Land of Bad

We’re in the “try anything once” phase of Russell Crowe’s career, and he’s wearing it well.

The makers of “Land of Bad” mostly reduce their movie’s antagonists to generic obstacles for Kinney, except for a few key scenes that strain to establish why they’re actually the worst.

Moments presumably conceived to create suspense... merely contribute to its longueurs.

Russell Crowe... spends most of the movie sitting in a chair staring at a screen and manages to completely steal it anyway.

Once Land of Bad establishes its stakes – one man versus an army – the film settles all too comfortably into war-machine territory, minus any particularly inventive kills or sense of style.

Headlined by a serviceable Liam Hemsworth and a fantastic Russell Crowe in all his hammy scene-stealing glory, it’s the bro-iest bro-fest that ever bro’d—and I say that with far more affection than condescension.

It is kind of ironic how I have just seen Land of Bad and yet I could genuinely not tell you what it was about. And this is the biggest flaw of the film: it is missing its heart, the very reason why it should have been made in the first place.

Gung ho goodness tempered with the hint of a self-satiric edge, it’s a bit of a rough diamond.

This is a solid, all-around B-side action adventure. Liam Hemsworth doesn’t exactly anchor it all, but he does a fine job of giving Kinney the right mix of nerves and ability. I wanted more time with Crowe's eccentric triggerman.

It gets the job done, and it’s far superior to most nearly-straight-to-streaming action schlock.