Extraction II
Chris Hemsworth returns for more adrenalin-pumping action set against a smattering of eye-catching backdrops.
Getting away with murder: Chris Hemsworth and Tinatin Dalakishvili. (Image courtesy of Netflix)
Extraction was a hard act to follow. It brought an energy and ingenuity to single-take stunt scenes that were like mini-movies shoe-horned into a bigger picture, while authentic locations served as colourful backdrops. Chris Hemsworth brought his own high-octane charisma to the fore, vying to monopolise the widescreen panoramas of various exotic climes. In short, Extraction delivered – and then some.
With less backstory to slow things down, Extraction 2 is action porn on fast forward. The stunt coordinator par excellence Sam Hargrave returns to the fray as director, along with original cast members Hemsworth, Golshifteh Farahani and Adam Bessa and the composers Henry Jackman and Alex Belcher – and it’s an unholy collaboration. Once again, Hargrave pumps scene after scene with undiluted adrenaline by swinging his camera around the stuntwork, creating an emotional rush of visual continuity. And Hemsworth, who was paid $20m for his role, provides the stamina of a Titan as well as a magnetic stillness in the film’s few quieter moments.
At the end of Extraction, after much of the capital city Dhaka had been deconstructed, former SAS firebrand Tyler Rake (Hemsworth) is shot in the neck and plummets backwards off a high bridge and into the waters below. But Tyler is the protagonist of the graphic novel Ciudad, Hargrave’s Extraction 3 is already in pre-production and sequels are all about miracles. At the beginning of Extraction II, Tyler’s body is found washed up on the shore of the river and is rushed to hospital where, against the odds, he is brought back to life. A wanted man, he is then taken to a safe house in snowy Austria where he is instructed to take up knitting and practice mindfulness. “I am really excited by this next chapter in my life,” he remarks sourly. But then Tyler is about the only person on earth who can get things done where other demigods shudder. And, sure enough, he is presently approached by Idris Elba with a new mission, should he choose to accept it: to spring the sister of his ex-wife from a heavily-guarded prison in the industrial wasteland of Georgia. Salting the salad of the escape is his former sister-in-law’s two children, who he has to shield from hordes of crazed inmates. This sequence alone is worth the price of admission, if you manage to see the sequel on the big screen, where it patently belongs.
For junkies of action cinema, Extraction II does not disappoint, providing scene after scene of visceral awesomeness as Tyler-cum-Hemsworth repeatedly defies the odds to beat his way out of hell. And the women, too, are phenomenally capable of looking after themselves, including Tyler’s old partner Nik Khan (Farahani) and his ex’s sister Ketevan (the Tbilisi-born actress-model Dalakishvili). Both women are head-turners, adding to the constant eye-candy on display, with only the Georgian villains providing the look of weather-beaten, deeply-scarred granite monoliths. The latter, tied by the bonds of fraternity, appear to own the entire Eastern European republic and are profoundly evil men with the political elite in their back pockets and their morals in their wallets.
Of course, Extraction II is wildly formulaic but that is not to say that it isn’t heart-pounding stuff rendered with astonishing proficiency. The scene in which Vienna’s iconic CD Tower is used as target practice is jaw-dropping spectacle and should give its French architect (Dominique Perrault) sleepless nights. The film is also exceedingly violent and kind of predictable but it looks terrific and is a masterclass in kinetic action.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Golshifteh Farahani, Tornike Gogrichiani, Adam Bessa, Daniel Bernhardt, Tinatin Dalakishvili, Idris Elba, Olga Kurylenko, Andro Japaridze, Tornike Bziava, Miriam Kovziashvili, Marta Kovziashvili.
Dir Sam Hargrave, Pro Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Chris Hemsworth, Patrick Newall, Sam Hargrave, Mike Larocca, Angela Russo-Otstot, Eric Gitter and Peter Schwerin, Screenplay Joe Russo, Ph Greg Baldi, Pro Des Philip Ivey, Ed Álex Rodríguez and William Hoy, Music Henry Jackman and Alex Belcher, Costumes Rebekka Jónsdóttir and Jennifer Lander, Dialect coach Gabrielle Rogers.
Wild State/AGBO/T.G.I.M. Films-Netflix.
123 mins. USA/Czech Republic/Austria/Australia. 2023. UK and US Rel: 16 June 2023. Cert. 15.
