Land of Bad is a 2024 American action thriller film directed by William Eubank, who co-wrote the script with David Frigerio. The film stars Liam Hemsworth, Russell Crowe, Luke Hemsworth, Ricky Whittle, and Milo Ventimiglia.
Land of Bad was released theatrically on February 16, 2024.
Plot[edit]
Captain Eddie "Reaper" Grimm, a US Air Force drone pilot, provides air support from a General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper to a US Army Delta Force team sent to rescue a CIA spy in the southern Philippines.[6] After a mishap against the Abu Sayyaf, Sergeant JJ "Playboy" Kinney, a young air force TACP officer attached to the drone team as its JTAC is seemingly the only survivor, and is sent to an extraction point relying only on Reaper's remote air support.
Once Kinney arrives, he is intercepted by the Abu Sayyaf, depleting the ammunition of Grimm's drone and forcing the endangered extraction helicopter to leave. Trying to reach another extraction point, Kinney loses his rifle and ends captured once his pistol is out of bullets. One of his squad mates, Master Sergeant John "Sugar" Sweet, turns out alive and breaks Kinney out, while telling him Sergeant Bishop was taken prisoner to Abu Sayyaf's base in a series of caves. Using Sweet's radio, Kinney contacts Grimm, who schedules three bombings to hit the base, split apart by 15 minutes, before Grimm is forced by his superiors to take a leave for having exceeded his shift. Kinney and Sweet raid a Abu Sayyaf facility before being captured and taken to their prison.
Bishop is executed right as the first, superficial bombing hits, and Kinney is taken to be tortured, where the rebel leader does not believe his warning about the upcoming bombings. When the bombs hit, Kinney survives for being dunked in a bathtub while his captors are caught in the flames. Kinney grabs a machete and kills the leader, taking his satellite phone and calling Nellis Air Force Base looking for Grimm. The crew distracted by a March Madness game dismisses Kinney's call and redirects him to Grimm's private phone. Grimm does not answer, being in a call with his wife, so Kinney leaves a voice mail asking for the third bombing's cancellation before the battery runs out, and Kinney leaves seeking the other prisoners. Once Grimm hears Kinney's message, he runs back to Nellis, and as he calls the base but no one answers, Grimm is forced to rush to the control room and order the plane pilot to abort the bombing, right as it flies in front of Kinney, Bishop and the CIA spy in the cave's entrance. As the soldiers are taken away in the Philippines, Grimm complains to the rest of the base that three men nearly died because the crew were too distracted to hear both Kinney and Grimm calling, and smashes the break room's television in anger.