Extraction

Impressive action set pieces packaged around a generic plot.

Director Sam Hargrave

Starring Chris Hemsworth, David Harbour, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Randeep Hooda

Approx. 117 mins

US, 2020

Following the footsteps of fellow stuntmen turned Directors, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch of John Wick, Deadpooland Atomic Blonde fame, Extraction sees former stuntman Sam Hargrave make his directional debut. Extraction doesn’t quite share the sheen or polish found in the John Wick films but it opts for a more muddier grittier aesthetic. The violence is unrelenting and there is copious amounts of blood spilled, sadly the film is generic to a fault with proceedings becoming easily predictable.

Chris Hemsworth plays Tyler Rake a mercenary for hire who is dispatched to Dhaka, Bangladesh to retrieve a crime lords kidnapped son, Ovi Mahajan (Rudhraksh Jaiswal). Rake and his team successfully infiltrates the kidnappers stronghold and rescues the kid but as Rake makes his way to the designated extraction point he is betrayed by the one that hired his team, Saju (Randeep Hooda). Rake and Ovi goes on the run being chased by Saju and the rival crime lord Amir (Priyanshu Painyuli) who orchestrated the kidnap of Ovi. Rakes commander of operations Nik Khan (Golshifteh Farahani) tells Rake to ditch the kid and she can arrange for his extraction but Rake opts to save the kid none the less. Soon the whole city is over run by people looking for Rake and Ovi even the local police are in cahoots with Amir.

When the action stops the film attempts to add dramatic elements that does slow the film down, with exposition that is more for the viewers knowledge than a natural reveal of character. Rakes tragic back story feels very haphazardly put together with its reveal feeling less heartfelt but just another check list of emotions ticked off. The best story element is possibly Ovi’s back story, where he wishes for a semblance of a simple life but is caught up in being a crime lords son sadly that territory is only hinted briefly for it to only slightly linger in the air every so often. Now the majority of babysitting films can be grating but thankfully Extraction makes the protected a likable character that adheres to the commands given to him, he does not whine about it and does not choose to do anything stupid that is usually the norm with these types of scenarios. A major plot point that may irk a lot of people is how Saju demonstrates great competence akin to Rake but why does he hire Rake and his team just to betray them opposed to just rescuing the kid alone avoiding the hassle that followed.

Sam Hargreaves demonstrates a knack for high octane action set pieces and a reasonably competent hand in direction. It would just have been better if the script could have brought more to the table and considering Joe Russo (Captain America Winter Soldier and The Avengers Endgame) helped drafting the script from the graphic novel Ciudad its baffling how it ended up being such a bland affair.

Chris Hemsworth is pretty much your typical Rambo style brooding soldier of fortune who comes packaged with his own nightmares and baggage, Hemsworth handles it just well if a bit tiring. Rudhraksh Jaiswal gives a strong performance as Ovi demonstrating deft ability in handling pain and terror while shedding some genuine emotional scenes with Hemsworth. In fact Hemsworth and Jaiswal compliments each other so well showing a great dynamic. Golshifteh Farahani is supposed to be the commander of operations but her character is written with little intellect with little knowledge of tactical planning or on the field skills. Farahani expressionless acting hurts the proceedings and her relationship with Hemsworth’s Rake is never really explained. Priyanshu Painyuli seems ill fitted as the rival crime lord Amir where he possess little charisma and spends his time spewing inane dialogue. The addition of David Harbour is rather pointless and his character contributes little to nothing to the overall plot, his eventual outcome is also so predictable.

Action can be broken down in two parts; one being an exceptional showcase of creativity with an unrelenting sense of danger bolstered by exceptional camera movement and the other end of the spectrum is just your average action shootout found in countless other shoot em ups. The film has a good amount of action sequences spruced throughout but sadly nothing matches the epic one shot sequence found about one third into the film. Taking much inspiration from The Raidseries the camera is frantic and moves intricately through a car chase, to a foot chase, shootout and then a brutal one on one battle. It’s an impressive test of endurance and the camera motion compliments the creative action on display. Hemsworth utilizes a host of close quarter combat focusing on lots of Krav Maga moves and lots of disarming techniques which interspersed with military handling of the gun against hordes of henchmen. Sadly the action devolves after this scene opting for some very generic set pieces, though by and large they are well staged and shot coherently there is just not the same sense of awe that was present at the aforementioned single take action sequence. A mano-o-mano between Hemsworth and David Harbour is a sloppy wrestle which threw away any semblance of skills and technique that we witness prior. The finale is a very pedestrian shootout from a market place to a highway bridge that feels rather similar to a host of other shootouts. Something that sets it apart is the clarity of camera movements and framing, editing is concise without sacrificing the action.

Visual effects is not always up to par, by and large they serve the job adequately but there are moments of explosions and smoke that do look out of place. Thankfully practical effects take priority for the majority of the time and it’s a glorious eruptions of explosions and gun fire. The film is violent and there is large quantity of blood spilled without ever going into realms of too much and it is fitting for a film of this nature.

The films is enjoyable as brain dead action romp and there is a good amount of action sequences laced throughout but it is weighed down by a forgettable plot. Extraction marks a great stepping point for Sam Hargrave and hopefully there are good things to come from this.