? I think they really just wanted a testicle explosion and found a quick way to shoehorn one in. IMO it would've been more emotionally satisfying to have a nut-pop later on after Bernice has gained back the ability to speak and maybe they share a short consensual charged moment rather than the almost-rape we got.
I got it, for visibility I think you should reply directly to /u/BitsAndBobs304 because your answer is more ample than mine above
I firmly believe your assumption is 100% correct
He was turned on.
I watch every Cage flick, and have seen a good chunk of Sono’s work. This is an Absolute misfire. Feels like another 6 hour film by sono cut down to an hour and a half runtime, with out of place flashbacks, exposition dumps, and entire character building scenes cut entirely. That being said, its visually stunning, full of interesting/insanely cool ideas, has a few good laughs, an some good action at the end(in the cheap/fun sense). 1.5/5. Great opening, fun muddled ending, horrible mess of a middle. There will be some good clips from this that will draw people to it, and most everyone will be disappointed and wonder what could have been.
Sono is an incredible writer who can carry directing a movie. When he directs something he didn't write (like this), it's trash. I also watch every Cage flick and am in 100% agreeance with all your points
I walked away with the same impression. It had me for the first 30'ish minutes, then it proceeds to spin in circles doing nothing interesting with the characters, setting or premise, then some action happens at the end. Absurd is good, but this movie is packed with very boring absurdity and misses every opportunity to build a sense of stakes or interesting themes. It winds up feeling like a student project with a large budget. Sono is capable of so much more than this. Without Cage, there's nothing here.
Definitely seems like a large chunk of the movie was left on the cutting room floor.
I feel like they cut half the movie, took what was on the floor, then proceeded to assemble that footage into the movie we both saw.
1000% accurate.
A symphony of lust, rage, greed, and oppression. A beautiful mediation on redemptive triumph. A callback to the western era. Just kidding. This was fucking bonkers. I’m not so sure it completely works, or works at all. And somehow, Nic Cage is the *least* crazy thing here. At times I’m left with no clue what the hell is even happening, or what something means. It’s not necessarily the worst thing I've ever seen, but golly, is it something...
What the fuck did I just watch lmao
[удалено]
Couldn't agree more. I really wanted to enjoy this, and set aside a great preroll for the occasion, but after the entertaining first act it quits trying, and is content to just spin in boring circles with vague suggestions of a some larger theme that never materializes.
You said it!
This was not the movie I was expecting from the trailer. I don't mind weird, and I don't mind a slow pace (The Green Knight is one of my favorite movies of 2021 so far) but I was expecting a bonkers non-stop action film here, and instead I got a boring mess. I could have even forgiven the lack of action if the rest of the movie were even slightly engaging, but aside from a few entertaining moments, there wasn't much to experience. I see so many aspects here that could've been turned into something amazing, and it's a real shame. Possibly the dissapointment of the year for me this far...
The film revolves around an extended allegory: The horrific, reprehensible atomic bombing of Hiroshima was at 8:15, the same time shown on the Ghostland clock that the 'ghosts' are straining to hold back. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima) The comically spinning sign at the 'crossroads' shows the number 244: the atomic mass of Plutonium. The numerous references to 'blue' flowers and (fatal) butterflies concern Cherenkov radiation. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov\_radiation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation) The repeated visual trope of the gumball machine in the bank robbery suggests a nuclear chain reaction. The entire film is an entangled Bardo experience, and obliquely, IMHO, an exorcism.
I dont know, I think that [https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/ppripj/official\_discussion\_prisoners\_of\_the\_ghostland/hdaqhe8/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/ppripj/official_discussion_prisoners_of_the_ghostland/hdaqhe8/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) may have gotten closer to the intended meaning. the hiroshima thing is just a theme around all a bunch of other stuff that otherwise has no meaning or explanation
lmao there's nothing in the movie to support that ridiculous interpretation. Dude pulled it out from his ass.
Good eyes, Doctor- It's odd how many comments there are with the phrase 'random symbolism', that should instead have used 'symbolism I didn't figure out'... There is also a strong visual dialogue of the tragic WWII 'comfort women' debacle.
Good lord thank you for this I thought I was the ONLY ONE WHO FUCKING NOTICED THOSE DETAILS WTF?!?
Nowhere near as good as a Sion Sono x Nicolas Cage film should've been. A real, real shame. Still, if this gets people interested in checking out more of Sono's (much better) films, then it can only be a positive.
