It seems the entire world finds great comfort in watching Chris Hemsworth murder countless henchmen and barely get away alive, as both of his Extraction films have the top two spots on the Netflix global chart.
Directed by Sam Hargrave and written by Joe Russo — and of course produced by both Russo brothers, who never met a CG-assisted action scene they didn’t want to pay for — the first Extraction released in 2020 to mild fanfare. From a storytelling perspective, it was nothing to write home about, but the action scenes were pretty ambitious, and Hemsworth is always fun to watch for his physicality alone.
Its sequel, Extraction 2, released this month with a better story and even more outlandish action, including a 21-minute faux one-take that begins with a prison escape and ends on a train running out of track. Plus, the budget is higher this time around, so the effects look more credible. It’s pretty hard to watch Extraction 2 without your mouth hanging open in disbelief.
Now, both entries are at the top of Netflix’s worldwide chart for films, as viewers presumably are brushing up on the original before the sequel outdoes it in every single way. Extraction 2 has a whopping 42,800,000 views for the June 12 – June 18 week, while the original pulled in another 9,600,000.
Coming in third is Paw Patrol: The Movie, which is arguably a better babysitter than anything on Disney Plus. Likewise, Boss Baby snagged fourth. Fifth place is a complete surprise, though: the Michael Fassbender-starring Assassin’s Creed adaptation from 2016, which we thought everyone on Earth had agreed to never watch.
Obviously, Netflix isn’t going to stop the Extraction franchise with numbers like this. Already the filmmakers are discussing a third chapter, where perhaps the entire movie will appear to be one shot — putting Hargrave and the Russos in the same league as French filmmaker Gaspar Noe, which would be a lot more interesting than another slew of Marvel comparisons.