Father’s Day weekend means one thing: getting my dad to choose a movie. It’s become something of a tradition for us, even alongside our regular trips to the theater each week. Still, there’s something a bit more wholesome about staying in and watching a proper “dad movie” at home. When put on the spot this year, he picked “Land of Bad,” an action-thriller currently streaming on Netflix. Clearly, he went straight for something intense and action-heavy, as expected.
“Land of Bad” is essentially the perfect dad movie. Not only does it star Russell Crowe, but it has enough action to keep your adrenaline spiked, and it very much leans into a tactile feel heavily influenced by classic survival films like “Predator.” While its theatrical run was relatively quiet (grossing around $7 million), the movie found a massive second life on streaming, particularly after landing on Netflix in 2024. So even though I’m not the biggest action fan, I was still very curious about watching this film.
If you’re stuck on what to watch for Father’s Day weekend, or simply need a tense film to add to your watchlist, here’s everything to know about the action-thriller “Land of Bad.”
What is ‘Land of Bad’ about?
“Land of Bad” follows Sergeant JJ Kinney (Liam Hemsworth), a newly assigned Joint Terminal Attack Controller, during a high-stakes extraction mission in the southern Philippines.
When his Delta Force team is brutally ambushed by militants, Kinney becomes the sole survivor on the ground, trapped deep within enemy territory. His only lifeline is Reaper (Russell Crowe), a tech-weary drone pilot operating from an Air Force base in Las Vegas.
As Kinney works his way through the treacherous jungle, hunted by a ruthless extremist group, Reaper serves as his eyes in the sky. Over a tense forty-eight-hour window, Reaper has to orchestrate precision air strikes and guide Kinney toward a distant extraction point before it’s too late.
‘Land of Bad’ a tense military thriller made for dad viewing
A dad movie is often defined as an easy-to-watch, reliably satisfying film that aims to provide popcorn-style entertainment over anything experimental. For that very reason, action movies tend to be the most popular pick, so I thought I already knew what kind of movie “Land of Bad” would be when we first discovered it on Netflix. However, William Eubank’s film turned out to be a truly gripping ride.
That all comes down to how it tells its story, splitting between Hemsworth’s character’s life-or-death survival in the wilderness and the everyday civilian atmosphere of an Air Force command centre thousands of miles away. It’s certainly a unique contrast for a war film considering many focus on the camaraderie between men in such a dangerous situation, but “Land of Bad” makes this scenario feel a little more isolating. Even more so when Sergeant Kinney is left alone in the rugged jungles of the Gold Coast for much of the film.
“Land of Bad” doesn’t bring much new to the war-action genre, and its twists are fairly predictable, so the story itself doesn’t always do much to keep you invested. Instead, the film holds your attention through its performances, leaning on the long-distance dynamic between Hemsworth and Crowe’s characters, which at times feels more like a character drama played out over comms. Crowe is largely confined to a chair, watching events unfold on a monitor, yet still delivers what ends up being the film’s strongest performance.
For dads though, “Land of Bad” succeeds as an entertaining thriller thanks to its brutal action sequences and hand-to-hand combat (since my dad adores “John Wick,” he’s always been a fan of that fighting style). There’s a strong sense of urgency running through the action, which keeps the stakes feeling consistently high. Overall, “Land of Bad” is not particularly memorable, but it still packs in plenty of tension, practical set-pieces, and explosions to remain consistently compelling. Fans of action-thrillers, including dads, should enjoy it.
Stream "Land of Bad" on Netflix
