“What an energetic thrill ride Extraction is.”
A story that has been done many times before is given a big breath fo fresh life and brutality in Netflix’s newest violent action film Extraction, starring Thor the God of Thunder himself, Chris Hemsworth, as he escorts a kidnapped kid out of India to safety, avoiding the ruthless drug cartel. What seemed like just another yawn of an action film, turned into one hell of a thrilling and extraordinary experience in Extraction, which can share a space with some of the best action films ever made. What an energetic thrill ride Extraction is.
Iconic stuntman turned film director Sam Hargrave has entered the feature film foray in a big way. Hargrave has an impressive list of films under his belt where stunts are concerned, including a ton of films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War. Hargrave has worked with the Russo Brothers before who serve as writers for Extraction and their camaraderie shows nicely onscreen in a tight, expertly-made action picture that was based on their own comic book Cuidad. This wonderful and bloody film adaptation mixes the phenomenal action, gun-play, and kung-fu as John Wick and The Raid: Redemption with an added story, similar to the City of God film in the background.
Chris Hemsworth plays a highly skilled and violent mercenary called Tyler Rake who is tasked with rescuing a young kid named Ovi who has been kidnapped by a ruthless drug cartel for money. It’s a simple enough story where Rake finds Ovi and kills anyone and everyone in his path until the boy is saved. It just so happens that there are about 3,000 bad guys with heavy machine guns and explosives in between them and safety.
What follows is a bloodbath of epic proportions as the two navigate and avoid all types of death in one excellent action sequence after another. There are only a couple of quiet moments where Rake and Ovi talk about their lives that gives way to some decent character development with some light commentary on the criminal world, with a surprising and important cameo from David Harbour of Stranger Things fame. Other than that, it’s full-on gun’s blazing with a high death count.
Sam Hargrave is no slouch in the director’s chair either she perfectly frames and shoots his intense and complex action scenes. In one very memorable moment, Hargrave uses more than 12 minutes of the film for a one-shot with no cuts action scene that is one of the best looking pieces ever filmed for a big action movie. This one camera take shot goes places where most other films haven’t where it looks seamless and flawless. There’s barely a moment to breathe. Chris Hemsworth is believable and quite fantastic in this brutal role she takes out the bad guys with ease one by one. The other stars turn in great performances too and look great fighting their way to the top.
Extraction isn’t afraid to showcase some of the darker sides of the hellish world, including cartel bosses throwing young children off buildings to their death in order to convey a message. It’s a dark film with a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s expertly delivered and executed here.
WATCH EXTRACTION ON NETFLIX HERE
Written by: Bryan Kluger