Demetra MacBride

Roman conquest, two Druid demi-god brothers caught in a timeless and fatal web of vengeance, Celtic pagans and mysticism, warrior women, and a prophecy ... what bloody more could one desire? It is hypnotic and addictive!

It is a dramatization that is overly generous to Betty Broderick. She not only terrorized her ex- and his new wife, but she psychologically savaged her children - who she didn't even want unless they came with millions of dollars / year in extra alimony. She bought a gun and specifically asked for ammunition that would "do the most damage to a human body". She stole her daughter's key ring, so she could enter her ex-husband's home undetected. She told friends she wanted to kill him and his new wife. And she killed them on the evening of the day she received a court filing that might have given full and final custody of all the children to her husband. She wanted to the kill him and his new wife, and she did. I've seen transcripts of the messages she left on his phone daily - filling up the machine with the worst vulgarity. He gave a house - in La Jolla on the water no less. And the film was wrong - her alimony was $16K per month - that's the rough equivalent of $27,000/month in today's dollars. Court-appointed psychiatrists diagnosed an extreme narcissistic personality. Please. I reserve my sympathy for the women who are left and abandoned with their children by husbands who then welch on the child support. Betty Broderick was a vain, petulant psychopath who murdered two people just trying to get on with their lives.

Director Hargraves is a former stunt coordinator, so his comfort zone is clearly the action sequences. That said, the story is an ambitious one for a new director with a physical bent - the underlying layers of multiple father-son relationships in the film, betrayal, regret, and tragedy would be a challenge for the most adept director. So in this instance, I differ with many critics who are trashing the film's dramatic content. Personally, I rally behind the artist who may not fully succeed at reaching far beyond his/her known grasp, over the ones who succeed at the banal or under-challenging options. MORE IMPORTANTLY, I was immensely satisfied to see Chris Hemsworth in a role reminiscent of his artful dramatic turn in BLACK HAT (a brilliant film I blame the studio for botching in the release, to everyone's loss). Hemsworth is under-employed in these roles, but hopefully not for long. There is depth behind his stunning physicality, and the artistry for a long, diverse career. Extraction isn't perfect, and the dramatic cresting would have benefited from a more steady directorial hand - but the film is well worth the watch. Perhaps a second watch.