In the Southern Philippines, Abell (Luke Hemsworth), Bishop (Ricky Whittle), Sugar (Milo Ventimiglia) undertake a rescue mission of a missing CIA asset with Kinney (Liam Hemsworth) serving as the link with air support provided by Grimm (Russell Crowe) in Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The mission goes wrong with the arrival of extremist faction Abu Sayyaf prompting the team to reveal their position to stop civilian casualties leaving Kinney the last man alive. With only his direct link with Grimm, Kinney must now traverse hostile territory in order to make his way home.
Land of Bad comes to us from director William Eubank and was written by him and David Frigerio back in 2012 under the title of JTAC. 10 years later the film was setup independently through the Highland Film Group securing distribution thanks to the presence of notable names like Liam Hemsworth and Russell Crowe in the cast. While Land of Bad doesn't stray far beyond the requisites of the modern military thriller, it offers an intense ride that doesn't let up until the end.
In terms of plotting, Land of Bad is about as simple a concept as you can get with a relatively wet behind the ears soldier sent into the fray only for things to go horribly wrong and leaving him the last man standing and the only one to get to the extraction site. Liam Hemsworth as Kinney is the best he's been in a lead role in quite sometime and he shows himself to be both physically as well as emotionally capable of handling a role like this. Stealing every scene he's in however is Russell Crowe's drone pilot, Grimm "Reaper", and while his role involves a lot of him sat behind a computer console there's a lot of energy brought to his performance as he creates this world weary character who also adds some nice touches of humor to the proceedings as he supports Kinney over comms and with drone support. Eubank's direction is incredibly taut and uncompromisingly brutal with the action sequences feeling intense and heart pounding. I will say that maybe the script gets a bit too heavy handed when it drives home its points about the detached nature of drone warfare (particularly the scenes where Grimm shopping for his vegan pregnant wife are intercut with Kinney being tortured) especially since it doesn't have as much of a clear statement on the issue in comparison to something like Eye in the Sky.
Land of Bad was a pleasant surprise and stands out nicely among the field of mid-budget internationally co-produced action thrillers. While the movie stumbles a bit in its commentary of drone warfare the movie makes up for it with some good characterization, taut direction, and some game leads in Hemsworth and Crowe.
Land of Bad comes to us from director William Eubank and was written by him and David Frigerio back in 2012 under the title of JTAC. 10 years later the film was setup independently through the Highland Film Group securing distribution thanks to the presence of notable names like Liam Hemsworth and Russell Crowe in the cast. While Land of Bad doesn't stray far beyond the requisites of the modern military thriller, it offers an intense ride that doesn't let up until the end.
In terms of plotting, Land of Bad is about as simple a concept as you can get with a relatively wet behind the ears soldier sent into the fray only for things to go horribly wrong and leaving him the last man standing and the only one to get to the extraction site. Liam Hemsworth as Kinney is the best he's been in a lead role in quite sometime and he shows himself to be both physically as well as emotionally capable of handling a role like this. Stealing every scene he's in however is Russell Crowe's drone pilot, Grimm "Reaper", and while his role involves a lot of him sat behind a computer console there's a lot of energy brought to his performance as he creates this world weary character who also adds some nice touches of humor to the proceedings as he supports Kinney over comms and with drone support. Eubank's direction is incredibly taut and uncompromisingly brutal with the action sequences feeling intense and heart pounding. I will say that maybe the script gets a bit too heavy handed when it drives home its points about the detached nature of drone warfare (particularly the scenes where Grimm shopping for his vegan pregnant wife are intercut with Kinney being tortured) especially since it doesn't have as much of a clear statement on the issue in comparison to something like Eye in the Sky.
Land of Bad was a pleasant surprise and stands out nicely among the field of mid-budget internationally co-produced action thrillers. While the movie stumbles a bit in its commentary of drone warfare the movie makes up for it with some good characterization, taut direction, and some game leads in Hemsworth and Crowe.