Land of Bad

A surprisingly entertaining and enjoyable movie based on modern warfare.

I'm not usually a fan of war movies, but with a cast including Liam Hemsworth and Russell Crowe I gave it a chance, and I am glad I did.

It's your typical good guys vs bad guys movie, with the obligatory fighting, bombs and action which in general work quite well.

However this movie relies heavily on modern warfare tactics, with drones, eye in the sky, and missiles which adds something a little different.

The acting is quite good, and although some of the characters are somewhat stereotypical and lack imagination, but not enough to spoil the movie.

The plot is a little over the top, unrealistic, has a few unlikely turns, but its an action movie at heart, and this allows the writers free reign over the plot.

It's never going to compete with the likes of Saving Private Ryan, but was likely never intended to do so.

It's a fun movie watch, that doesn't challenge the viewer too much.!

The Land of Bad follows a.special ops rescue mission to its conclusion. The tone and feel of the movie is reminiscent of Sicario and Top Gun: Maverick. The story is good with some unexpected twists, thrills, and lessons.

All of the actors do a great job but Russell Crowe steals the screen through the character 'Reaper,' a civilian contractor working as a drone operator. Reaper cares deeply about his job and takes the mission seriously. The team in the field is his number one priority and that's what makes Reaper so darn likable.

All in all the action looked and felt great but that's not what makes Land of Bad a good movie. In fact, I wouldn't even call Land of Bad an action flick. At its heart, Land of Bad is drama about the difficulties surrounding modern combat and its effect on our psyche.

Don't get me wrong. It's not an Oscar winner or anything but it's a serious and entertaining movie that I enjoyed enough to write this review.

I don't review many movies but I felt obligated when I saw how poorly this is doing in the box office. It's unfair for how well this movie does while watching it.

When I first saw this film on a list of movies to watch on a...non reputable website for movies...I thought it was a Netflix or Amazon flick because I've never heard of it before, let alone seen a trailer. Here I come to find out that this movie was not only released in theaters but it was released TWO DAYS AGO (2/15). The marketing team completely dropped the ball on this movie. The major reason that I believe it failed is because there was zero reaching out to potential audiences.

This movie has your basic covert jungle style warfare with enemies who can't aim but it kept me entertained and into it the entire time. The acting is decent, and Russell Crowe is great as an 'in your ear drone operator'. The way they used technical equipment in this movie is better than I've seen of late in any modern movie with drone warfare.

If you want to see a jungle shooting movie with American good guys shooting at random bad guys then this movie is for you. It's very entertaining and I felt into it the entire time.

7/10.

A lot of people are gonna hate this movie or give a so-so rating because Hollywood has lied to you into thinking every soldier/officer in the service is a uberman killing machine.

They are not. The movie serves as a stark difference between techs at bases and field units. And how even the lifestyles and air/atmosphere for these different operatives is.

How drone operators like Eddie are in a more office environment of detached, relative low stress, short shift situation while field operators like Kinney are in high intensity, high stress, extreme hours situation.

Even their personal life priorities are completely different as shown in the last minutes of the movie.

Land of Bad is not there for you to hate on one group or another just to enlighten you that if you haven't walked in either person's shoes you could never understand what they are going through as you the audience in your comfy chair with a cold drink and snack in your hands.

This film isn't going to win any Oscars or be nominated by any stretch of the imagination but it's a solid action flick. It's an interesting take on a military action movie where the drone operator (Crowe) can be the difference between life and death for an American team behind enemy lines. Of course some Hollywood magic carries the movie through scenes that wouldn't otherwise happen in real life but that's to be expected.

Crowe does a great job as an aging drone operator who should be higher in rank by now but is held back by his own stubbornness. Without Crowe in this role I think the movie would fall far under the radar (pun intended) of most people looking for a decent action movie to watch. Hemsworth does a decent job in his role but it's Crowe that holds the film together. Worth a watch.