(MA15+) 124 minutes
Chris Hemsworth is having anotherExtraction. It was inevitable when his firstExtraction got in one month in 2020. Being locked up with COVID-19 may have helped,but the first movie had some class.
Tinatin Dalakishvili (left) as Ketevan and Chris Hemsworth as gun-for-hire-Tyler Rake in Extraction 2.Supplied
It was unashamed pedal-to-the-floor action with no respite and no quarter. Hemsworth played an Australian mercenary with a death wish,a former SAS guy whose marriage ended when he could not face the fact his six-year-old son was dying (he choofed off to Afghanistan instead). Now he kills people because he feels guilty.
Tyler Rake (yes,that is his name) is a member of an elite team who will go anywhere and kill anyone for money – but usually bad guys. Golshifteh Farahani,cast against type,is Nik,his controller,friend and confidant – a beautiful badass with a heart of gold. In the first film they went to Bangladesh to rescue a boy kidnapped by a drug lord. That was bound to go down well in India,given the enmity between those two countries.
The body count was massive – unbelievably high. Not since Arnie laid waste to America’s enemies in the 1980s have so many hench-persons died in so many ways. But the real eye-opener was the way director Sam Hargrave brought flair to an otherwise ordinary script by Joe Russo,who was adapting a graphic novel he and his brother Anthony made with Ande Parks in 2014.
The action scenes were seamless and endless – almost without perceptible edit points,courtesy of some extraordinarily good camera work and post-production. The effect was dazzling – more Bond than Bond,more Bourne than Bourne – and none of that namby-pamby moralism about how many people were converted to pink mist. This was a first-person shooter game on a gigantic scale,with no qualms. Faster Tyler,kill,kill!
The secondExtraction is more grandiose,full of pace and action,and dull as a box of rocks. It follows all the bad rules of sequels – bigger,louder,dumber. Rake and Nik take on some Georgian drug lords – one of whom is married to Rake’s former sister-in-law (Tinatin Dalakishvili). Rake breaks her,her small daughter and teenage son (Andro Japaridze) out of a hellhole prison,pursued by every gun that her nasty husband (Tornike Gogrichiani) can muster. And that’s a lot:his resources in humans and weapons are endless.
Only a certain section of the audience wants no characterisation in a movie. Adrenaline rush isn’t really enough once you are old enough to shave. And Hemsworth did a lot with the role first time round. He’s not required to do much this time. There’s no time:he has places to go and people to kill.
Extraction 2 is streaming on Netflix from June 16.
Find out the next TV,streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees..