Guest writer Hugh Verheylewegen continues to give us ideas of what to watch while we’re staying at home, check out his review of Netflix’s Extraction.
Directed by Sam Hargrave and produced by the Russo brothers, Extraction follows the story of a black-market mercenary with nothing to lose (Chris Hemsworth), who is hired to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord. But in this underworld of weapons dealers and drug traffickers, things don’t go as planned and it becomes a fight for survival.
My first thoughts when I saw the trailer for this was that it reminded me of the video game Far Cry 2, having a gritty setting and a mercenary character that’s willing to take on all the odds despite the risks. I didn’t really know what to expect from this despite the involvement of the Russo brothers, since I feel like their names can be used as sort of a tag line to promote other films due to their success with the MCU.
But what I ended up seeing was a vicious and solidly made action film, and what it may lack in some areas succeeds hugely in others.
This might even be one of the best action films of this year due to its incredible stunt work, choreography, cinematography and visual style. All of the action was handled beautifully and you feel constantly engaged with every gritty and realistic scene.
There are some one-takes in this film, including one especially long scene, that was pure perfect fluid bliss. I can see a lot of future stunt coordinators watching this film for inspiration on how to do proper action scenes and how to make them actively engaging to the audience. I was never bored at any point as I constantly felt the adrenaline and tension through every frame.
The performances are pretty good overall but easily the best is the lead character played by Chris Hemsworth. He brings such charm to the role, as well as some great emotion and intensity, especially in the action scenes. His character has the most development in the film, which makes him a very likable lead to attach to even in the softer moments.
There aren’t much further attempts at characterization for the rest of the characters despite good performances. The kid I’d say is the second character to get some characterization in the story but he works best when he is with Hemsworth’s lead.
The story is simple and straightforward, knowing exactly what it is, but to me that’s honestly not a bad thing. I think the narrative was good overall, and what really carried this movie was the lead performance from Hemsworth and the spectacular action and intense camera work. I am excited to see Sam Hargrave do more as this film shows he has huge potential as a filmmaker. This is a very entertaining and brutal action flick that deserves attention and definitely gives us something great to watch at home. I’m going to give Extraction an A-.
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