Extraction: A Review

Following the kidnapping of Ovi Mahajan Jr. (Rudhraksh Jaiswal). His dad, an Indian crime lord (Pankaj Tripathi), enlisted the help of a former Special Forces to rescue his son. Here comes a drunk Aussie mercenary with a dark past, Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth). Together with the help of Nik Khan (Golshifteh Farahani), he travels to Dhaka, Bangladesh. But Bangladesh's biggest crime lord, Amir Asif (Priyanshu Painyuli), is not fazed. He sent out his army of henchmen to prevent the succession of the mission. Outnumbered by many, Rake and the boy must find a way out of the enemy's territory before a total lockdown. Directed by the first-time director Sam Hargrave and distributed by Netflix. "Extraction" is a film about a broken man finding a purpose amidst violence.

2020 is a terrible year for most of us but not for Sam Hargrave. A former "Captain America: Civil War" and "Avengers: Endgame" stunt coordinator. He made a giant leap to directing with "Extraction", with Joe Russo writing the screenplay for him.

The selling-point though is none other than Chris Hemsworth. A hard-to-hate guy and very charismatic. Though he distanced himself away from his funny persona. He, instead, showed us his serious side and it's a treat. His strict and strong demeanor suited him well. I've never been so convinced that I'm watching an actor as a mercenary slash soldier before, until now.

As you might've guessed, "Extraction" is a stunt galore. A fast-paced action movie that is well choreographed and shot. Violent and gory, this movie is not shy with all the action. It reminds me of "John Wick" and "The Raid" for how realistic and complex the fight scenes were. Also, these movies have some similarities with each other. Like having a broken person as a protagonist and a suicide mission story.

Though, beyond violence and gore, "Extraction" manages to be relevant. In one scene, Rake talks about his family and his regret of choosing war over them. At that moment the big tough guy confesses, "I'm not brave". But in those three words, he found a purpose and that is to do what is right. Hargrave uses Rake's vulnerability to remind us that soldiers are people too. They are often thought of as merciless, strong and brave but inside they are the opposite.

It's easy to fall in love with this movie. That ambitious one-take action scene alone will rake fans. But, "Extraction" remains a shadow of big action movies that preceded it. The very generic story and the cookie-cutter script leaves nothing to be desire. The villain is boring and it has so many senseless violence as it keeps on killing and killing until it ends. The tendency to barbarism floods the story with pointless blood and gun powder.

To simplify, "Extraction" overdid its strength. Yes, there are lots of strong performances and the action is impressive. But that is all meaningless if the director underutilizes the story. Hargrave's film has rays of brilliance but it's not that extravagant.

2/5