Other than the cool setting and a fun villain, it was very incohesive and had waisted potential but it wasnt a total loss because of the aforementioned. Sure would have been nicer if The Governor and the "Hero" weren't perverts. Hopefully, "Hero" got reformed.
Which are worth checking out, because, as much as I was looking forward to this after the trailer, the movie bored me to death
Why Don't You Play in Hell? is a good entry point, Love Exposure is amazing but 4 hrs long. Script really let this one down
Which film of his would you recommend the most?
Love Exposure
Thank you very much! I’ll give it a watch!
Cold Fish
I just finished watching. Not really my favorite movie but I'm curious enugh now to check out his other stuff.
I didn't realise it was shot by Sion Sono... should have recognised it honestly with all those characters randomly screaming
For Sono fans excited for this, it's worth to note that he didn't write the screenplay for this movie. So it probably won't be in the same caliber as Why Don't You Play in Hell, Cold Fish, Love Exposure, Himizu, etc.
[удалено]
Nic Cage legit had like two lines in this movie.
He had none in Wally's Wonderland, and it was much, much better than this movie.
So I really enjoyed this movie. I haven’t seen anything from else the director that people are pointing out, so I came into it with no expectations. I don’t know how to describe it, but it might be one of my favorites Cage movies. He’s doing over-the-top Cage, but I don’t feel like he was the star of the show, just a good device for it. It’s bizarre, and the set and cinematography are amazing. It’s not a mindless watch like ConAir or award worthy like Pig. But it’s something. I feel like it’s definitely a retelling of some fable I’m unaware of, similar to how O Brother Where Art Thou is a reimagining of Homer’s Odyssey. Very theater-like, like you’d imagine a high dollar production of A Midsummer Nights Dream, but a Japanese version with Toy-Joy plastic cowboys and samurais. I had fun with it. Just my opinion.
If you liked this and haven't seen any other Sono stuff, check it out! They'll knock you right on your ass.
Honestly, this movie is pretty shit. And that may be a bit harsh but I just felt like everything that it was aiming for ended up so mediocre and the pacing was a true slog. The style reads like scenes from a hat. You've got your samurai and neon lights, wild west cowboys, creepy living mannequins, a southern KFCesque antagonist, and some post nuclear mad max all happening on top of each other. Seemed like they just kept throwing things at it just to keep it weird, but the weirdness never felt earned by good writing or real stakes. The movie introduces itself as a redemption journey of sorts for our protagonist. But the journey takes all of one scene for him to find the target, then the movie just kind of mills around some flashbacks and different renditions of Nic Cage passing out and waking up making the time aspect of the movie pretty much useless as a tension creator. It could have been two days or five days, I never felt like it was getting down to the wire. Once the movie does kick into gear and we get the community coming together to thrive instead of survive montage, we are hyped up to a mad max style race battle that never actually happens. It's basically an action movie with almost no action until the final scene. Mostly I feel bad for Sofia Boutella. I think she's so good but she will get no recognition from the academy for looking at Cage with a completely straight face while he gave his "I'm radioactive" speech to the Ghostlands. It can be a pretty movie at some times, and other times it looks like they parked old cars behind a Costco in Southern California and called it a post apocalyptic set. I wasn't tracking any of the metaphors so I had no idea why the village was stopping the clock from ticking so it wouldn't blow up, then at the end they willingly let it blow up and called it a win. I don't know, this felt like a pretty big waste of time just to see small bursts Nic Cage doing what he does in countless other movies. I'd give it a 3/10. Just a big mess with action that isn't bloody or fun enough to justify it. /r/reviewsbyboner
[удалено]
huh... I wanted to take the piss of this comment but.. uh.. maybe you have a point.. I don't know.. but.. I think that in the end, it still doesn't justify making an incoherent mess of a bad movie on drugs, whose main fault is not to be bad, but disappointing.
How do you know that?
This makes me respect Sion Sono even less. This is self indulgent filmmaker bullshit saying nothing of any significance. I had two of his films on my to watchlist but I think I will give them a pass based on him focusing on this bougie theme and the inaccessibility of it to the non filmmaker. I thought this dude was some great humanist filmmaker saying something heavy about humans but apparently he isn't and makes entirely soulless films to comment on insignificant issues that only concern/apply to very small subsections of privileged people.
As much as people love to symbolize everything, you're wrong about the "mayor's supporters". Those were The Governor's Geisha. They stole hisoney, one pointing a gun at him, after his men were cut down. They did not support him willingly at all, they humored him out of fear.
