Extraction

Extraction (6.5/10)

Genre: Action

Director: Sam Hargrave

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Randeep Hooda, Golshifteh Farahani, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Priyanshu Painyuli, David Harbour

Country: USA

Language: English

Year: 2020

Extraction is unquestionably the best action film from Hollywood in 2020 so far and might as well commence another John Wickesque kind of franchise. Of course, you might have to completely ignore certain aspects of the film like story, logic, and character arcs, but once the action begins, you won’t even give a damn. The entire film can be easily bifurcated into four parts: build-up, action, melodrama, and action. Extraction is based on the graphic novel Ciudad, co-written by the Russo brothers with some subsequent changes, for instance, the in the novel the events take place in South America and not Bangladesh, and the kidnapped character is a girl instead of a boy. I guess the creative team decided to offer a break to the South American countries since Hollywood has been screwing them for a long time. On the contrary, the film does a considerable job to translate some of the pages from the novel into live-action. The action scenes are brilliantly choreographed, shot, edited with excellent sound design. The car chase sequences in the film were breathtaking. Director Sam Hargrave puts himself on the frontlines to do some unbelievable stunt camera work that will increase your testosterone level. He formulates his own little 1917 during the action sequences. The main stars in the film are the stunt guys followed by Chris Hemsworth. However, there a few downsides in the film as well, like the actors struggle to get the Sylheti language properly, mostly because the majority of the actors are not Bengalis, let alone Sylheti. They sounded more like the good folks from Agartala instead of Bangladesh. Particularly Priyanshu Painyuli starring as the main villain sounded more like a Marwari living in Bengal than a Bangladeshi. I am not an expert in Bangladeshi music, but the film sure seems to think the answer is Bollywood. The melodrama scenes are a little unwanted and boring. The action in the first half is better than the second half. If you can get past these and a few other distractions, you’re in for a ride. The story shows Tyler Rake, a mercenary for hire, bringing mayhem on the streets of Dhaka to rescue the son of an Indian drug lord kidnapped by the biggest drug lord in Bangladesh. Sam Hargrave has now become a familiar name worldwide, but I’ve been following his work for years. Apart from being an awesome stuntman and stunt coordinator, he has fair enough experience behind the camera since he rendered his services as second unit director in a lot of the MCU films. He joins the ranks of stunt guys turned directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. He has done a commendable job on his first outing as director, even plays a small cameo in the film. The film doesn’t have any outstanding acting performances, but every one delivers what is expected in the context of the film starting with Thor Hemsworth. John Wick has a competitor now, and that is all I would like to say about his performance in the film. The most surprising element in the film is Randeep Hooda’s character, which is perhaps the most bad-ass character in the film after Hemsworth. It is pretty surprising because on most occasions Bollywood actors play petty characters in Hollywood films (a few exceptions are there), something Pankaj Tripathi’s character proves. There is also a lesson for Bollywood that makes shitty action films, with proper stunt supervision and choreography Indian actors can do well in action films. Rudhraksh Jaiswal is the third actor in the film who has considerable screen time playing the kidnapped son. The rest of the cast are mostly fillers, which include the likes of David Harbour and Golshifteh Farahani. Extraction is a wet dream for action fans and further strengthens the fact that stunt directors have a better understanding of action films than a traditional director. Hope to see more stuntman turned directors backed by major studios, but until then, enjoy this hell of an action ride.