Extraction 2: Film Review
After the success of 2020’s Netflix hit Extraction, Chris Hemsworth is back for more action in Sam Hargrave‘s sequel Extraction 2.
At the end of the first film, mercenary Tyler Rake (Hemsworth) fell off a bridge and was seemingly dead. Obviously, he survives (there wouldn’t be a sequel otherwise) and finds a remote cabin in Austria to live out the rest of his days. Of course, he is brought out of retirement to rescue his ex-wife’s sister Ketevan (Tinatin Dalakishvili) and her children from a prison, where they are being held captive along with her gangster husband Davit (Tornike Bziava). Naturally, the extraction angers Davit’s crime boss brother Zurab (Tornike Gogrichiani), who tracks down Rake for revenge.
The crowning jewel in Extraction 2 is a 21-minute one-shot sequence. A step up from Extraction’s 12-minute oner in both length and ambition, this one is incredibly complicated, with a ridiculous amount of moving parts. There’s a lot of stunt choreography, hand-to-hand combat, gunfire, actual fire, many many extras and even a train and a helicopter in pursuit. To get this all done in ‘one go’ (you can tell where it was stitched together) requires an insane amount of rehearsal, camera blocking and takes. It is so impressive – and it’s a shame it appears so early in the movie as it peaks too soon.
The remainder of the movie has decent action containing some creative and brutal kills but they pale in comparison to the spectacular sequence earlier on. They get progressively less thrilling as the film goes along and the final showdown feels a little anti-climactic after the stellar action sequences that came before. The first half is definitely stronger than the second, which is very unusual.
I’ve seen a lot of people say this film is bigger and better than the first. That’s definitely true in terms of the action but I actually cared about the story more the first time. The boy was adorable and you cared more about him being safely extracted. I didn’t feel that for the newly extracted trio, particularly as the annoying Sandro (Andro Japaridze) actively sabotages Rake’s plan.
I have no complaints about Hemsworth though. He is physically capable and handles the complicated action sequences with confident ease. He’s an action star through and through. It was also nice to see Golshifteh Farahani getting more to do this time around as his handler Nik. She is fully involved in the story every step of the way and has plenty of her own action moments.
I wish the rest of Extraction 2 was as good as its 21-minute action sequence.
Streaming on Netflix now