Prisoners of the Ghostland

Adventures featuring felons press-ganged into do-or-die missions (The Dirty Dozen, Escape from New York) remain a staple of action entertainment. But with cult Japanese director Sion Sono at the helm of this mash-up of samurai, western and post-apocalypse genres, the rescue of a missing woman (Sofia Boutella) from a barren wasteland is anything but typical. Nicolas Cage stars as the nameless, incarcerated bank robber who is given the assignment by the town tyrant (horror stalwart Bill Moseley), who gleefully puts him in a booby-trapped leather suit timed to self-destruct in five days. Sono's surreal, tongue-in-cheek ride contains bloody sword fights and gun battles (often simultaneously) and blends stunning visuals with bleak landscapes. Cage's furious charisma keeps the incredulity at bay and there's a welcome cameo from his old Face/Off co-star Nick Cassavetes as a gun-crazy psycho. It has its lulls, but Sono's English-language debut is batty stuff and remains weirdly enthralling.