Extraction (2020)

Director: Sam Hargrave

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Bryon Lerum, Ryder Lerum

Tyler Rake, a fearless black market mercenary, embarks on the most deadly extraction of his career when he’s enlisted to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord.

Imprisoned drug lord Ovi Mahajan’s son, Ovi jr., is kidnapped by Bangladeshi drug lord Amir Asif. Ovi Sr. orders Saju Rav to retrieve his son, or he will have his son killed.

Mercanary Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) is hired for the rescue mission. Already here I was a bit confused. If Saju was ordered to retrieve Mahajan’s son, who recruited Tyler, and why? Because, as it turns out, Saju and Tyler try killing each other with every opportunity they get. How did Tyler and his team – lead by Tyler’s partner Nik Khan – hear about the kidnapping, and how did they get involved in the rescue? Maybe I missed something, as I didn’t fully understood this premise.

Finding and retrieving the kid was the easy part for fearless tough guy Tyler. However, getting him out of the city was an entirely different matter altogether. When Amir discovered the kid had been retrieved, he ordered the Head of Police to close all the city’s exits. Amir is a powerful, wealthy and ruthless antagonist.

The action sequences and fight choreography are impressive, to say the least. The action is fast and relentless, and incredibly well done. Chris Hemsworth delivers, and I enjoyed the fact his character also had an emotional side, showcasing Hemsworth’s acting abilities. I also liked the way Tyler and Ovi bonded.

Unfortunately, there was so much about this movie I didn’t enjoy. Ever since John Wick raised the body count in action movies, it seems the higher the body count, the better. I disagree. (By the way, I absolutely HATE the John Wick movies). There is A LOT of killing and destruction for just one kid. And I didn’t even fully understand why the kid was so important in the movie, because there was nothing special about him. He was simply the child of a drug lord and not much thought went into Ovi as a standalone character.

I also didn’t like the way Tyler was killing police officials left, right and center. The film automatically assumes the viewer will see the police as the enemy because they are in pursuit of the film’s protagonist, but keep in mind they are simply police officers doing their job. Why do they deserve to die so violently? Why doesn’t Tyler have ANY consideration for these officers? Had they been Amir’s henchmen, it would have been a different story. But these are innocent men! The more (innocent) people Tyler killed, the less I liked the movie – and Tyler. The killing became mindless – just like the John Wick movies. The body count easily exceeds one hundred. Hopefully this is not the future of action movies.

While I absolutely loved the action sequences and stunt work, all the unnecessary killings ruined the movie for me.

Would I watch it again? No.