NOW SHOWING: Land of Bad (2024)

 

            “Land of Bad” is a new action/thriller movie co-written, directed, and produced by William Eubank. It is his first war movie. He spent about $19 million on it. It fits in the special forces extraction mission subgenre.

            Sgt. JJ Payne (Liam Hemsworth) has been assigned as a Delta Force trio who have the task of rescuing a CIA operative from an arms dealer in the Philippines. While everyone has a nickname in movies like this, he has three: “Air Force”, “Playboy”, or “Fruit Loops”. He is not exactly welcomed with open arms by the team because he is a rookie in over his head. Instead of them asking why they are being saddled with a newbie, they should be asking why only four men are being sent to a well-guarded compound. The leader of the team is Sgt. Abel (Luke Hemsworth). They hump through the jungle, which give them time to rip on the new guy. When they reach the compound, they realize it would take Rambo to rescue their target. And that’s before a terrorist militia group arrives. The ace card they have is Payne is in contact with a drone operator in Las Vegas. Capt. Eddie “Reaper” Grimm (Russell Crowe) is a shlumpy ex-pilot who probably would be a general by now, if he wasn’t so damned insubordinate. The movie intercuts between “Reaper” and “Playboy”. This template continues even after “Reaper” is off duty. While “Playboy” is fighting for his life, we watch “Reaper” grocery shopping! Don’t worry, it will all make nonsense in the end. The movie is like a greatest hits compilation from other special forces movie or tv show. Here is the playlist:

 

-          Drone strikes to blow up clusters of bad guys and their vehicles

-          Loss of communications at a crucial moment

-          There’s someone moving in the bushes ahead, but it’s a wild animal

-          The weak link in the team steps up and becomes an action hero

-          The villain does something super evil, so we root for him to get a nasty death

-          The team gets discovered and has to fight its way out of the trap

-          The team is chased to the pickup zone

-          The hero has to jump off a cliff into a river

-          They have to go back to rescue one of their own

-          Every enemy that is shot dies immediately, there are no wounded

-          The team leader uses hand signals when it would be impossible for the bad guys to hear him and they are hooked up to each other so he could just talk low

-          The clock is ticking to extraction time

-          The hero gets tortured.

-          The main villain is killed in a satisfying way

-          Explosions!

 

When you have watched the number of war movies that I have seen, you are going to see a lot of movies like “Land of Bad”. It reminds of “Lone Survivor”, “Behind Enemy Lines”, “Good Kill”, and “BAT 21”. If you haven’t seen any of these movies, you might find “Land of Bad” to be a good pop corn flick. It’s not quite combat porn, but it is definitely explosion porn. It’s the kind of movie that has several slo-mo shots of shells ejecting. A cameraman runs through the jungle to follow a good guy chased by numerous bad guys. And of course, all of this is backed by a generic action/thriller soundtrack.

 

It does not look low-budget. I assume a good bit of the budget went to Russell Crowe. His Grimm looks and acts like a bitter tech guy who answered an ad for a drone temp. He certainly does not look and act like he is in the military. Liam Hemsworth and the rest of the cast are wooden. The special effects head (think Cody Underwood in “Tropic Thunder”) blows things up real good. Now that I think about it, “Tropic Thunder” is a good parody of this movie. You will be amazed at how much damage a missile from a drone will do. If you haven’t seen “Tropic Thunder”, watch “Land of Bad” first. And what is with that title? Did they really want the word “bad” in it? Besides that, the title makes no sense, like parts of the movie. It’s the little things that aggravated me. The drone can tell Payne where enemy are lurking, but not when he gets to the extraction point and the helicopter catches holy hell. RPG shooters can hit targets accurately from hundreds of yards. Payne just happens to be under water being drowned when a huge explosion kills his torturers.

 

I can not recommend you go to the cinema to see “Land of Bad” when you can see much better movies like it streaming. Save your money and pop your own pop corn. At least you can drink some beer if you choose “Behind Enemy Lines”.  If you insist on going to see “Land of Bad” in a theater, sneak a six-pack in under your coat. You’ll enjoy the movie more.

 

GRADE  =  D