Satyaki Chatterjee

Another film launched during the quarantine, and this time it’s Netflix’s latest action-adventure film titled 'Extraction', starring Chris Hemsworth. Hemsworth plays the character named 'Tyler', a war veteran turned mercenary who is assigned to rescue the son of a notorious Indian drug lord, all while shooting and punching his way through cops who are aligned to the drug lord, and agents trying to stop him, but things take a turn for the worst as parties get double-crossed. This film explores the themes of compassion for the youth, acceptance of the past, and that’s pretty much it. This film is more focused on the boom-pow of the beautifully choreographed fight scenes, the expert cinematography of chase scenes, and the visual effects of non-stop bullets, and explosives. This Netflix original is produced by the Russo brothers, known for their various Marvel films, and is directed by Sam Hargrave, making his feature directorial debut, who is known for his work as stunt coordinator on the Russo brothers Marvel films. Extraction is a neat treat for action lovers. At just under an hour and 45 minutes, this film provides high tempo action scenes but overall lacks any convincing performances, Hemsworth included, while having a weak, and oddly quiet dialogue. The plot is set-in present-day India and Bangladesh, opens up on the son of an extremely wealthy, and intimidating drug lord, Ovi, as he tries to live a normal life despite the watchful eye of one of his father’s associate, Saju, ex-special force. Ovi goes to the club with his friends and smokes a doobie, and the police roll up to kill the vibe. The officer gives them a hard time at first, but insists he’s just joking around, but gives Ovi something else to worry about as he proceeds to shoot Ovi’s friend in the face and kidnaps him as a member of a rival drug gang. Saju goes to the prison where Ovi’s father, demands that Saju rescues Ovi or else he harms his family. But during the conversation, it’s less about rescuing Ovi, and more about preserving the dignity of the drug gang. We are then introduced to the protagonist, Tyler, as he attempts to live a peaceful life in Australia, trying to overcome the loss of his son. In classic action movie fashion, a mysterious character, Nik, comes to hire Tyler to retrieve Ovi. After little-to-no contemplation, Tyler accepts the mission for the money. Tyler purposely gets captured to make the swap with the Ovi’s captives, and cleanly takes them all down, rescuing Ovi and beginning their journey of the extraction. This is a bloody, violent but extremely impressive visual spectacle that features an insane 12-minute, one-shot action sequence. This film lacks any real convincing characters, but the strength of character isn’t really what this film is about. If you love the action sequences from the films like John Wick, love chase scenes as they weave through various Indian environments, or are simply a fan of Hemsworth, then you might just like this movie too.