The Stream: Minimal talking and storyline mixed with a couple anti-climatic twists.

The Big Screen: Action, Action, Action!

The Final Bill: Great John Wick-esque action sequences held down by forced storylines.

-S2S: Movie Review
Director: Sam Hargrave
Writers: Joe Russo (based on the graphic novel “Ciudad”, from a story by), Joe Russo (script)
Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Randeep Hooda | See full cast & crew
Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes
Genre: Ation, Drama, Thriller
Rating: R (extremely violent situations, bloody)
Venue: Netflix (debuted April 24, 2020)

Another weekend, another opportunity to enjoy the finer things in life. Hope you all are staying safe out there and not using Lysol as COVID-19 medicine. This week instead of cleaning ourselves with Lysol or bleach we had the chance to watch the Netflix debut of Extraction. It’s a long awaited Chris Hemsworth film, based upon a graphic novel “Cuidad”, that promises action sequence upon action sequence, death-defying stunts by the top stuntmen in the game and brutally needed entertainment. The movie follows Tyler Rake (Hemsworth), a fearless black market mercenary, as he accepts the opportunity for the most deadly extraction of his career – a plot to extract a teenager out of the grasp of his imprisoned father’s rival. Let’s see if Extraction is worth all the hype.

Now, since I don’t want to bring any bad karma on myself, I’m only going to speak about the good things about this movie. NAHHHH! I’m just playing. Don’t get me wrong, I love John Wick movies, but the third one had minimal storyline, if any, and all action. That’s exactly Extraction. That’s not necessarily a horrible thing if that is what you’re looking for; but, it becomes an issue when the producers attempt to wedge in a meaningful storyline and it just tanks. I’m not saying that I didn’t care about my boy, Thor, but let’s be honest it doesn’t matter if he survives as long as he kicks major butt along the way. Also, there’s no set up to care about the kid either so who cares if people are chasing after them. On top of that, the writing and editing of certain scenes just never pushed the viewer to care. The quieter scenes seem so forced and you’re just sitting there screaming, “Get back to the killing!”

Ok, great, I’ll get back to the killing as well. Can someone finally explain why military/special forces/police trained soldiers are soooo terrible at shooting one man in these type of movies? I mean really it has gotten bad in these type of movies. I’m okay with the suspension of belief for a little bit but good grief, Charlie Brown. At least the sequences are clear, vivid and seamless. The filming and setting of the movie is pretty amazing.

Nevertheless, Extraction does provide some really good action sequences. Truly, these sequences are pretty close to John Wick sequences and in fact a couple of them seem to be outright bitten or borrowed from that franchise. If anything, there is too much action; but let’s be real there’s never too much. On top of that, Chris Hemsworth really excels in this brutal role. He transitioned very well between super soldier and father figure. He should definitely take on a few more roles like this, but hopefully the movie would have a bit more comedy, like a Die Hard type role.

Needless to say, action fans you’ll be in for a treat with a fresh box of popcorn. Between great sequences and bodies falling everywhere, you all will enjoy. For everyone else, this more of a handful of streaming kernels. There is not enough storyline or depth in characters to get you to be invested in them to rush you to watch Extraction. In fact, this movie is so brutal and gory that you might be turned off from watching the movie anyway. You can stream it if bored but I hope you don’t have a soft stomach.