A Liam Hemsworth & Russell Crowe Action Thriller Is Climbing Up The Netflix Charts

There's something about low-to-mid-budget action movies and Netflix that just seem to go very well together. Maybe it's just because action fans are loyal and these movies are often the ones that people don't get a chance to see in theaters. Maybe it's because people are often just looking for something easy enough to half watch in the background while doing other things. Right or wrong, action can be viewed as a better option for that than, say, an Oscar-winning drama. Whatever equation has made it so, Russell Crowe and Liam Hemsworth's "Land of Bad" has found a sizable audience on Netflix as of late.

The action/war flick from director William Eubank, who previously helmed "Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin," has been sitting comfortably in the Netflix Top 10 films chart for the past couple of weeks. As of this writing, it is sitting at number three behind "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" and "Trolls Band Together," both of which were much bigger studio films with mass-appeal in mind. In its first week on the streamer from July 15 to July 21, "Land of Bad" was viewed a total of 16.6 million hours, behind only "Trolls Band Together" and the romantic comedy "Find Me Falling."

While "Find Me Falling" fell faster, currently sitting at number five on the charts, Eubank's gritty war picture has held strong. Be it through word of mouth or more people clicking out of curiosity, this film is finding life well beyond the box office thanks to a run on the world's largest streaming service. For what it's worth, "Land of Bad" did land in the top 10 at the box office when it opened in February with minimal marketing, but this movie was always going to make its hay at home.

"Land of Bad" centers on an elite extraction team on a mission in the South Philippines. They are ambushed deep in enemy territory, leaving rookie officer Kinney (Hemsworth) on his own and outnumbered. Determined to leave no man behind, Kinney's only hope lies with Air Force drone pilot Reaper (Crowe), who is doing everything he can to bring these men home alive from afar. The cast also includes Liam's brother Luke Hemsworth, of "Westworld" fame, as well as Ricky Whittle ("American Gods"), Chika Ikogwe ("Heartbreak High"), and Milo Ventimiglia ("This is Us").

It's not hard to see how this one might raise an eyebrow or two while scrolling around on Netflix. For one, it has that, "How have I not heard of this?" factor. Crowe, after all, is an Oscar-winning actor and it has two Hemsworths for the price of one. It also very much seems like the kind of action movie that benefits greatly from Netflix, as the streamer regularly sees films like Arnold Schwarzenegger's "The Last Stand" enter the top 10. Not exactly classics, but movies that have that easy watch energy, or that "I totally forgot about that movie" factor.

What I can say personally is that this one feels worthy of finding an audience. I caught the movie on a flight a couple of months ago and was downright stunned by how much I enjoyed it. It delivers incredibly solid action, a genuinely great performance from Crowe, and it feels surprisingly cinematic for a movie that had such a limited presence in theaters. It's no secret that a lot of bad movies get a lot of viewership on Netflix, but it's nice when a semi-hidden gem like this gains traction. This is precisely the kind of movie that was seemingly designed to thrive on streaming.

"Land of Bad" is streaming now on Netflix.