Movie Review: Extraction

Extraction ** ½ / *****

Directed by: Sam Hargrave.

Written by: Joe Russo base on the graphic novel by Russo.

Starring: Chris Hemsworth (Tyler Rake), Golshifteh Farahani (Nik Khan), Rudhraksh Jaiswal (Ovi Mahajan), Shivam Vichare (Sachin), Piyush Khati (Arjun), Randeep Hooda (Saju), Pankaj Tripathi (Ovi Mahajan Sr), Chris Jai Alex (Thiago), Adam Bessa (Yaz Kahn), Wayne Blair (Koen), Rayna Campbell (Ruthie), Vonzell Carter (Jose), Shataf Figar (Shadek Silver Haired Colonel), David Harbour (Gaspar), Sam Hargrave (Gaetan), Neha Mahajan (Neysa), Patrick Newall (Merc), Priyanshu Painyuli (Amir Asif), Suraj Rikame (Farhad). 

 

Chris Hemsworth is a fine actor – and an ideal action star, but it mystifies me as to why you would cast him in a role like Tyler Rake – the protagonist of Extraction. Rake has no sense of humor, really no personality whatsoever, and he basically spends the entire runtime of Extraction looking grim, and killing people. This doesn’t play to Hemsworth’s strengths – which Marvel eventually figured out including showing off his comedic side. As a humorless void of a character in Extraction, he just isn’t that interesting to watch.

 

The film was directed by Sam Hargrave, making his feature debut. He has spent most of his career as a stunt/fight coordinator, for Marvel among others, and it shows. He has basically made one long fight sequence with Extraction. This can work – the John Wick movies are basically that, as is The Raid, and they rank among the best pure action movies of the decade. But there is a fine line between the type of sustained energy that those film have, and the numbing sameness that ends up sinking Extraction. Each action scene here is basically the same – Chris Hemsworth with a gun, stalking through the streets Dhaka all in an effort to extract the son of an imprisoned drug lord, who has been kidnapped by another drug lord.

 

In movies like this, I often think of the (not very good) 1998 film Desperate Measures, that has the premise of a serial killer escaping in a hospital where he has been taken to have his bone marrow extracted to the save the life of a cop’s son. Over the course of the night many, many people get killed – but they never shoot the serial killer, because of the bone marrow, leading to the very logical question someone eventually asks “How many people need to die to save the life of one kid?”. I also found it amusing when the film pauses the action very briefly when Rake meets up with an old friend, played by David Harbour, who thinks Rake is being a hypocrite saying arguing that someone who has killed 100 people like Rake has, doesn’t get to be high and mighty. At which point, I wondered if Harbour was just talking about the last hour.

 

Which brings me to the uncomfortable heart of the movie. This kind is a white savior movie in which Hemsworth’s white guy comes in to save the Indian son. But because of that, it’s also a movie in which Hemsworth basically spends the movie killing dozens and dozens of brown people. You can kind of understand the logic that leads to this place – the Indian film industry clearly has a lot of actors and crew you can use, probably for less money than a Hollywood cast, and adding a star like Hemsworth adds to the international appeal of the film. The unintended result though cannot help but live a bad taste in your mouth.

 

As a director of action, Hargrave is pretty good. He isn’t at the level of Chad Stahelski or David Leitch – stunt coordinators turned directors of the John Wick movies, and Atomic Blonde respectively. He does try something bold – there is a 12-minute unbroken action sequence here, and it is the highlight of the film. It’s also very much like the rest of the movie though – so while I appreciate the skill and co-ordination it took to pull it off, you wish he tried something different. The reason the John Wick movies can get away with being one action sequence after the next, is because each one is different, and they keep trying to top themselves. Here, after you’ve seen one action scene, you’ve seen all the movie has to offer.