Land of Bad – A Decently Entertaining Action B-Movie

Land of Bad follows an elite extraction team on a covert Special Forces operation in the South Philippines when all hell breaks loose and their spiraled into a brutal 48-hour battle for survival. After their team is ambushed deep in enemy territory, AF Sgt. JJ Kinney (Liam Hemsworth) is left outnumbered and outgunned but determined to leave no man behind. With an air strike closing in, Kinney’s only hope hinges of the guidance of Air Force drone pilot, AF Capt. Eddie Grimm ‘Reaper’ (Russell Crowe), navigating unknowable danger where every move could be their last. While nothing special, the film is still a perfectly decent little action thriller that fits comfortably alongside the recent string of entertaining B-movies Russell Crowe has been a part of over the past few years.

Liam Hemsworth makes for a solid lead and does well physically in the action sequences. Although his character isn’t the most interesting or layered protagonist, it is easy to care about Kinney and his survival simply for what he brings to the role, proving that he could have a nice career as an action lead. Meanwhile, the rest of the cast, rounding out the special forces team do well with what their given, especially Milo Ventimiglia (Master Sgt. John ‘Sugar’ Sweet) and Luke Hemsworth (Sgt. Abell) who is fun to see banter alongside his real life brother on screen. But by far, the biggest standout of the cast is obviously Crowe, who once again fully commits to the material and delivers a performance as Reaper that is way too good for the type of film its in. He brought quirks to him that probably weren’t on the page, and he makes the film all the more entertaining whenever he’s on screen because of it.

William Eubank is a capable director, and does a good job behind the camera especially during shootout sequences. The action starts off pretty stylized and contains a bit too much slow-motion at first, but it quickly settles in and every subsequent action sequence are intense and visceral. The film feels like a live action Call of Duty movie a lot of the time which is surely to be what some viewers will go into this looking for but thankfully for everyone else, it is done in the least obnoxious and frenetic way imaginable. It is an entertaining watch that moves fast and doesn’t waste any time setting itself up. The filmmakers also deserve credit for pulling off what they do here in spite of a modest budget for which they did not waste a single cent. The end result looks better than many films with at least twice the budget.

That being said, the film is far from what’s considered great and to some, it might not even be what many would consider a good one. Not only is it filled with war movie tropes and features endless action movie cliches that are evident right from the get-go, it feels derivative of countless other war films with Behind Enemy Lines being the most obvious, it simply doesn’t have an original bone in its body. With the exception of Crowe’s character, the others are thin and if it weren’t for the recognizable actors playing them, audiences probably wouldn’t care all that much for them either. Honestly, this would’ve been a more positive review if the third act wasn’t as ridiculous as it was. Without giving anything away, the film reaches a certain point where it just begins to stretch all believability and somehow gets progressively sillier until the end credits begin to roll. For example, there’s a brutal torture/interrogation scene edited alongside a humorous scene of Reaper comedically grocery shopping for his vegan wife. It is baffling and it does feel like the filmmakers stopped caring or just decided to make some very illogical decisions for the remainder of the runtime.

In the end, Land of Bad isn’t anything special and is considerably held back by its third act and derivative storyline, but for those who are fans of these kinds of action thrillers, this one will likely provide a reasonably entertaining diversion. A film that could have been a lot better had there have been some tweaks made to the script but as it stands, it still a passable effort as is.

still courtesy of The Avenue

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/