EXTRACTION 2 (2023)

EXTRACTION 2 (2023)

Tagline: Prepare for the ride of your life.

(Action, Thriller, Let’s See How Well You Can Throw an Axe) [R]

Doesn't really matter what I think. People pay me to do things they can't.

In this one, Tyler Rake survives near death after a previous mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His road to recovery is long and tedious and he contemplates retirement. It doesn’t take long before a man named Alcott shows up and offers a job to Rake extracting a mother and child out of a prison. Little does anyone know how personal this mission is to Rake. 

I should start by saying this is another movie series that I did not see the first movie of. That happens sometimes. I have an unblinking eye, but I can’t watch everything. Don’t sue me. Because of that, I was not prepared for how relentless this movie was going to be. There is a prison break scene in this film that seems to run for 15 minutes straight, maybe longer. If the action sequences in MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING felt long to you, the action sequences in this movie are going to feel like they each last a week. 

If there are any issues with this thing, it’s that it’s essentially too unrealistic even for an action film that isn’t really necessarily going for realism. As an example, JOHN WICK films are pretty unrealistic, but a lot of that works because, for the most part, John isn’t out wrestling 15 guys at a time to get to a knife, or an axe, or a pole, or someone’s shoe to keep fighting. Typically, John has already killed all but maybe 5 of those guys. Then he takes on those guys. In this thing, Tyler takes on like a bazillion dudes and so does the chick he’s with, and at some point, I was kind of like “What now”? I kind of blame the stunt coordinators for creating these scenarios where prisoners who have a chance at escaping are worried about another guy trying to escape? The whole sequence just kind of tripped me up and I have zero expectation of realism in film. So if I get tripped up, that’s pretty freakin rare. 

Having said that, it’s a light criticism. The rest of this film is largely just one great action sequence after another. What does, unfortunately, get left out is much character development or really any sort of imaginative storytelling at all. This feels like something you would write in 20 minutes on a napkin while shoving down 4 blueberry pancakes with whip and syrup at Denny’s. That isn’t enough to ruin the effort, but it is a big reason I have this film below both JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING on my “TOP MOVIES OF 2023” list. Having said that it is a really solid effort and it definitely made us want to see the first installment. 

Acting wise everyone crushes it, even the kid. Andro Japaridze takes on his second-ever major acting role as Sandro and sticks the landing like he’s done this for years. I can see why some might have grown tedious of his character; I can understand the conflict in his head for any kid trying to determine which parent to stay loyal to when the whole course of your life will be at least in part determined by that decision. Olga Kurylenko (WHITE ELEPHANT) doesn’t get much screen time, but she is great as Mia. Golshifteh Farahani (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES) is near perfect opposite Chris Hemsworth (THOR: RAGNAROK) as Nik Khan. Tinatin Dalakishvili (ABIGALE) is decent in this. I do find it curious how good a fighter she was, but again…” napkin writing”. Chris Hemsworth himself is outstanding playing a far more emotionless character than we get with THOR. Hemsworth is currently attached to 5 movies in the works but is choosing roles more carefully after considering retiring from acting altogether.

There are some underlying themes in here that I thought really didn’t move the needle in a good direction. One is that the villain would go through so much and risk so much to try and kill the people he’s trying to kill. It really doesn’t make any sense and even his top aides point out. This was a missed opportunity to provide a better motive for all of this. 

For production, stunts, great action, and acting I have to give this thing a 6 out of 7. I would definitely watch it again and it does stand out in the action genre, even with the nitpicky flaws I just pointed out.
 

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