While I was watching Chris Hemsworth’s new Netflix film Extraction this Saturday morning, I was interrupted by a video call.
“What were you doing?” Mom asked.
“Watching a film called Extraction,” I said.
“Watch and tell us how it is,” Dad said in the background.
“It’s good so far, lot of action, Dad will like it, you will probably fall asleep,” I told mom.
And that’s the problem with Extraction, while it has damn good action sequences, shot to look like it’s one take (yes, slightly reminiscent of the film 1917), at one point, it gets a little boring.
The plot is pretty simple- Chris Hemsworth plays ex-army guy Tyler Rake, who is out on a paid mission to Dhaka, to extract an Indian drug lord’s son Ovi Mahajan (played convincingly by 16-year-old Rudhraksh Jaiswal) from the clutches of his Bangladeshi rival.
Director Sam Hangrave and team need to be applauded for the tight, violent and nail-biting combat scenes. Just one indoor action sequence failed to compare with the others that were more racy and intriguing.
The biggest problem with Exraction is that the exaggerations in the plot begin to bother you eventually. Joe Russo has written the script and seems to have forgotten that this is not comic-book/fantasy territory. For the uninitiated – Russo has directed some of the Captain America and Avengers films.
While on one hand, the makers seem to take exceptional effort to make all the gun fights and car chases real, on the other hand, the very scale of the entire operation seems too far-fetched to be palatable. The Bangladesh Drug Lord seems to have the entire police force and army force at his feet, with hundreds losing their lives trying to get their hands on one boy.
Hemsworth fits into his role perfectly, he seems straight out of a ‘Call of Duty’ kind of a game, mercilessly shooting down cop after cop, goon after goon. Randeep Hooda is also laudable as Saju, an ex-army guy, who is Ovi’s bodyguard.
The main villain however, is not convincing enough. Priyanshu Painyuli who plays Amir Asif, the ruthless Dhaka drug-lord, seems more like a bratty party boy tripping in the wrong room.
‘Extraction’ could have been an amazing action thriller, but is pulled down to being mediocre by some unnecessary emotional back-stories and over-dramatic sentimental pauses.
However, if you don’t know what to watch on the weekend and have a thing for action flicks, this is definitely worth a watch. It’s a 6.5/10 for me.
I’ve been thinking about watching this one.
It’s been a while since I watched a good action flick that wasn’t masala-ish and over the top. I wish they made movies with action sequences like “Heat”, back from the ’90s. The shootout scenes in that film were intense, with the realistic weapon action and sound engineering to back it. Of course, De Niro and Pacino being in the same frame helped.
*Nerd alert* Sometimes, I watch Max Payne 3 (the video game) action sequences on YouTube, just to fill the void.
If you have the time, you could still check this one out. They would have been better off with a shorter runtime though!
I will
Adding this one to my list of unfinished movies. The 1st hour was decently placed but I can’t get through the rest.
Hahaha…. Too exaggerated??
That, and the dialogues. Excruciating.
I really enjoyed reading your critical comments towards the movie, and my impression about the movie is the same as yours. Beautifully shot, but a flat, predictable and one dimensional story line.
Fun fact: Did you know that people in my country (Bangladesh) were really disappointed over the representation of Dhaka in the film!
Yeah. I am sure. At first glance, I thought it was Mumbai. Then realized it was Dhaka. And it was obvious that they focused on the dingier parts, with that horrible yellow filter westerners use to depict countries like ours, be it India or Bangladesh.