Bad Lands (2023) – English Review

A woman is part of a group that swindles people, while also dealing with a troubled past. Her half-brother is an idiot, constantly complicating her life with his stupid decisions.

Bad Lands is a long movie, running around 145 minutes. That’s about 40 minutes too long. This movie isn’t for everyone. It’s a movie that delivers an overload of Japanese overacting, which will make you cringe in your seat.

Let me start by saying I actually enjoyed the first 20 minutes, when the woman and her group of swindlers attempted to con an old lady. This buildup is really good, but after that scene, we never get another one like it. That was a huge mistake, in my opinion, because that’s where the movie shines. The protagonist, with her dark past, is also a compelling character.

After the opening sequence, we follow the protagonist and see that, despite being part of a group that swindles people, she isn’t a bad person. She tries to care for the homeless, and her boss, who also seems like a decent person, looks after her. But then her loose-cannon brother complicates things, and the cops start closing in on their swindler group.

She’s haunted by her past, and it turns out a sadistic rich man is after her. He’s responsible for her losing hearing in one ear, but this character is so useless and poorly written that there’s no point in having him in the movie.

The police are on the swindlers’ tail, and this group is supposed to be the “charming” element of the movie, but they’re still cops—and who even likes cops these days?

The protagonist’s brother is an idiot. I think he’s her half-brother. The movie tells us about their shared past, leading to a so-called twist towards the end, where something dramatic happens, forcing the protagonist to make a life-or-death decision.

Sakura Andô plays the protagonist, and she’s good. But the problem is, several actors here aren’t. They overact, especially when they’re trying to be tough and cool. Just look at the woman working in the gambling house—her facial expressions and body language made me laugh out loud. I was embarrassed for her.

You hope the protagonist will get a happy ending because she comes off as a decent person. And, as mentioned, you’ll eventually learn what happened to her in the past, which explains why she is the way she is today. Her brother, meanwhile, remains an idiot, though he’s loyal. But he’s such an idiot that you stop caring about his fate. It doesn’t seem like even he cares whether he lives or dies.

Bad Lands has a lot of issues, and I can’t recommend it to anyone who can’t stand Japanese overacting. Plus, it’s 40 minutes too long. It could’ve been a really entertaining movie with a shorter runtime and more competent actors. But the movie I watched was the movie I watched—not the one I wanted it to be.

Rating: 5/10

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