10 Recent Movies That Made INSANE Choices
2. Russell Crowe's Cheese Subplot - Land of Bad
If you can forgive its rather silly title, Land of Bad is actually a pretty solid action thriller, following a Delta Force unit as they fight for survival while guided by a drone pilot, Eddie Grimm (Russell Crowe).
For the bulk of its runtime, the movie is a standard yet decently crafted romp, yet takes a wildly ridiculous left-turn late in the day when Grimm is taken off drone duty just as Sgt. Kinney (Liam Hemsworth) is kidnapped by enemy forces.
Unable to help Kinney, Grimm decides to go about his day, which includes going grocery shopping for his heavily pregnant, vegan wife, who has very specific dietary requests.
And so, Kinney's brutal imprisonment is cross-cut with a deeply bizarre, oddly prolonged sequence where Crowe inquires about and purchases - and we quote - "artisanal tree nut fermented plant-based cashew and tahini smoked vegan new cheese," before making contact with Kinney once again.
It goes on for a bafflingly long time, almost as though the filmmakers simply told Russell Crowe to improv his way around a supermarket and have some fun with it - which is precisely what he does.
It's a deeply weird detour, though at least it injects some welcome quirkiness into this generally serious-minded actioner.