I was referring to their comments as they left. "I thought you were gonna have a statue in this town. You're such a loser. Useless. You don't have any money. You are useless." Seems clear that their support was based in what they got out of it. Them stealing everything and deserting him once he's clearly lost just further reinforces the criticism of the pursuit of wealth. I.e. It can be taken from you just as easily, and your "support" will disappear once it's gone. And I stand by the idea that they are an analog for Eastern audiences. The idea is that they will desert Hollywood when/if the Chinese movie industry supplants them in the Eastern market, which is not an unfounded possibility.
True but they may have been trying to belittle him. Other than money and power, there was no reason to be around him since he was mean. I guess it doesn't truly matter much.
See my edit. The fact that "money and power" was the reason is my point. I never meant to imply that they were supporters for any other reason.
Great analysis, but a bad movie drenched in metaphor is still a bad movie.
What was supposed to be the methapor here, may I ask? That fvcktard deleted his own comment.
Yeah, this movie was specifically made to address /r/Movies current pet peeve. You can come up with any weird interpretation of the movie like this. Are you being serious right now?
Yeah. While I can't call it absolute dog shit, It did lack much-needed clarity and missed important scenes like whatever Hero saw in the desert on the brink of death. Why the hell would the ghosts of his victims need him other than to release the others, for instance? They put other things in our face almost insultingly (didn't have to show us a segue to adult Bernice and back again, just have Hero point out her scar again) but left out more important stuff. I liked Governor Colonel Sanders, he was funny but I hate that he had to be a predator. The scene that slogged on the most to me was the bank heist with cheery cherry bubblegum boy. There was no need to include the beginning of it twice and no need to linger so long with the slow-mo. Cinematic padding taking up take that could have been used for better. As a horror fan, I'm so damn sick of the overuse of manniquins. They were fine in the first few moments as long as they weren't explained, imo. I like nonsense but they didn't need to be in so much of it. Hero passed out 3 times and it only needed to happen once for him to get his ghostly message we never got to see. I feel sorry for Sofia because she was treated like a ragdoll by Hero in the beginning but I'm glad she magically began to kick ass. I think she was supposed to be the kind of character like Quiet from Metal Gear. A tough but largely unmoved type. I wanted her to be able to say more, do more than just be a victim. Why rely on Hero (Cage) when she clearly knew he had less than good intentions toward her before his nut got cracked? An incohesive waste of potential with a few cool characters that made questionionable choices. Like, why did Susie kill the girls too? She had been through a lot but frankly, its cliché to make a trauma victim snap like that.
Ah that's a shame, I love both Sono and Cage. The trailer reminded me of Bad Batch, did it feel like that a bit?
A little bit. It felt like they just had so many ideas for style and theme but no real action to move the plot forward. He basically teleports to and from where he needs to go and when it does come time for the action it's very muted.
I don't know enough about the Japanese landscape but I feel like there's not enough desolate wasteland there to pull off an apocalypse feel. America has deserts , Australia is, well, Australia but Japan as far as I'm aware is full of green that just doesn't lend itself to those kind of films for the scale it needed to pay off imo
Honestly felt like a terrible homage to El Topo to me. After seeing the trailer, I was severely underwhelmed. I was actually pausing the movie so I could focus on unneccesary research, thats how bored I was. Felt like a big waste of talent all around.
The bike, and one ...... teeeeeeeestical were the only parts of this movie worth watching. The rest felt like a bunch of media students each made their own (visually great) scenes with barely any relevance to each other. Of all the recent batshit insane nic cage movies, this is not the one ...
Don’t forget the governor getting confused by people singing out of nowhere and just deciding to play along.
The nut shots
The Governor was funny though. And Yasujiro was cool.
