“Extraction” Film Review

by Lauren Patasnik, Staff Writer

Throughout the plot mayhem and disaster follow each character. The only thing staying constant is the audience’s hope for Tyler Rake (played by Chris Hemsworth) and Ovi Mahajan Jr. (played by Rudhraksh Jaiswal) to make it out alive. A black-ops mercenary, Tyler Rake, is given a high-risk job to rescue the son of the biggest Indian drug lord, kidnapped in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s biggest drug lord, Amir Asif (played by Priyanshu Painyuli), holds the son for ransom. Opened to the public on April 24th, 2020, it is now listed in the top ten on Netflix. 

The action pact movie directed by Sam Hargrave and produced by the Russo brothers, Chris Hemsworth, and others, captures the sacrifices Tyler must make to carry Ovi out alive. Tyler is suddenly faced with Saju (played by Randeep Hooda), Ovi’s father’s chief henchman, who is also trying to bring back home the kidnapped son. Along with the action, somber moments are exhibited from Tyler’s memory of his son he recently lost. Therefore he believes he has nothing to lose and nothing to look forward to. Tyler and Ovi’s relationship started only because of the job but as seen at the ending of the movie, their relationship was rather immensely sincere. 

The fight scenes are bloody and chaotic making the audience say, “ooh” and “ah.” Hargrave captures every swing and hit, making each brawl that more engrossing. 

The dialogue ranges from Hindi, Bengali, and English which can puzzle the audience but still allows them to tolerate the movie. 

There’s never a time a car is exploding or bullets are being fired. If you’re not one who enjoys bloody scenes and thunderous noises, this movie isn’t for you. There isn’t a second in the movie where conversations aren’t being exchanged or Tyler must escape the police force, the elite, and Saju which isn’t exactly effortless.

Hargrave is constantly on his feet with his job to keep the actors in frame, stay up to speed with them, and follow them from behind. Each actor’s responsibility was to memorize the choreography for each first fight or gunfight. Their main goal is to make each fight messy and unplanned, which takes weeks to perfect. Not only are the actors performing but their stunt doubles are given the task of executing the life-threatening actions. 

It is marvelous how it’s impossible to perceive when the actors are switched to their stunt doubles and when they stopped or started recording parts of the movie. Each transition is perfectly edited with no observant mistakes.  

The ending leaves the audience dismayed and with a number of questions. We can only hope for more future movies tied to this one with the same brilliant actors.