Time: 114 Minutes
Cast:
Liam Hemsworth as Sergeant JJ Kinney
Russell Crowe as Captain Eddie Grimm “Reaper”
Luke Hemsworth as Sergeant Abell
Ricky Whittle as Sergeant Bishop
Milo Ventimiglia as Master Sergeant John “Sugar” Sweet
Director: William Eubank

Land of Bad didn’t look the best to me, especially with its terrible title and looking like a very generic straight to streaming action movie. After hearing good word of mouth though, I checked it out, and it turned out to be pretty enjoyable.

The plot really isn’t anything different as far as action war thrillers go, it was pretty generic, and the characters weren’t that special or memorable outside of Russell Crowe. However, I still found it enjoyable enough. It moves at a good enough pace and has a decent mix of action, suspense and small character moments to keep me invested. Without getting into spoilers, there’s a part in the third act where it cuts between Liam Hemsworth and Russell Crowe. It was definitely out of place but it proved to be oddly funny and one of the highlights of the film.

The cast are pretty good in their parts. Liam Hemsworth’s lead character doesn’t have much development beyond being a rookie soldier, but he is decent and believable enough, and is especially impressive in the action scenes. Luke Hemsworth, Ricky Whittle and Milo Ventimiglia are also quite good as some of the other soldiers. In his role of someone who guides the extraction mission from his desk, Russell Crowe easily could’ve played it with his eyes closed. However, he does a lot on his part and was more committed than he had to be. He is really good and entertaining, and his charisma added a lot to the character and the movie.

This is directed by William Eubank who previously made Underwater, a solid horror thriller. His work on Land of Bad is also pretty good, it’s decently shot and the action is well done. It is entertaining, the hand to hand combat being particularly strong, and was occasionally surprising with how violent and gruesome it gets, especially towards the second half and third act.

Land of Bad is a familiar and generic, but entertaining and well directed action thriller, with a solid cast and some enjoyable action set pieces. I’d say that it’s worth a watch if you are into these kinds of movies.