Extraction (2020)

Streaming Service: Netflix

Movie Name/Year: Extraction (2020)

Genre: Action

Length: 116 minutes

Rating: R

Production/Distribution: AGBO, India Take One Productions, T.G.I.M Films, Thematic Entertainment, Netflix

Director: Sam Hargrave

Writer: Joe Russo

Actors: Chris Hemsworth, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Shivam Vichare, Piyush Khati, Randeep Hooda, Pankaj Tripathi, Chris Jai Alex, Adam Bessa, Golshifteh Farahani, David Harbour, Shataf Figar, Rayna Campbell, Vonzell Carter, Murtaza Kathawala, Patrick Newall, Priyanshu Painyuli, Suraj Rikame, Anup Sharma

Blurb from IMDb: Tyler Rake, a fearless black market mercenary, embarks on the most deadly extraction of his career when he's enlisted to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord.

Selina’s Point of View:

No one is going to accuse this film of being slow.

The moment Extraction starts, you’re thrown into the action. Bullets are flying, blood’s spraying… you’re swept away into a story that rarely slows down at all. I never had any problems with the pacing of this movie.

It was a nearly 2-hour flick, but I didn’t feel time passing at all. During a seemingly endless quarantine, that’s a huge bonus. I had to try really hard to be unbiased while watching, just because I was so glad to not be bored. I feel like I succeeded, but I still intend to watch it again once the world returns to some kind of normalcy just to make sure.

I feel like it started off at a bad point. If it had been linear from the start, it’d have been fine, but because they used a scene that could have been from any point in (or before) the story, it became a bit of a distraction. There are scenes they could have used to bring about the same feeling without being confusing.

There were also a few very minor tropes that made me roll my eyes, but they really were not that important to the film.

Extraction is just a good, straight-forward, full-on action movie. There wasn’t a single actor or character that felt wrong or out of place. The story didn’t bother pretending to be anything it wasn’t. The fight choreography was awe-inspiring. It also subverted a lot of my expectations. It even had a somewhat ambiguous ending that I liked so much more than I would have if they had taken a clearer route. It made me want to read the graphic novel it was based on.

Honestly, this flick could have had much bigger faults than it did and I still would have loved it.

I highly recommend this film for anyone who just wants to spend a couple of hours engaged in an entertaining action story.

Cat’s Point of View:

There’s nothing like an edge-of-your-seat action thrill ride to spice up an otherwise tedious day. Extraction provided exactly that.

This sort of film just seems to be Chris Hemsworth’s (Blackhat, 12 Strong, Bad Times at the El Royale) wheelhouse. I usually appreciate his comedic timing and work in other genres, but this wasn’t the movie for that part of his range. I’m glad that they didn’t muddy the waters by trying to bring that on board. It would have felt out of place in this gritty and hard-hitting film.

If you’re sensitive to ultra-violent movies, though, this particular action flick might not be for you. The gore isn’t over-the-top but the nearly non-stop bullets and hand-to-hand combat carnage might be tough for some to handle. If that’s your jam, this movie is right up your alley. It has a little bit of everything for the action aficionado.

I’ve really got to tip my proverbial hat to director Sam Hargrave (Unlucky Stars, Atomic Blonde, The Shoot). This was his feature-length film debut. Hargrave has over 80 stunt credits to his name on IMDb. Quite a few of those are listed as coordinator positions. It’s no wonder the action is not only jam-packed through the length of the movie but feels like a viscerally real experience. He certainly knows his way around the genre.

Aside from the action aspect, he had a really good grasp of the story. The arc of the full film felt satisfying and took me on a journey that wasn’t entirely predictable.

My only issue with the movie was with some of the sound mixing. I’m afraid I didn’t listen to my mom when I was younger about listening to my music too loud – I’ve got some hearing loss in my ‘old age’ and the way this movie was put together, sound-wise, made it hard to understand the dialogue at times. About half of the spoken language required subtitles, though, so that helped a little. I eventually just turned subs on for the whole thing.

One minute the sound level was deafening – which is realistic when dealing with gunfire and explosions – but then the speaking parts were far too faint in between. If you turn up the volume to hear what they’re saying better, you’ll end up blasting yourself the next time the fighting kicks in. The subtitles fixed that for me so that I could have the volume at a more manageable level and not miss anything in the exchanges between characters.

Aside from that one issue (that may not even be a problem everyone would encounter), this was a really well-done production. It felt immersive and really paid off by checking all the boxes one would expect – and then some – for an action film of this caliber. I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending it.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 64%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 72%

Metascore – 57/100

Metacritic User Score – 6.4/10

IMDB Score – 7.2/10

CinemaScore – None

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 4/5

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4/5

Movie Trailer: