Director William Eubank’s new film “Territory of Evil” brought together the Hemsworth brothers on the set, but not the famous one who plays Thor in the Marvel cinematic universe, but Liam and Luke. Other performers include Russell Crowe and Milo Ventimiglia. In the review below we tell you why a decent cast does not save the situation.
Pros:
good technical performance; decent cast; some intense scenes, Hooks in the headset delivered (see main text)
Minuses:
unnecessary scenes and meaningless dialogues (the first half hour can be safely removed without damaging the narrative); a lot of absurd absurdities; the absence of a clear antagonist and a weak storyline of the guy with the headset and the soldier in the field, which is not at all catchy; general banality and caricature of individual moments
“Territory of Evil” / Land of Bad
Genre Action
Directed by William Eubank
Starring: Liam Hemsworth, Luke Hemsworth, Russell Crowe, Milo Ventimiglia, Ricky Whittle
Vudu Premiere
Year of manufacture 2024
IMDb website
A team of four Delta Force members is sent to the Philippines to free a CIA operative who was spying on a Russian arms dealer. But at the stage of surveillance of the latter, an unpredictable event occurs when a detachment of terrorists arrives, who, shouting “Allahu Akbar,” begin to chop off the heads of those present with a machete. Unable to tolerate such bloody chaos, the Americans enter into battle with an enemy whose forces are clearly superior.
The fighters are supported from the air by the MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance and strike UAV, which is controlled from a military base in Las Vegas by the corpulent Captain Eddie Grimm and his assistant Sergeant Nia Branson. But very soon the situation gets out of control, and the rescuers themselves turn into those who need to be saved. Maintaining contact with Sergeant JJ ”Playboy” Kinney, Grimm tries to do everything possible to get the suffering out of the meat grinder. Looking at the title of this simple action movie, you might think that the movie will be about Russia. But, fortunately, here we have another military action movie about valiant American soldiers in trouble, like Behind Enemy Lines (2001) with Owen Wilson, Lone Survivor (2013) with Mark Wahlberg and a whole bag of other similar films.
Director William Eubank previously directed the very strange sci-fi The Signal (2014) and the disastrous deep-sea horror Underwater (2020). Screenwriter David Frigerio once wrote a script called “Taste for Blood,” which was bought by Fyodor Bondarchuk’s company Art Pictures Group and based on it they made the film “Warrior.” One can only imagine what kind of pathetic trash the end result was. In general, both filmmakers have never grabbed stars from the sky, and this project will definitely not be a breakthrough in their careers.
The problem is that the authors implement their quite noble goals, which would be converted into a painfully simple but good action movie, using absolutely primitive means.
Where there should be intense action scenes, the viewer is offered simple shootouts with ridiculous, slow-mo clip inserts. Where there are hints of fascinating dramaturgy in the style of “Die Hard” (when a field fighter and his partner with a walkie-talkie/headset at the ready, unfamiliar with each other, receive a heartfelt, confessional interaction), fair indifference arises. Where Liam Hemsworth’s character wouldn’t leave a wet spot, the guy continues to run through the jungle and shoot back from enemies.
The setting at a military base in Las Vegas deserves special mention, where the only thing missing to complete the picture is strippers and good beer. The pedantic captain played by Russell Crowe and his assistant, a copy of Hooks from “Police Academy,” are responsible for the work during missions here. Everyone else, including the local colonel, are complete degenerates who do nothing but watch basketball continuously, ignoring incoming phone calls. And the climax is based on this creepy factor, when the level of tension, in theory, should be maximum, but instead bewilderment arises.
For dessert, we get an outstanding life hack on how to protect yourself from an explosion: it turns out that during rocket attacks, in the absence of adequate shelter, you can safely fill the bathtub with water and dive into it. It’s also possible to be captured by the enemy twice in a day and literally get away with it. And there is no normal antagonist here. And also, and also, and also… Liam Hemsworth seems to continue the role from the second “The Expendables” and at 34 plays a 27-year-old type of brat, at whom his more experienced brothers-in-arms make fun of him. The eldest of the brothers, Luke, whose career, unlike Chris, is in complete trouble, exists solely for the sake of heroic death two minutes after the start of hostilities. It’s hard to see in Russell Crowe today the one who once played Maximus in Ridley Scott’s historical epic, and that’s all that can be said about his role. The scenes in the supermarket with the actor’s participation, which alternate with scenes in the Philippine hell, are actually kind of surreal.
All of the above-mentioned dubious moments, of which there are too many in the film space, greatly spoil the overall impression of an action film that is quite normal from the technical side. Along with the best representatives of the genre, it does not stand up to criticism, given how different the genre is now from what it was in the era of Schwarzenegger and Stallone. Actually, this movie should be paid attention exclusively to fans of unpretentious action films from somewhere in the distant past.
And this sounds a little strange given that the filmmakers are trying to point out how important the role of drones is in modern warfare. Well, every conscious Ukrainian knows this well even without mediocre American action films.
Conclusion:
“Territory of Evil” can only claim the attention of fans of old, unpretentious action films. Everyone else can safely pass by.
