Extraction – The Review

Extraction: (noun) the action of extracting or removing something, especially using effort or force.

That pretty much sums up the movie Extraction. Action combined with effort or force. Generally force and blood. A lot of blood and guns. Don’t forget the guns. On the plus side, we now know that Chris Hemsworth, who plays the lead character Tyler Rake, can lift people like rag dolls and throw them around and that he’ll fit nicely into the action hero role once he hangs up Mjolnir on that worthy coat hook that we saw in Thor: The Dark World. And believe me when I say that Extraction is a huge departure from any of the Thor films. So, let’s put all the reviewing aside for a moment and give you the cast and crew details.

Extraction is THE most watched original film in Netflix’s history so far. Sam Hargrave’s directorial debut was adapted from the graphic novel ‘Ciudad’ written by Ande Parks, the Russo brothers (yes, those Russo brothers), and Fernando Leon Gonzalez. Extraction is a non stop action thriller. Sam Hargrave also co-wrote the screen adaptation of Extraction and is no stranger to working with the Russos as he was stunt coordinator for several films in the Marvel universe and, through the course of Extraction, Hargrave’s background in stunt coordination really shows and pays off. The 2020 Netflix movie stars Chris Hemsworth, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Randeep Hooda, Golshifteh Farahani, Pankaj Tripathi and David Harbour as the storyline follows mercenary Tyler (Hemsworth) on a mission to rescue an incarcerated Indian drug lord’s son in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Simple. Right?

Hyper violence and gritty realism is the name of the game in Extraction which is faithful to the graphic novel it uses as inspiration. Set in India and Bangladesh rather than Paraguay, the film doesn’t pull many punches (literally and figuratively); so with spoilers aplenty, let’s jump right into the thick of it.

Right, so the last time I gave a blow by blow reaction to a movie, I was ready for it to suck badly and that was based on one of my favourite books: Artemis Fowl. This time I went in with no expectations and the movie I chose: Netflix’s own newest ‘most watched’ title, Extraction. Tyler Rake is a black market mercenary and former SASR operator. That’s it. That’s all we know. These characters have as much depth as a puddle but we’re not here for character depth and feelings. We’re here for blood, violence, shoot outs, corrupt cops and snipers. Oh, and children cutting off their own fingers (I kid you not).

So the first thing to note is that unless you speak Hindi, Bengali and English all at the same time, you’re going to need subtitles which was a non issue for me because I always have subtitles on but I know some people can’t stand subbed movies; so, consider this your warning.

We open on Ovi being a teenager, going to school, crushing on a girl and sneaking out to meet his friends. However unlike other teenagers, Ovi is kidnapped by some cops and held for ransom because reasons. That’s why. We have no context as to why Ovi was kidnapped by a rival drug lord from another country but the mission is dubbed “mythic shit.” That is a direct quote from the movie. Again, we are not here for witty banter and snappy one liners. This is the epitome of the shoot ‘em all and if you die, walk it off genre. So, we’ve seen Ovi get kidnapped, check. Saju, his guardian who isn’t that great at guarding, making a plan to get Ovi back after Ovi Snr, the incarcerated drug lord, threatens Saju’s son’s life, check. Now it’s time to meet our mercenary, Tyler.

Out at The Kimberley in the outback because you all need to appreciate the beauty of Australia more. S’truth, mate. We meet Tyler ‘asleep’ while his mates have a few beers and look down at the thirty metre drop to the lake which is aptly described as ‘fuckin’ high.’ Rata, the buddy that keeps using fuckin’ as an adjective, is then told by Koen, the other beer drinking buddy, to “find another fuckin’ adjective.” I will admit that that stupid joke did make me laugh and then Tyler decided to jump off the “fuckin’ high” cliff and meditate underwater (or try to drown himself) for reasons and blurry flashbacks with no context. Like I said already, this movie isn’t backstory heavy, just go with the flow and don’t think too hard.

Nik, who I prayed wasn’t the romantic interest (and she wasn’t! Praise the gods!), arrives and spends enough time with Tyler to judge how he is living, offers him a job and insists that Tyler shows up with his “head on straight” because the copious amounts of alcohol and the pills he’s taking don’t suggest that he’s got a problem enough. And after one very brief team meeting, the action finally begins. You could skip the first 16 minutes of this movie and still be able to grasp what was going on to tell the truth

In action sequences, the camera work and editing is spectacular. Long take fight scenes are exceptionally well choreographed and in scenes, like the balcony fall, the camera follows Tyler and Saju through the action. It immerses the audience in the scenes and the viewer becomes part of chase scenes because of camera angling like the climb onto the truck door to look at Ovi and Tyler through the window done by a camera person and well edited onto steadicam footage and the flow through glass transition to outside the car early in the film.

We have very real and, in some cases, surprisingly emotional moments throughout the movie because:

1) Ovi is like an audience stand-in in the more dangerous scenes. He’s the only person that reacts normally in an entirely insane situation out of all the main cast. Saju and Tyler both have military backgrounds and Ovi is just like “This is insane.”

2) These action heroes also actually need time to right themselves after a fight. Plus Tyler’s phone gets a cracked screen after all the fun that Tyler and Ovi go through.

3) We are shown Saju lying to his son about coming home, knowing that he won’t be able to keep his promise, and

4) Ovi describing himself as “more like a thing than a person.”

We are shown and not told how these characters are feeling when the action dies down for more than twenty seconds

Overall, the film has a weak story and slim to no character arcs but if you appreciate nearly constant violence and want to watch some near all out war moments, Extraction is the movie to watch. The technical beauty of this film far outweighs the story and, just an FYI to the casting crew and director, some people would pay good money to be bitch slapped by Chris Hemsworth. Just saying.

The End….or is it? A sequel is in production as we speak so…. Tyler lived after falling off the bridge into the river.