Listen, we love you, Russo brothers.
Your directorial efforts gifted us both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the crown jewels of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and unprecedented capstones of one of the most ambitious cinematic projects in history. Indeed, there are nary enough pats on the backs for the Russos.
Unfortunately, we’re now in the 2020s; a decade that’s so far seen the Russo brothers go from the kings of Marvel to the kings of weirdly repetitive and just as underwhelming action thrillers, including Netflix’s $200 million minnow The Gray Man, the much-marketed Prime Video series Citadel, and 2020’s Extraction, which didn’t have quite enough ingredients to supplement Chris Hemsworth‘s eye-catching performance as protagonist Tyler Rake.
Nevertheless, Extraction came before the Russos’ new reputation gained any traction, and the hype of “the guys who did Endgame” rocketed Extraction to record-breaking views, ensuring that the plight of Tyler Rake would live on in the form of Extraction 2, which just got its first trailer today.
Judging by its recent Twitter activity, Netflix really wants us to know that Extraction 2 is home to a 21-minute-long set piece filmed to look like one shot à la 1917. So, if technically ambitious action scenes are your thing, Extraction 2 just might give you something to chew on, but the fact remains that after the last couple of Russo-backed action thrillers, buying into any hype at this point feels like a risky move.
Again, we love you, Russo brothers; you helmed one of the most culturally impactful one-two punches the entertainment world has ever witnessed, and we’ll pull for you to stick the landing here, but something’s gotta give.
Extraction 2 will release to Netflix on June 16.
