The incredible success of the “John Wick” franchise has set a precedents for stuntmen as action cinema directors and it’s a relief to say that stuntman-turned-filmmaker Sam Hargrave’s debut behind the camera is a commendable one. His eighty odd stunt roles, including many of the Marvel films, are perhaps both a scouting mission for a perfect crash test dummy leading man, along with being torturous shackles that inhibited a technical aptitude for unhinged action.
“Extraction” is a showcase for Hargrave’s talent for orchestrating unrelenting and kinetic chases; a preference for surgical and efficient use of high powered weapons and hand to hand combat where the hits reverberate like those crunching and slapping in crowd-free football stadiums during this COVID-19 crisis.
Ovi Mahajan (Rudhraksh Jaiswal), the son of India’s biggest drug lord (Pankaj Tripathi), is kidnapped by his arch-rival in Bangladesh Amir Asif (Priyanshu Painyuli). Enter commander Nik Khan (the show-stopping and terrific Golshifteh Farahani) and her mercenary team led by kamikaze warrior and Australian mercenary Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth). When their extraction mission goes haywire, they must avoid an army of henchman, corrupt police, double-crosses and attempt a daring escape from a city in lockdown.
“Ciudad,” the graphic novel basis for “Extraction” was written by screenwriter Joe Russo, as well as Anthony Russo and Ande Parks. Shifting locations from Ciudad del Estate to Dhaka, changing Tyler’s rescue target from a girl to a young man – at a glance – feel wise. However, changes to the location and the creation of this protector/ward relationship for Tyler and Ovi could be read as propagating ‘white saviour’ myth. While one cannot dismiss a reading of “Extraction” as such altogether, this reviewer sees the changes in conception and execution as contrary and inspired.
Tyler’s past, hinted in impressionist waking dreams, is haunted with loss. Family is nowhere in his present, and the gleaming remnants of a lost son are a memory that needs trauma to fire his synapses. Ovi begins as the perfect cocktail of potential death for a mercenary needing a near-fatal scenario to get out of bed. Once they’re together though, Ovi’s innocence – sins of the father aside – starts to penetrate Tyler’s apathy. Tyler begins to see Ovi’s rescue as that one good thing he can do.
So often this kind of modern war film is swallowed by the swamp of conservative reinforcement of the status quo. Instead, this international team’s allegiance is as moral as Uber surge pricing. Capitalism is stronger than nations; drug kingpins don’t need land, their product commands armies. There are countries, cultures and corruption on show, but there’s refreshingly no jingoism. Tyler Rake makes the mercenary profession relatable; we’ve all yearned for a job that fulfils our purpose while working with mercenary ’this is my day job’ outlook.
One of Tyler’s main adversaries is Ovi’s guardian Saju (Randeep Hooda), on the hook for the young man’s safety unless he wants his own family under the knife. At the beginning of the film, it’s easy to be deceived that Hooda’s Saju is an accountant rather than a kind of John Wick/Karl Urban from “The Bourne Supremacy” level badass, but man is it nice to be wrong. Hooda attempts to use Nik (Farahani), Tyler and their team as a misdirect for his redemptive interception of Ovi. The ongoing battle between him and Tyler is the match-up of the movie.
There’s something that has to be said about the unbelievable natural charm of Hemsworth FINALLY as an Australian leading man; the character doesn’t take Hemsworth out of himself, he’s allowed to lay it all bare. There are moments where Hemsworth’s piercing blue eyes echo Mel Gibson’s vacant gaze in “Lethal Weapon.” Except, as we say in Aussie slang, Hemsworth is a big f–kin unit.
There’s not a second we have to suspend our disbelief that Hemsworth couldn’t man-handle every adversary in the movie. Ex-UFC Heavyweight contender Brendan Schaub recently said Hemsworth was the only actor he’d ever seen that could genuinely and destructively throw down. Hargrave and the Russo’s observed the same. Watching him at his most gruff Aussie male moment of the film, Hemsworth swats off an Amir Asif (Painyuli) street urchin gang with colossal bitch slaps, satisfying like a post-sex cigarette.
Rudhraksh Jaiswal is a striking force of humanity with Ovi. His portrayal of disconnection from his father and the bubble life unceremoniously popped is very effective. David Harbour pops up as the welcome parasitic Gaspar, a larger than life fixer who is a last-minute out when all hell breaks loose.
“Extraction” is a bone-rattling, epic fifteen rounds of urban warfare rescue mission with a soulful and redemptive career-best dramatic performance from Hemsworth. In a pure action cinema sense it is worth your time with some undeniable great work from its God-like leading man.
