Land of Bad: Netflix has just released a new film starring Russell Crowe (looking more and more well fed), Liam Hemsworth and Luke Hemsworth. The title though says it all – this is bad, make no mistake about it. It begins with a discussion about an area of the world near the Philippines, where there is active combat and a war going on that no one is aware. It is an Australian film, but about Americans. Funny that.

There is an operation that is required in this combative area and a young Liam Hemsworth is ordered by happenstance to join a veteran group of Special Ops soldiers who are going to look to find and return an intelligence CIA asset. Naturally there is chirping among the more experienced soldiers and the young inexperienced Hemsworth who is nervous about a high parachute drop and the nature of the unknown task ahead of them. This small group of soldiers is supported half a world away in a base in Las Vegas which has Air Force personnel using drones with accompanying weapons. The drones have the ability to watch over the operation and communicate the on-ground situation to the soldiers. Russell Crowe is an aging operator, who cannot even do up the uniform which he tries to wear and hides the fact with a bright yellow Hawaiian shirt.

The operation, naturally, runs into unexpected issues with the team suffering significant losses. Crowe is doing his best to explain why he sits in his chair at this age, while at the same time communicating to that strike team. I am not really clear as to why Crowe is given this role. Perhaps they wanted another Australian, like Hemsorth, to play a guy from Ohio, as Hemsworth does. My greater issue with the movie is that this makes it seem as though it is present day but rather than finding familiar real wars like Ukraine or Isreal and Palestine, there is this unknown “war”. When you look at the American resources that are used here, helicopters, F-18s, B-1 bombers, drones and personnel all over the armed forces, one wonders about this war. It creates no sympathy really for the young soldier as he stands, with all these well provisioned rebels in this massive bunker structure. Battles are undertaken, with plenty of bullets and hand to hand combat. There are clear enemies, but really? There is torture, there are other challenges for a singular solider with plenty of inexplicable actions by the rebels (like the whole issue of whether you don’t simply shoot an enemy you find in your territory). I would have expected the soldier to shoot first and and ask questions later. There are also way-too-convenient strikes being made which happen to coincide very neatly with an unpleasant consequence which seems to befall the lead character. Do I like this? Absolutely not. It is not compelling or interesting on any level. Within the first thirty minutes almost nothing takes place. The ending of course is not really in doubt, even when the ending of Platoon is virtually stolen frame for frame. This movie is a hard pass, and it is unfortunate that Russell Crowe who will associate himself with it.