Chris Hemsworth leaves his Thor hammer behind, taking on the role of a for-hire mercenary with the goal of rescuing an Indian drug lord's kidnapped child.
A good action movie is one that carries its viewers along like a white-water rafting expedition. There's excitement at every turn. The action never flags, and the dialog fills in the blanks and builds the world around you. Extraction tries hard to do at least one of these things. The action sequences make you feel like you're watching a Hollywood blockbuster, and with Chris Hemsworth of Thor fame bringing his reputation to the small screen following his success in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you're almost sure that you're going to get something memorable. The only problem with this production is that it drops the ball when it comes to its worldbuilding and plot intricacies.
Director Sam Hargrave is best known for his stunt coordination work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it shows in a few of the sequences we're witness to. We get the close-up, visceral feel of the action that you get when having a hand-held camera all up close to the punches and kicks. That's why it's a shame that Joe Russo's adaptation of his own comic Ciudad comes off as a half-written script. Let's not even approach the questionable ethics of having a white guy gunning down nameless brown antagonists in the twenty-first century. It’s not horrible, and it’s probably worth it if you’re missing your usual action-movie-fix from the big screen.
To say that the story is thin would require a plot to exist in the first place. In it, Tyler Rake (Hemsworth) is a mercenary for hire and finds himself tasked with rescuing the kidnapped son of an international crime lord. On the surface, it seems like a typical action flick, but the more you delve into it, the less of a plot you see. Even though the crime lord can't pay the ransom for the young Ovi Mahajan (Rudhraksh Jaiswal), his business still has the money to hire Rake to rescue the kid. From there, the plot just starts to fall apart through the whole first hour of poorly-remembered flashbacks.
Rake's character is written to be a superhero-esque black-ops type with a shady past that both supporting characters and dim flashbacks hint at. One of the supporting characters we encounter, Gaspar (David Harbour), mentions that he owes Rake his life, but the plot wastes the opportunity to tell us more. There are moments where we feel like Ovi's playing twenty-questions with Rake, solely for our benefit, since it adds nothing to the story and doesn't move the resolution closer. The plot is, quite frankly, weak, and it feels like the writing was very low-effort.
There's an unmistakable chemistry between Hemsworth and Jaiswal, and it makes the film watchable, even if it doesn't make the plot any better. Hemsworth is pitted against several baddies, including the kidnapper, Amir (Priyanshu Painyuli), and Ovi's former protector, Saju (Randeep Hooda), who embarked on his own extraction plan to make up for losing the kid in the first place. While these actors are excellent in their own right, they barely get the chance to show it off, as both are written as one-dimensional villains. The antagonists could do with a lot more fleshing out, especially their goals, although the film does make sure we know their motivation. In the case of Ovi and Rake, the film could spend less time feeding us information and more time showing us what we want to know.
When you watch Extraction, one of the things that jump out at you is how slow the non-action sequences are. The pacing sees you shift from action sequence into an expository tone, then back to more action. Mercifully, there aren't any extended scenes that make you feel like it's time to check your social media. On the plus side, the action sequences are breathtaking in their execution. If you enjoy close-up fights or hand-to-hand combat in your action flicks, then you'll enjoy what Hargrave has done here. It shows off his technical expertise in the area we know him best - stunt coordination and fight-choreography.
While the action sequences make the film very watchable, the lack of a solid plot and the one-dimensional villains take away from the overall masterpiece that this film could have been. As it stands, there are a lot of things that they could have done to improve the final product. The setting is refreshing, and while it still focuses on a rescue, the action revolves around getting out rather than getting in. The fight scenes and the overall setting is unique, and they do tread ground that other films have sidestepped, opting for a more controversial approach. If you're sensitive towards violence and see things that have a hint of racist undertones as evil, then this film definitely isn't for you.
There's a lot to be desired from a film like this. Hargrave covers a lot of common ground for action movies, but in a different way. The climax features a well-choreographed gun battle that has some clear resolutions, even if they aren't clear the road the viewer needs to take to get there. There's enough flashes, bangs, and whizzing bullets to interest any fan of action movies. While it's not a horrible film from an action perspective, it could do with a little more meat on its bones. If you're more into action than story, then this might be just what you need to pass some of your quarantine time.
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