In 'Extraction', Chris Hemsworth Gets to Do Some John Wick-esque Action

Extraction sees Chris Hemsworth gets his chance to be in his own John Wick action movie.  It isn’t close to the awesomeness of the John Wick films, and Chris isn’t as terrific as Keanu.  But it does feature John Wick-esque action and a fluid, committed performance from Chris.

In it, Chris plays Tyler Rake, a former Australian special forces soldier now working as a black ops mercenary.  When the son of the biggest drug lord in India is kidnapped by his rival, the biggest drug lord in Bangladesh, Tyler and his peers are hired to extract him.  But due to treachery, the rescue operation goes south.  Trapped in a city where enemies are on every corner, Tyler must figure out a way for him and the boy to escape alive.

Just like John Wick, Extraction is directed by a stunt man/stunt coordinator who’s trying his hand on directing a feature-length film.  The man is Sam Hargrave, who worked in the past as the stunt coordinator of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Endgame.  Hence, with someone who really knows action at the helm, the action scenes are amazingly rendered.

The movie has hard-hitting fight choreography, brutal gun fights, and exhilarating stunts.  And the audience can understand what’s going on the screen because superb camera work accompanies the exciting action.  The highlight is this one action sequence in the first half in which, for about 15 minutes, it seems like everything was shot in just a single take.

Unfortunately, the story isn’t as compelling as the action.  I expected more  from a Joe Russo script.  It isn’t as sophisticated and smart as it could have been, and I was just not satisfied with some of the story decisions made.  I even felt some details are a tad pretentious.  Still, the writing is competent enough to not be a significant distraction.  In a way, the narrative just serves as a vessel for delivering the gratifying action.

In the end, I enjoyed Extraction.  Although it isn’t very imaginative, and has nothing truly groundbreaking to offer, it’s still a perfectly entertaining and thrilling popcorn action movie.