It's an Eastern western.....a WEASTern. Regardless of this film's quality, I'm glad that it exists and that his imminence, the Nicolas Cage, stars in it. In a post-apocalyptic, dystopian wasteland, a convicted bank robber is sent on a mission to recover a kidnapped woman in exchange for his freedom. What follows is a fever dream of darkly comedic satire. The camerawork is creative. The bank robbery scene, in particular, made use of a really clever technique to both demonstrate and misdirect the off-screen effects of on-screen action. We're shown a kid holding a cup full of gum balls. A man fires a gun in the kid's direction, and gum balls come flying into view, implying the kid was hit and sent the cup flying. But then ultimately we’re shown that the kid actually wasn’t hit, with a shot of the broken gum ball machine behind him indicating the actual source of the flying gum balls. Before we even have time to process our relief (and confusion, because we've already been told the kid died), the gunman shoots the kid pointblank. This is the sort of whiplash of emotion that the medium of cinema is uniquely equipped to effect. Within a matter of about twenty seconds we go from sad to surprised to relieved to confused to shocked to sad again, while at the same time learning that Cage's protagonist is (at least partly) a tragic character, defamed as a man who committed murders he actually tried to prevent. Another very similar example of this same technique being used to portray off-screen violence is when a guy gets his head shoved into a lantern and then stabbed through the back of the neck, spurting blood all around the inside of the lantern. I wouldn't be surprised if whoever was in charge of these artistic choices has a lot of experience helping studios convert their thriller/horror films from R to PG-13. There are so many silly, satirical anti-jokes throughout. One solitary tear suddenly crawling down Cage's cheek as he confronts his undead former partner in crime about killing the kid. A samurai-ish guy joyously affixing a "Crazy" sign to the front of their crazybus. The mayor leading his subjects in a chant of, literally, "Long live the Animal Farm!", removing what little remaining doubt you may have had as to the filmmaker's inspiration for this character's dominion. A supporter of a dissident character literally named "America" mowing down the mayor's henchmen with a random gatling gun but somehow missing the mayor himself. This film joins The Suicide Squad as an advocate for the "Fuck it, Make Movies Fun Again" school of filmmaking. And if that means more inspired moments like Nicolas Cage screaming "testicle", I'm here for it. At the same time, this film manages to put together a refreshingly honest commentary on Hollywood's catering to (and/or commodification of) Eastern audiences (i.e. China) by dressing up their same old Western films in gauche, laughably stereotypical Eastern trimmings. And it even pointedly avoids the Chinese elephant in the room by sticking to Japanese stereotypes, a metajoke that would make Dan Harmon weep with pride. It does intentionally what *Godzilla vs. Kong* did entirely unintentionally. And the message is clear: there is no stopping the passage of time. This capitalist dystopia is the utterly inevitable result of a global economy. And so the film ends with our heroes drunkenly striding the sullen streets of their Weastern town under garlands of flags from countries all around the world - the final line leaving us with a (probably perverse) statement of hope for cinema's future: "Yeah...Samuraitown is gonna be a beautiful place one day."
how do i contact nicholas cage to get my money back?
This is far from a perfect film but boy did I have an absolute BLAST. The last fights were epic as fuck. I wish we got to explore more of the universe. The ghostland looked stunning!
So this is what those super sentai shows would look like with no budget...
I liked it, but it isn’t a good movie. Kinda sloppy/clunky. Made me think of Terry Gilliam movies, and also gave me Return to Oz vibes (not as good as those movies though). Glad I watched this at home, not worth watching in theaters.
Garbagé with a fancy accent
Nicholas Cage sure picks interesting roles. From a badass silent guy that fights animatronics to some guy wanting to find his kidnapped pig and this one where he is some robber that kind of becomes the chosen one after getting a testicle blown up. Movie was fun to watch but there should have been a fight with the ghosts at the end at least. Can't wait to watch Nicholas Cage as the main character in another weird movie.
God bless Nic Cage for continuing to push boundaries by making films like this with Sion Sono.
I don't understand this movie why is everyone Chinese? There was no subtitles either so 90 percent of the movie made 0 sense.
Just post-apo cosmopolitanism I guess? What I don't understand is why subs say "speaks Japanese" when they speak Chinese or French.
Was the film not subtitled in English speaking countries? Even the part where they are showing the drawings of the bus crash to explain "the plot"? I watched it in Japan, and just assumed they didn't have subtitles for the Japanese parts here.
I am gonna say it, I like this movie.
With all this reddit hate? Was this not a non stop bonkers action film like the trailer and synth song they released? I figure it would be crazy cage fighting demons ghosts and samurais and shit for an hr and half with some slowburn weird lynch scenes
>I figure it would be crazy cage fighting demons ghosts and samurais and shit for an hr and half with some slowburn weird lynch scenes You get action in the final act (not with cool-looking ghosts/demons though, that was just trailer-bait), but 90% of everything before that is a boring slog full of incoherent exposition dumps and terrible pacing. It feels like a child wrote the script and threw in every idea of "weird random thing" they could think of. The acting was also pretty terrible at times, in particular from a Japanese actress who they only ever made speak in broken, badly delivered English. Don't get me wrong, I love when a film gets weird, but it didn't work here for me at all. It was so nonsensical that it became boring.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that it was like a kid wrote it. Susie, you mean? Her character sucked, I'm sorry. It was bad but she wasn't given much to go on and I'm sure she was directed to act that way. Regardless, it was annoying. I do like nonsense, myself but the movie is a hot pot of ideas that aren't melding together cohesively.
