Extraction 2 - Review Thread

2020’s Extraction was, if nothing else, the beneficiary of very good timing. The film dropped on Netflix in late April of 2020, right at the height of pandemic lockdowns, making it one of only a very small number of decent sized action movies to drop in that entire year as all the theatrical blockbusters got pushed back. The film was plainly an attempt to do a slightly more militaristic take on what the John Wick movies were doing. It was directed by a stunt coordinator and had a clear focus on these elaborate scenes of violent shoot em’ up action characterized by close up gunshots and extended takes. Not a bad idea but the movie’s storyline felt even more generic and perfunctory than those Wick movies, lacking even that series’ wacky world building while also being centered around a complete nothing of a protagonist played by Chris Hemsworth. Now we’ve got a sequel which really doubles down on both that movie’s strengths and its weaknesses. The film does absolutely nothing to make the film’s main protagonist (whose name I don’t remember) any more interesting and its story is even thinner and more implausible… but man these action scenes really sing. This is reported to have been made on a budget of just $70 million and I’m not sure I believe that, or at least when the action starts happening it feels like no expense was spared. The film is trying real hard to see just how big it can make these shootouts and how long it can sustain these elaborate action packed “one take” shots. If that’s all you want out of your action movies, this delivers, at least for about 40% of its running time… the rest is just “whatever.” It also kind of peaks at the two thirds point and then ends on a plainly less impressive set-piece, points off for that.