It’s fitting that Netflix has spent years stating in no uncertain terms that it wants to create and expand as many in-house franchises as possible, only for Extraction 2 to signify that the streaming service stumbled upon what could end up going down in history as one of its very best almost completely by accident.
The first installment didn’t receive much fanfare prior to its release, but arriving in April of 2020 when everyone around the world was cooped up indoors with nothing better to do saw Extraction end up as the platform’s most-watched original movie ever. Would it have achieved the same success under normal circumstances? That’s up for debate, but becoming a global sensation has afforded director Sam Hargrave and star/producer Chris Hemsworth both the resources and the freedom to up the ante significantly second time out.
Anyone in search of an intricate, tightly-plotted narrative, complex characters, and any sort of depth whatsoever should probably look elsewhere, because Extraction 2 is all style and no substance. However, that’s not intended to be disparaging in this case, because it’s a meat-and-potatoes action flick of the most deliriously entertaining order, one that uses its predecessor as a jumping-off point for Hargrave to see just how insane he can get when it comes to the conception, orchestration, and execution of some jaw-dropping set pieces.
The plot, as you may not be shocked to know, is largely A-to-B stuff that exists almost entirely to get Hemsworth’s Rake from one destination to the next while explaining his miraculous survival. The story picks up after the end of Extraction, and we spend arguably a little too much time delving deep into the hero’s backstory and motivations, which by extension makes it feel as though Extraction 2 takes an age to get going.
No offense to Hargrave, Hemsworth, or screenwriter Joe Russo, but people aren’t really interested in Rake’s tragic backstory or his acclimatization to a world where he’s as good as retired. Or is he? Of course he isn’t, because Idris Elba shows up to drop a ton of exposition that spells out the entirety of what’s to come. Thankfully, his natural charisma makes it easy to digest, while his spiky banter with the leading man makes you wonder where it was during their decade-long association in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In short; a ruthless Georgian gangster isn’t happy that his brother remains imprisoned, even though he’s been afforded the luxury of having his wife and children join him behind bars. However, said spouse also happens to be the sister of Rake’s ex-wife (played by a wasted Olga Kurylenko) in a coincidence of the most eye-rolling convenience, and she was the one who asked Elba’s mysterious facilitator to ask politely if he can get the job done. It feels forced, and it very much is, but it’s merely the appetizer to the madness that follows.
With his team in tow – which includes Golshifteh Farahani’s Nik and Adam Bessa’s Yaz as the returning Kahn siblings – Rake infiltrates the facility to break them out and escort them to safety. It’s here where Extraction 2 lays its cards on the table, and what follows might just be one of the greatest action sequences you’re going to see for a long time, which isn’t exaggerating.
Extraction was famed for its lengthy sequence designed to look like one unbroken take, but the follow-up is an altogether different animal. Sure, it gets a little jarring whenever you can see the joins, but when you’re talking about a scene threaded together to look like a oner that finds the main man breaking into a prison, shepherding his targets to safety, engaging in a widespread brawl where a lot of people get set on fire and bludgeoned by various implements, which then evolves into a car chase before ending up on a moving train being pursued by helicopters that moves in, out, and, and down through the carriages prior to meeting an explosive end of its own, then you can’t help but get lost in the joyous ridiculousness of it all.
The downside is that Extraction 2 never comes close to topping such a bravura show of craftsmanship, but it’s not for a lack of trying as the pace rarely lets up for more than a scene or two before things ignite all over again. The shadow of John Wick may loom overhead every time a hand-to-hand combat sequence or gunfight breaks out, but Hargrave opts for a bone-crunching realism that’s a couple of steps parallel to Chad Stahelski’s balletic and knowingly over-the-top approach. The comparisons are superficial in name only, when the latter has admitted his assassination epics are embedded in the fantasy genre, whereas Rake dwells in a universe that’s only slightly more heightened than our own.
Tornike Gogrichiani’s Zurab is a by-the-numbers villain driven by revenge and almost nothing else so there’s not much going on under the surface in regards to his motivations or any sort of depth really, but that’s not what Netflix is selling Extraction 2 on the back of. After all, can you remember the big bad from the last one? Of course you can’t. The draw here is watching Hemsworth kick ass and take names, and while the streamer’s obsession with seemingly having every single one of its in-house blockbuster rely far too heavily on poorly-rendered CGI fire and unconvincing green screen backdrops remains, the merciless fisticuffs and ear-shattering din of bullets flying every few minutes just about compensates.
It’s bigger, brasher, bolder, louder, angrier, and more violent than the first, but it isn’t necessarily better. Extraction 2 falls into a lot of problems that sequels tend to do by believing that diving deep into what makes their protagonists tick is something worth exploring, but in this case it feels like padding that drags the running time out to an exhausting two hours and change. It might have been worth keeping the bare-bones, no frills, and zero fat approach that worked last time out, but we all know that’s not how IP works.
It’s fitting that the movie’s biggest strength also proves to be its greatest weakness, too; by delivering its marquee sequence at around the midway point, the rest of Extraction 2 fails to recapture that breathtaking magic. The third act is outright generic in terms of its setting, stakes, and ultimate resolution that dredges up memories of everything from Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol to John Woo’s The Killer – and it’s not a patch on either in any regard – while there’s the obligatory sequel-baiting ending to boot.
The dynamic duo of Hargrave and Hemsworth are more than welcome to give it another shot in the inevitable threequel, but let’s hope when that happens things don’t peak far too early like they do here.
