Film Review: Land of Bad (7.5/10)

Ricky Giamatti
Dec 20, 2025
5 min read

BRO-FEST AT 30,000 FEET

Some movies hit you in the feels; this one hit me in the funny bone first (mostly because I couldn't get over the title), but it quickly traded the jokes for a relentless, teeth-gritting ride through the jungle.

Land of Bad, a 2024 action-thriller directed by William Eubank and co-written with David Frigerio, is a surprisingly grounded exercise in tactical tension. Starring Liam Hemsworth as a rookie JTAC officer and Russell Crowe as the "eye in the sky" drone pilot, the film follows a Delta Force team (including Luke Hemsworth, Milo Ventimiglia, and Ricky Whittle) whose rescue mission in the Philippines goes catastrophically south. Left alone behind enemy lines, Kinney (Hemsworth) has only the voice of Reaper (Crowe) in his ear to guide him through a hellish 48-hour race for survival.

STORY (1/2)

The story being told here is a classic "lone survivor" setup, but it adds a layer of modern technological dread that keeps the stakes feeling fresh. We’re deep in the southern Philippines, where the lush, suffocating jungle becomes a character of its own, impacting every tactical decision Kinney makes as he tries to reach an extraction point that feels a million miles away. The narrative structure is a fascinating split: half the movie is a high-intensity, mud-and-blood crawl through the dirt, while the other half is a high-contrast, bureaucratic office drama featuring a Hawaiian-shirt-clad Russell Crowe in a Las Vegas trailer.

Complexity isn't exactly the goal here—it's easy to follow and even easier to enjoy—but the unique way the story is told through the bond of a headset makes it stand out. While it leans heavily on genre tropes (yes, there's the "rookie proving himself" and the "unbelievable odds"), the pacing is relentless once the first bullet flies. It loses a point only because the plot is a bit of a war-movie bingo card, but for a pure adrenaline delivery system, it hits the target. The movie's dedication to tactical realism is evident; Eubank actually scrapped his initial script after meeting real drone pilots to ensure the terminology and "nine-line" calls were authentic.

VISUALS (1.5/2)

Land of Bad is visually "deliciously real," eschewing the shiny, over-produced look of many modern blockbusters for something much grittier. Shot in Queensland, Australia, the film makes the jungle feel ancient and unforgiving, with saturated, earthy tones that pair perfectly with Agustin Claramunt’s immersive cinematography. The action sequences are staged with surgical precision, featuring practical explosions and debris that make the chaos feel tactile and heavy.

The picture quality is top-tier, though I have to address the one "tooth-shaped" elephant in the room. There is a moment where a brutal punch knocks a tooth clean out of a character's face—a visceral, "wow" visual—only for the same character to look like they have a full dental plan three scenes later. It’s a minor continuity distraction in an otherwise visually stunning film. Aside from that, the nighttime photography and the use of drone-perspective camera rigs are used to enhance the intensity rather than hide bad choreography, making the bone-crunching fisticuffs feel incredibly impactful. The contrast between the vibrant, terrifying greens of the jungle and the sterile, blue-tinted monitors of the drone bunker effectively highlights the "video game" nature of modern warfare.

SOUND (1/2)

The balance between the thunderous explosions and the rhythmic "thrum" of the Reaper drone is masterfully handled, creating a sonic environment that feels massive. Brandon Roberts’ score does a lot of heavy lifting, heightening the emotional impact during the "long hikes" and driving the energy during the firefights. The Foley work is particularly impressive; you can practically hear the grit in the machinery and the wet slap of the jungle foliage.

However, the film struggles with dialogue clarity in the high-noise environments. While the "radio chatter" vibe is intentional and adds to the immersion, there are moments where the surround sound mix feels a bit unbalanced, making it hard to catch the witty banter that Crowe is throwing out from his air-conditioned trailer. It’s a solid audio experience that benefits greatly from a good home theater setup, but it’s not quite the flawless sonic masterpiece it wants to be. The transition from the deafening roar of a Hellfire missile to the mundane beep of a microwave in the Vegas base is jarring in the best way possible, emphasizing the strange disconnect of remote combat.

CHARACTER (2/2)

This is where the movie truly earns its stripes; the acting makes these core characters feel so incredibly real I almost started looking into the "true story" inspiration (which, ironically, doesn't exist). Liam Hemsworth delivers a career-best performance as Kinney, capturing the transformation from a green, "vegan-joke-target" rookie to a capable, battle-hardened leader. He handles the physical toll of the role with a stoic grit that makes you root for him through every nightmare water-torture sequence.

Then there’s Russell Crowe. He spends the entire movie in a chair, yet manages to completely steal every scene he’s in. His "Reaper" is a charismatic, no-BS mentor whose anti-authoritarian streak and infectious humanity provide the film's soul. The relationship between the two—a bond built purely on trust and a digital connection—is the real heartbeat of the movie.

The supporting Delta team, especially a buffed-up Milo Ventimiglia, brings enough "bro-fest" energy to keep the camaraderie believable without tipping into parody. They aren't just caricatures; they feel like a unit you’d actually trust with your life.

FACTOR X (2/2)

Sometimes, you just need an action-packed movie to get you through a Saturday night, and Land of Bad is the ultimate rewatchable candidate. It channels the pure, unadulterated "aggro-bluster" of 80s action maestro John McTiernan, feeling like a modern-day Predator or Die Hard without the cheesy one-liners. It’s an "instant cult classic" that doesn't try to be anything other than a propulsive, tough-as-nails thriller. It celebrates the grit of the ground and the technical precision of the air in equal measure.

The Factor X here is the surprising emotional weight found in the mundane interjections—like Crowe wandering a grocery aisle for a specific type of vegan cheese while his protégé is fighting for his life. It highlights the bizarre, surreal nature of contemporary warfare, where life-and-death decisions are made with a joystick thousands of miles away. It’s a "rough diamond" of a film that reminds us why we love the genre in the first place: it has stakes, it has heart, and it has a whole lot of RPGs.

Land of Bad is a high-stakes, chest-thumping survival thriller that delivers exactly what it promises on the tin. While it relies on some familiar war-movie cliches and has a few minor continuity "tooth-aches," the powerhouse performances from Hemsworth and Crowe elevate it into must-watch territory. It’s a well-made combat film that leverages modern tech to create genuine tension and heart. If you're looking for a satisfying watch that respects the grit of the ground and the eyes in the sky, skip the theater lines and find this on Netflix. Because if you can laugh at a drone pilot who doesn't know how to twerk and still care when the bombs drop—that’s cinema magic right there.