Starring Russell Crowe and Liam Hemsworth, a covert Special Forces operation in the South Philippines spirals into a brutal 48-hour battle for survival. When an elite extraction team is ambushed deep in enemy territory, rookie officer Kinney (Hemsworth) is left outnumbered but determined to leave no man behind. With an air strike closing in, Kinney’s only hope hinges on the guidance of Air Force drone pilot Reaper (Crowe), navigating unknowable danger where every move could be their last.
REVIEW:
Land of Bad is Russell Crowe’s. He steals it by mainly sitting in a chair and emoting heavily at a screen. He’s a military drone operator and the mission he is monitoring from afar has gone sideways. The last remaining soldier is depending on him to guide him to safety.
That last soldier is Liam Hemsworth, the middle good looking one of the Hemworth brothers. The other of the three,Luke, is here also, but he ends up being RPG fodder. Chris, was off doing the Furiosa prequel.
The action part is in the Philippines. Crowe’s role, the sit down one, takes place on a chair, in a military base near Las Vegas. To emphasize how serious he’s about the job the writers give him the last name of Grimm with the nickname of Reaper. You get the joke. And the double irony of death trying to save a life and not harvest it. The two men engage in audio communication throughout the mission, with Reaper assuring the young man, “I am your eyes in the sky and the bringer of doom.”
Kinney, Hemsworth’d character, has to outlast death. Reaper just needs to swat away the militay higher ups more interested in watching a March Madness basketball game and following the rules and duty rotation than allowing him to properly finish his mission. They can’t even be bothered to answer the phone, know it’s possibly an emergency.
The new war drama has soldiers with all the proper high tech gear at the mercy of those with the real eyes, the drone operator on the other side. The desk soldier, with an office job is balanced off with the deadly serious real life and death duty of the soldier in the field. Eventually a work life balance is achieved. The pregnant wife in near labor is taken care of, the grocery shopping gets done. The mission is finished, the overtime be dammed. The domestic drama is given the serious attention to make it seem a comedy in the grand scheme of things.
The director, William Eubank handles both the acting and the combat scenes with great skill. Hemsworth does a good job balancing action movie creds with a realistic vulnerability. Crowe, finds a way to leverage his flab to give the character comic pounds and heavy gravitas. Being a character actor rather than a star suits him well.
Land of Bad gets a 3.5/5 or a B+. It’s streaming on Netflix.
CREDITS:
Directed by
Written by
- David Frigerio
- William Eubank
Produced by
- David Frigerio
- William Eubank
- Michael Jefferson
- Adam Beasley
- Nathan Klingher
- Ryan Winterstern
- Arianne Fraser
- Petr Jákl
- Mark Fasano
Starring
Cinematography
Agustin Claramunt
Edited by
Todd E. Miller
Music by
Production
companies
- R.U. Robot Studios
- Highland Film Group
- Volition Media Partners
Distributed by
- The Avenue
- Variance Films[1]
Release date
- February 16, 2024
Running time
114 minutes[2]
Country
United States
Language
English
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