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:
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