Did you know Land of Bad was in theatres? Yeah, it hit the theatres in February 2024. I had no idea. I thought this was a Netflix original. That’s probably the best way to describe the movie. It’s not terrible, but it’s more streaming original than a theatre-worthy flick. That’s reflective of the 6.5 million dollar box office. I don’t remember a single trailer for this film until it popped up on Netflix.
Land of Bad is a war film, more or less. It’s not necessarily a theatre most of us are aware of, but it takes place in Southern Asia. It’s not an open war but a quiet one. Our film enters into the Black Hawk Down rescue genre in the first act, but it doesn’t live up to the standard set by the military classic.
It has no great moments of inspiration and no believable lows. It’s a competent and fun action movie, but it’s one we’ll all forget in a few months. The characters are forgettable, and no villain stands out. It’s all kind of plain. Russell Crowe stands out, but that’s cause he’s Russell Crowe. Yet, in the moment, I was entertained. After the film, I had to write this quickly because I felt the movie was leaving my memory.
Land Of Bad: The Rundown
Land of Bad starts with a man making a decision. He’s geared up, armed, and ready, and he has to pick between Fruit Loops and Frosted Flakes. It’s a fun scene and one I remember most. From there, we quickly move on and get into the meat of our mission. Our main character, Air Force Sergeant ‘Playboy’ Kinney, is attached to a three-man Delta Force team. Their mission is to extract a CIA Spy who infiltrated the terrorist organization Abu Sayyaf.
It’s quickly established that Playboy is a newb amongst an experienced team of Delta Force commandos. It doesn’t make sense when you figure that Kinney is 28. That means he’s likely been in the military for a decade, and he’s a TACP. TACPs are Special Warfare airmen, and they provide precision fire from drones, fixed and rotary wings, as well as artillery and naval gunfire.
These guys get attached to special ops teams all the time. They are well-trained, and I’m betting most would be insanely excited to work with Delta Force. Our guy, Kinney, seems to be a neutered pup who doesn’t seem at all excited to do his job. Our Delta guys get all of 30 seconds for character development. We quickly learn that one guy is the leader, the other guy is a nice family man, and the third guy is abrasive. That’s all we ever learn about their characters.
Back in Vegas, 50-year-old O-3 Eddie ‘Reaper’ Grimm (Russell Crowe) is a drone pilot helping cover the mission. We get a character out of him. He’s competent, a rule-breaker, and wears a Hawaiian shirt! We learn a lot about him, and he becomes a real character.
Into the Badland
Predictably, the mission doesn’t go smoothly. Everything goes wrong, and Kinney is separated from the team. He and the audience are under the impression that they are dead. Kinney attempts to extract the team, but it all goes wrong again. Throughout the film, Kinney and Reaper converse over the radio, and we get to know a little more about each of them.
Kinney proves to be competent, smart, and capable. He’s still sheepish, but his arc is growing, and he’s becoming a more competent character.
The big twist is that only one member of the team is dead. The Team Leader finds Kinney and organizes a rescue mission for the abrasive sniper guy.
The action ratchets up, and it all goes wrong again. Bad things happen, and there is lots of fun violence. Eventually, Kinney saves the day, and they go home. They deal not only with the enemy but also with some good old American military incompetence. Kinney, Reaper, and Reaper’s assistant, Staff Sergeant Branson, are highly competent, but the higher-ups are failures focused on a basketball game.
The Ups and Downs
The action is pretty fun. It’s stylized with lots of fun explosions. Most folks don’t know what a TACP does, but we get to see the lethality they offer in the film. Kinney and Reaper lay down fire and hate via drones and jets. The gunplay is fine. Everyone aims their weapons, and it looks competent. Of course, the big sniper rifle throws bad guys backward in defiance of physics.
The sets are great, with jungles, waterfalls, and an aptly described bad-guy lair. The movie looks good, and everything is clear and easy to see. The direction seemed fine to me, but I’m no auteur. The action doesn’t become too chaotic to understand, but it becomes frustrating at times from a military perspective.
As a whole, the film needs a competent military consultant. Russell Crowe is too old to be a Captain, and it’s explained and played off that he needs the active duty bonuses to be a pilot. That sounds good, but the Air Force would force him out, and they wouldn’t let him wear a Hawaiian shirt at work. At first, I thought he was a civilian consultant, but then he stepped into the drone room.
There is also some silly stuff. The extraction is one helicopter with no cover, though we later see they have a jet on station. Why wouldn’t the helicopter have escorts like Apaches or Cobras with jets? Once the mission went sideways, there were zero chances the military wouldn’t send a butt load of firepower as a rescue mission. If they’re willing to send a drone, a jet, and a helicopter, they’d be willing to send triple of each for a rescue.
That country would be swarming with Marines from the nearest MEU and the helicopters, jets, and more.
The GUNS!
The guns are your typical mix of AR-type guns. Kinney carries a standard M4 with a PEQ 15 and EOTech. It’s plain but believable. The Delta guys carry different variants of the AR. The team leader carries a shorty AR that’s somewhere between 10.3 to 12.5 inches in barrel length with an Aimpoint T2. It appears he’s carrying Lancer mags in his plate carrier.
The sniper also carried a short AR, but he had a Barrett MRAD strapped to his back. The abrasive sniper is a competent shooter who puts lead into everyone who wants some. He enthusiastically works the bolt action, and the gun makes its point. Our final Delta guy carries a standard AR-type carbine with a glossy green finish. His gun wears an Elcan.
The bad guys have AKs, RPGs, and heavy machine guns. Later in the film, Kinney and the Delta Team leader grab indig weapons. Kinney is carrying a clapped-out SKS that I found humorous. It doesn’t look like a product of Southeast Asia but of Southeast Alabama. Kinney has an M9, and the Delta guys appear to have Glocks but are very briefly shown.
The gear is fine. The rifles have slings, and everyone has radios and wears plate carriers. The silliest thing is that Kinney uses a cheap nylon holster with a velcro snap for his M9.
Worth the Watch?
If you have Netflix, be sure to watch it. It’ll give you a few hours of entertainment. The action is competent and fun. The military details are horrible, but hey, it’s a film. Overall, it’s fun and fine, but it’s forgettable without any memorable characters outside of Eddie Grimm, and that’s just because Russell Crowe is still awesome.
