Land of Bad

I am surprised as anyone to report that Land of Bad is in fact quite good.

From its unreliable players down to the janky promotional materials and awkward name, what seemed like a Direct-to-VOD war flick turns out to be a sharply-crafted, modestly budgeted action/adventure, the likes of which haven’t been the norm since the days of Breakdown and U.S. Marshals.

But make no mistake: the tale of Las Vegas-based Air Force Capt. Eddie Grimm “Reaper” (Russell Crowe) remotely guiding JTAC newbie Sgt. Kinney (Liam Hemsworth) to safety after the South Philippines rescue mission he’s on with a Delta Force team turns FUBAR is a complete amalgam that borrows from better films.

Land of Bad’s strong drone element is straight out of Eye in the Sky; Hemsworth basically gets a spin-off of his brother Chris’ Extraction series; Kinney’s quirky outsider status amidst seasoned oorah professionals frequently recalls The Rock, especially in the suspenseful final minutes; and the film essentially follows the plot of Bat*21, the fact-based Vietnam War story with Gene Hackman in the Hemsworth role and Danny Glover in Crowe’s.

And yet it pretty much all works as well as it needs to, courtesy of steady-handed direction from William Eubank, whose 2020 “thriller” Underwater made me never want to see another film associated with him, but who’s now firmly in must-watch territory. The action here is smartly executed and easy to discern — apparently he does his best work on dry land — and the occasional cool slow-mo of shell casings flying out of guns at key moments suggests that he knows how to inject a little fun into the proceedings.

Eubank and co-writer David Frigerio (The Signal) nevertheless pad Land of Bad with some mind-numbing Bond villain posturing and cliché torture elements, but atone with letting Crowe spout off an early Quote of the Year candidate by calling the CIA and DIA “alphabet soup motherfuckers” and hinging a key plot point on a befuddled Reaper’s comical supermarket shopping for his pregnant vegan wife.

We don’t deserve this level of intentional entertainment from a February release with a hammy, post-hype Maximus and "Dollar Thor" Hemsworth. But we’re grateful for it nonetheless.

Grade: B. Rated R. Now playing at Regal Biltmore Grande.

(Photo courtesy of The Avenue)