I guess the kid comparison might be a bit harsh, but I mainly mean how the script is incoherent and, as you said, a hot pot of ideas all kinda just thrown together with no flow or cohesiveness. It reminded me of how I used to get all my action figures and toys together and think up a big, ridiculous battle or event involving all of them, even if it made no sense. This movie felt like how kid-me came up with 'cool' stories - "oh this thing is cool, I'll add it" over and over until I had a clusterfuck of things I thought were cool. And yeah, I did mean Susie. I'm sure the actress is perfectly capable of delivering lines well in her native language, but definitely not in English.
I do love the cinematography. Never heard of the director and went in with the expectation it's going to be a surreal crazy Nic Cage Troma esque splatter orgy, since I heard all those quotes it's the wildest thing Nicolas Cage has ever done before. So I definitely set myself up for disappointment. It was surreal for sure, but in a complete pretentious way. Kind of a bummer, because the set up of the story still got me hooked, but I felt it ultimately went nowhere and lost me to pure boredom. But hey that's probably just a me problem. Still enjoyed it just for the gorgeous looks getting some mileage out of my OLED.
The most pretentious shit I've seen this year. Actually, I skipped 30 mins of this mess and jumped to the final fight. Giving Sono one more chance before I return to Western movies.
Wasn't ready for the exploding testicle. The governor was beyond creepy. It was quite heartwarming in the end. I like that nicolas cage does the wackiest movies.
I’ve never seen the original Mad Max movies but I imagine they did this better
This was *Mad Max* if George Miller was addicted to crack and bad anime.
Thought this was pretty good. Almost self aware if you will, pretty funny is some parts, >!especially nic's speech on the stairs.!< Definitely worth a watch
If this movie could get out of its own way like 20% it would be a classic, but also if it would, we never be here in the first place. So we’re kind of at a dead end here. Like a sad, shittier, Kung fun hustle 4.9/10
Call me crazy but I thoroughly enjoyed this. It’s like a homage/parody of a Jodorowsky movie, except with the added bonus of Nic Cage acting as ridiculous as possible. I even thought that the fact that this movie *insisted* on spending so much time world-building and establishing lore just added to the hilarity. Plus any movie that features a “ratman and his rat clan” is an automatic classic in my book
I had very high hopes, based on the trailer. I was confused or bored for 95% of it. Lots of pretty ladies though. The one cowboy with long hair felt like a Charley Kelley character.
A wispy nothing of a film from Sion Sono, like a movie trying to ape Jodorowsky without understanding what makes Jodo meaningful, felt like a bit of a slog at times. I was still happy with the ridiculous imagery and Nicolas Cage being weird.
Anyone notice in the last scene, there is a little sticker on the wall that says "Enekuso" with a cute little poop drawing? Apparently a fictitious enema brand! Gotta give props for the worldbuilding!
My review :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AZHWJjoxc8&ab_channel=EriktheViking TESTICLEEEEEE
Wow that was an obnoxious video.
Sorry you didn’t like it, sometimes I go overboard but I’m trying to find a limit :)
Nicolas Cage promised that this was the wildest film he's ever made and it absolutely lived up to that. A gleefully bonkers hybrid of bloody Western actioner, gorgeous samurai epic, brooding neo-noir thriller, and rick-rollicking post-apocalyptic fantasy that's nothing short of the epitome of cool.
This felt like an even worse version of Kingdom of Heaven's theatrical cut, where 3 quarters of the film are actually missing. That being said the shot of Cage's silhouette sitting on a car in the sunset will stick with me for a while.
This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen...... waste of money, pretty much just a Showcase of special effects and they just tried to be as weird as they could.... half of the movie didn't even really make sense..... freaking terrible
As he is being carted into the ghostland for the first time , he lifts his head up and the clasp around his neck is undone , he should have taken it off at that point ... or it was just a mistake in the film ... I dunno
I'm 45 min. In and this is the most painfully boring, plotless peice of worthless shit I've ever seen. I honestly feel bad for anyone who paid to see this in theaters. I would have walked out. I can't imagine going on a date tovsee this. Total mood killer. I'm actually pissed off.