Land of Bad (2024)

Russell Crowe spends part of Land of Bad running a rescue mission and part of it grocery shopping, and that split is the movie’s best idea and its weirdest. Liam Hemsworth plays JJ Kinney, a young Air Force sergeant tagging along with a Delta Force team on a rescue in the southern Philippines. The mission falls apart, Kinney ends up alone in the jungle, and his only backup is Crowe’s drone pilot, Reaper, talking him through it from half a world away. Then Reaper gets sent home mid-mission for working past his shift. Crowe is a blast as a cranky pro who has had it with everyone, and the jungle set pieces are loud and well staged. The problem is the formula, plus a habit of stopping for speeches about what’s wrong with the military that land with a thud. It holds a 66% on Rotten Tomatoes. A 5.9 because the action delivers and the lectures don’t. $1,264 says the next time your phone rings during a big basketball game, you actually pick it up.

What works: The jungle action is tense and well staged, and Russell Crowe brings gruff charm to a role spent mostly in a control room.

What doesn’t: It leans hard on genre formula and keeps pausing for heavy-handed lectures about the military that stall the momentum.

Who it’s for: Action fans who like a straightforward military rescue thriller and a little Russell Crowe grumpiness on the side.