Extraction: Film Review
Avengers: Endgame stunt coordinator Sam Hargrave makes his directorial debut with Extraction, which was written by Avengers: Endgame co-director Joe Russo, so it makes no surprise that they turned to one of the Avengers – Chris Hemsworth – to star in their intense action movie.
Hemsworth stars as Tyler Rake, a fearless black market mercenary who is tasked with rescuing Ovi (Rudhraksh Jaiswal), the teenage son of an imprisoned Indian crime lord. Ovi has been kidnapped and taken to Dhaka, Bangladesh by the city’s most formidable drug lord Amir Asif (Priyanshu Painyuli). On the surface, it seems like a simple extraction job, but the plan soon goes awry and Rake faces the impossible mission of trying to get himself and Ovi out of Dhaka alive.
If you’re really up for an action movie, Extraction is for you. It is all about the action setpieces, car chases, fights and stunts, which makes sense given that this is Hargrave’s area of expertise. They are exciting, thrilling and inventive early on, captured by dynamic, frenetic camerawork that gives them unique energy. The car chase, for example, was particularly gripping and intense, thanks to it being filmed largely as a one-shot and by Hargrave being strapped onto the bonnet of a car with the camera. There were some creative and inventive kills early on and one sequence throughout a block of apartments that had great momentum and energy and left me feeling quite exhausted, so you can only imagine how Rake must be feeling. However, after about halfway through, it was mostly just a gun-fest and I always find those quite boring. It’s hard to engage with these sequences because they look like they belong in a video game. A lot of people die in this movie and the majority of these are shot or blown up.
Hemsworth, who also serves as a producer, is of course well equipped to handle these sequences. He is physically very capable and a lot of the time you can tell it is actually him doing the stunts. He gets put through the wringer and looks exhausted, as he should. However, it is quite problematic that he is basically the white saviour of the piece. Besides a small appearance from David Harbour, Hemsworth is the only white person of substance in this movie and he kills a lot of people of colour. I’m predicting some backlash about this.
Extraction is unrelenting and way too long. I know this mirrors Rake’s mission, but I would have liked it to have been slightly shorter. There are far too many action scenes and they mostly go on for too long, particularly in the second half. Diehard action fans may eat this up but I got a bit bored of them and zoned out. I know this is all about the action, but I would have preferred some more human moments to learn more about Rake and Ovi to help me become more invested in their survival.
The script isn’t the most inspired and the backstory is far too thin for my liking, but if you want violent non-stop action starring a hunky Hollywood star with his native Australian accent, Extraction will be right up your street.
Available on Netflix from Friday 24th April