Title – Extraction (2020)

Director – Sam Hargrave (feature debut)

Cast – Chris Hemsworth, Golshifteh Farahani, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, David Harbour

Plot – Sent to Bangladesh to rescue the son of an imprisoned Indian crime lord, mercenary for hirer Tyler Rake (Hemsworth) finds himself fighting an entire city as he and his young companion seek an escape.

“You drown not by falling into the river, but by staying submerged in it”

Review by Eddie on 01/05/2020

Currently one of the most savvy and successful businesses in the world, with a model that knows exactly what its audience wants and delivers entirely too that, Netflix have been churning out sleek and fast-paced action films ad nauseam over the last few years, with their new adrenaline fueled tentpole Extraction fitting the modus operandi perfectly.

Backed by Marvel hero’s the Russo brothers, with Joe penning the script and directed by long-time Marvel stunt coordinator and performer Sam Hargrave, Extraction is an instantly familiar action experience that sees Chris Hemsworth’s downtrodden but Thor-like Australian mercenary Tyler Rake end up in Bangladesh trying to rescue the son of an Indian crime lord who has been kidnapped by a rival operator.

Anyone that has ever seen an action thriller with a seemingly cold-hearted and depressive central figure, whose also a one man killing machine, will know exactly where Extraction is taking us, as the mission Rake is on goes sour and he is forced to take down what feels like a city worth of bad guys to protect his new mate Ovi.

Similar at times to Man on Fire, Mile 22 and filmed in a way that feels like a direct rip-off of The Raid franchise (in what is becoming the normal now for Hollywood films trying to replicate the energy and frenetic nature of those action classics), Extraction fails to bring anything new to the table as Hargrave ticks off a serious of boxes on his way to an all too familiar conclusion.

It’s not to say there aren’t little action delights along the journey Rake takes, with a clearly CGI’d but none the less impressive unbroken action set piece around the 30 minute mark of the film one of the candidates for the best action showcases of the year but there’s far too much of Extraction that is forgettable, unbelievable and tiresome to bring it home with a bang.

This forgettable film nature is a trend that Extraction lead and beloved Aussie icon Chris Hemsworth needs to pay close attention to, with his work outside of the Marvel universe and the well-liked but financial failure Rush is cause for concern.

Films like Blackhat, In the Heart of the Sea, 12 Strong and Bad Times at the El Royale might not be the worst films going around but their far from the type of products you’d want littering your career for too many more years to come.

Final Say –

Some nice action moments are to be found in Extraction but outside of that this charmless and unimaginative action thriller is the exact type of Netflix outing that is still too prevalent for a company looking to reach for the low hanging fruit too often.

2 garden rakes out of 5