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Extraction

The 5th film in the lockdown series is the new Chrimsworth action thriller, Extraction, showing now on Netflix. According to the streaming giant, this film is quite popular at the moment but I found it fairly derivative. The basic plot sees an Indian lad kidnapped as part of a drug baron feud and Chris Hemsworth sent in to 'extract' him. Pretty soon, things start to go south and the rest of the film focusses on the attempted escape from Dhaka and myriad father/son dynamics.

This is brutal, energetic, almost dizzying film-making at times and there are a few scenes that Gareth Evans, of The Raid fame, might find impressive. At one point, Hemsworth's mercenary, Tyler falls off a roof onto a truck, has a bit of a barney with a suitably fierce opponent, then gets hit by a car. This occurs in the middle of a sphincter-tightening, single-take, chase/fight sequence, which is, by a long chalk, the best part of the film.

Hemsworth comes off reasonably well, if a little youthful and pretty for a grizzled vet and the supporting cast do the business, most of whom are relative unknowns outside India and Iran (and there's a fella from another Netflix show but I wasn't aware of him). The street scenes look the part - it was filmed in India, Bangladesh and Thailand - and the bustle of the crowd adds even more tension to the frenetic moments.

But as I said, aside from a spectacular, 11 minute single-take, there isn't much pushing the envelope in this film. And the final shot can go extract itself.

See also:

Carol Reed's Odd Man Out (1947), for a 'guy trapped in a city' trope and Tony Scott's Man on Fire (2004), which covers similar 'extraction' ground.

SPOILERS MAY BE FOUND WITHIN!!

Listen to "Extraction" on Spreaker.

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