Movie theaters are closed and that means that if you schedule your life around new movies (hi) you've probably been lost for the last month. Luckily, this weekend we will have a new movie to watch, in the form of Netflix's Extraction, which stars Chris Hemsworth and is produced by Joe and Anthony Russo, so it's sort of like a Marvel movie, only not really. What it is, however, is a relentless action movie that, according to critics, is probably worth checking out, even if it's only for one particular scene.
The reviews for Extraction appear to be, on the whole, pretty good. Nobody is calling it a masterpiece to be sure, but if you're looking for a solid action movie with exciting and well choreographed sequences, you'll find that here. CinemaBlend's own Sean O'Connell gives the movie 3.5 stars in his review and has to use a variety of adjectives to describe how strong the action in the movie is.
The action in Extraction is relentless, polished, inspired, bone-breaking and raw. Even if the story doesn’t hook you, Extraction is worth a screening to sink your teeth into some of the most painful-looking fight sequences available at the moment. Hemsworth administers beatings, and receives beatings. It’s an unstoppable barrage of physical agony.
Extraction is directed by Sam Hargrave who previously had been Chris Evans' Captain America stunt double and was the stunt coordinator for a handful of Marvel films including Avengers: Endgame. In this, he follows in the footsteps of others who have graduated from stunt coordination to direction, and it looks like Hargrave's freshman effort is a worthy one.
Sam Hargrave was also the stunt coordinator for David Leitch's (another stunt coordinator turned director) Atomic Blonde. That film has a memorable finale sequence in which a stairwell brawl becomes an on-going "one shot" sequence. If you're a fan of that type of stunt and camera work, Extraction has a sequence of its own worthy of note, although, in comparison to Atomic Blonde, Variety says...
Here, Hargrave and Hemsworth try to improve upon that accomplishment. They can’t, but the attempt is undeniably impressive all the same, as the camera does seemingly impossible tricks as it tracks a high-speed chase through Dhaka...
Most critics are complementary of this one specific fight scene, even if they're not impressed with the rest of the movie beyond that. Screen Crush says that one sequence is well done, but the rest of the movie is less than impressive.
Otherwise, the plot feels like reheated leftovers from a hundred other movies about sullen warriors seeking redemption, and the mood wobbles awkwardly between cautionary tale about the drug trade’s brutal cost and fist-pumping action movie full of “cool” fight moves.
And for some, even the action, while good. gets a little exhausting, as it did for The Wrap...
Two hours of this is a lot, even with a few stops for character development. As good as Hargrave is at staging and shooting action, you eventually reach a point of diminishing returns in a film built around fistfights and automatic weaponry.
But this is April of 2020 and our options are limited. Maybe Extraction isn't the best movie out there, but it's almost certainly the best one coming out on Friday. And sometimes all you really want is to watch Chris Hemsworth beat people up, and Extraction will scratch that itch. As TV Guide puts it...
A Muscly Chris Hemsworth Kills Tons of People and That's It, That's the Movie
Works for me. Extraction drops on Netflix Friday.
