Now on theatrical release in Japan, as well as available on Amazon Prime Video and other streaming sites worldwide, “Prisoners of the Ghostland” is director Sion Sono at his most convention-defying extreme — which in this veteran provocateur’s case, is extreme indeed.
Premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, it stars Nicolas Cage as a bank robber who ventures into the titular Ghostland, a nightmarish zone where victims of a nuclear waste accident are trapped in a spiritual limbo.
His mission: Rescue Bernice (Sofia Boutella), the runaway adopted granddaughter of the corrupt “Governor” (Bill Moseley) of Samurai Town, a mashup of the Old West and Japan’s Meiji Era (1868-1912). Imprisoned after a botched bank job, Cage’s character — known only as “Hero” — has been released and, at the order of the Governor, outfitted in a bodysuit studded with explosive charges. If he fails to complete his mission in five days, he’ll be blown to kingdom come. As a sort of warning, one goes off, destroying a testicle.