Extraction 2

Extraction 2
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Golshifteh Farahani, Adam Bessa, Tornike Gogrichiani
Directed by Sam Hargrave

There's a trope when it comes to action heroes and their franchises. Rambo struggles with PTSD. Jason Bourne is dealing with amnesia. John Wick is going through intense grief. If a character in an action movie gets their own franchise, you can be assured that they'll be going through some internal trauma that expresses itself outwardly in action-packed set pieces. The newest member of this dysfunctional franchise family is Tyler Rake, a man who's haunted by his past mistakes that draws him to a certain mercenary calling as he tries to rectify his past errors - by leaving a trail of bodies in his Rake...I mean wake.

Nine months after successfully extracting the kidnapped son of an Indian drug lord, Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) is living in an isolated cabin alone to heal from his many wounds, while he secretly struggles with abandoning his terminally ill son to go to war in Afghanistan. One day he's visited by a mysterious stranger (Idris Elba) who tells him he as a new mission, and his ex-wife Mia (Olga Kurvlenko) hired him. Mia's sister Ketevan (Tinatin Dalakishvili) and her two children are imprisoned in Georgia with her crime syndicate founder husband Davit (Tornike Bziava), and they need an extraction. Tyler agrees to help as long as his partner Nik (Golshifteh Farahani) and her brother Yaz (Adam Bessa) can accompany him. During the extraction things go array, leading to Davit's brother Zurab (Tornike Gogrichiani) hunting Tyler down, bent on revenge.


The Good:
Much like the original, "Extraction 2" has an emotional aspect that connects to the audience. Here, Tyler is still struggling with leaving his son, but now he's trying to rectify that mistake by saving his sister-in-law and her children from their own form of torture. As I said earlier, a hero in a franchise like this has to go through some personal trauma, and this is his way to make amends for the sins of the past that he thinks he needs to atone for.

The film includes three epic action sequences, which surprisingly diminish in quality from the first to the last. The last sequence is the film's finale, where Tyler and Zurab come to blows, and by this time both men are so tired that it doesn't take very long for a victor to be crowned (not really a spoiler alert that you know which one survives). The second one is exciting and fast-paced, with dizzying camera movements that pull you along as our heroes struggle to make it out of a high-rise building that's surrounded by mercenaries. It's dizzying and for someone like me who's afraid of heights, has its heart-pounding moments.

Yet the most exciting set piece is the film's beginning as Tyler extracts Ketevan and her children from the Georgian prison. For twenty minutes, the camera never stops or cuts away from the action, giving viewers an exciting one-shot take as they make their daring escape (I'm sure they actually did cuts, but it was so seamless you can't tell). From escaping the prison yard filled with riotous prisoners to a train where trained killers are dropped in by helicopter, there's not a moment to breathe in its intensity. Also thanks to cinematographer Greg Baldi, you get the feel that you're watching a video game in action. The camera zooms from behind the person's head to almost a first-person feel, before centering on gunfire from the center and men appearing from the sides without warning. It's one of the best action sequences I've seen this year (sorry, but nothing will compare to "John Wick Chapter 4's" dragon's breath scene), and elevates this above the original, which is something rare for an action sequel.

Chris Hemsworth is a naturally charismatic actor who's become worldwide beloved thanks to his work as Thor in the MCU, but here he drops all pretense of comedy in favor of a heavily dramatic performance. As a man struggling with his past mistakes, he allows it to fuel his desire to do right by others, and stops at nothing to do it. He's not an unstoppable killing machine, but a man flawed who can actually get knocked down - but he always gets back up.

Goldshifteh Farahani also returns to the franchise as no-nonsense Nik, who once again exhibits an action prowess that demands for her to get more action roles in the future. She is as tough as Tyler, but has a softer side, especially when it comes to her brother Yaz, who's again perfectly played by Adam Bessa, serving as the comedic relief as well as the heart of the film. On the other end, both Tornike Gogrichiani and Tornike Bziava give chilling performances as heartless brothers Zurab and Davit respectively, and while they sometimes fall to stereotypical villainous roles, they still make their time count by giving unnerving performances.


The Bad:
"Extraction 2" seems to focus more on the action than the drama going on, where the conversations taking place seem more like place markers before the next big action set piece. There's not a lot of character development apart from what we already know, but a film like this doesn't demand an Oscar-worthy story, so in a sense you get what you pay for.

There's a side story dealing with Ketevan's teenage son Sandro that is disjointed with the entire premise and also isn't fully flushed out to really feel any connection. In short, Sandro - even though he sees his father beat his mother and beat him as well - has a sense of loyalty to him, so when Zurab wants him to tell them where they're hiding, he does so and agrees to go with them to train to be a part of their cartel...until he doesn't. Then he does again, and then he doesn't. He goes back and forth with no real rhyme of reason, and only really serves as the momentum for the story but doesn't get his own identity.


The Verdict:
In a day and age where sequels equal diminishing returns, "Extraction 2" is a rare film that more than lives up to its predecessor, offering pulse pounding action with a tried-and-true action star at the helm.


The Score: A