After barely surviving his grievous wounds from his mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tyler Rake is back, and his team is ready to take on their next mission.
Chuck says:
Sporting a $70 million budget and a leaner script than its predecessor, Sam Hargrave’s “Extraction 2” strives to be in the league of such groundbreaking action films as “Mad Max: Fury Road” and the “Mission Impossible” movies. Though the filmmaker doesn’t have the resources at hand to compete with these huge productions, Hargrave’s feature certainly delivers its fair share of thrills, including an extended action sequence for the ages. To be sure, there are more than a few outlandish moments on hand but running a brisk two hours, the film doesn’t overstay its welcome, a nice respite from the many bloated movies currently in theaters.
After inexplicably surviving his previous mission, covert ops specialist Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) accepts an uneasy retirement. Though restless, even he knows he’s lost a step or three and hanging up his guns is probably best for all concerned. Of course, we all know that’s not to be and the reason he leaves his remote Austrian home is a doozy. His former sister-in-law (Tinatin Dalakishvili) and her two children are being held in a prison in Kojori, Georgia. Seems she’s married to an international arms dealer, who was convicted and put in jail, but he had just enough influence to request his family be held with him. Needless to say, she’s had enough and has gotten word to Rake’s ex, asking that he get them out.
As with most actioners, the plot is simple; however, it’s told with a sense of gravitas that lets us know from the start that the stakes are high and not everyone will walk away. Our battered hero employs his two most loyal allies, siblings Nik and Yaz (Golshifteh Farahani and Adam Bessa), to help him pull off this mission and they set off to create as much mayhem and destruction as the budget will allow in pulling this off.
Joe Russo wastes little time in his screenplay as Rake finds himself behind enemy lines once more before the first half hour comes to a close. And it is at this point that the real fun begins. The prison escape is a seemingly “unbroken” 20-minute take that, even if this is a sequence cobbled together with multiple scenes, is still an astonishing piece of filmmaking. I won’t attempt to describe this set piece in detail – I simply don’t have the space – but the short version is that it begins inside the walls of a prison and ends on a moving train, some twenty miles away. Along the way there are many incidents of hand-to-hand combat, firefights, a car chase, a foot chase, and multiple explosions as well as helicopters shot down from a moving, runaway train that derails and crashes.
This may seem like overkill, but it’s an impressive, immersive experience, Hargrave getting the viewer as close to being in the characters’ shoes as the medium allows. The choreography of this sequence is mind-blowing and if I have one complaint, it’s that we don’t get to enjoy this on a big screen. The flipside is that you have a rewind button at your disposal so that it can be rewatched and analyzed at will.
While many will focus on this sequence, the rest of the film is far from an afterthought, the pacing of the second and third acts relentless, the rest of the action just as imaginatively rendered. On the basis of its premise and trailer, the temptation would be to dismiss “Extraction 2” as just another action film. However, exceptional filmmaking is at play here, this being one of the most entertaining and thrilling genre entries in recent years.
3 1/2 Stars
Pam says:
I didn’t remember much of the first one except that there was a lot of bloodshed, high body counts, and non-stop action. And now we have a sequel (insert a high-pitch, unenthusiastic “yay” here). Yes, the three main plot points of bloodshed, body counts, and action remain, but there was something a bit more engaging in “Extraction 2.” Was it the addition of Idris Elba, small part that it was? Or was it just the charismatic aura of Chris Hemsworth? Perhaps both of those, but for all you action fans out there, the cinematography is what catapulted this “John Wick” style of film to a little higher level. Seemingly seamless takes during high-intensity action sequences (there were the requisite three never-ending ones; beginning, middle, and end), captured my attention and while it may have taken me out of the movie, I sat in awe and wonder attempting to figure out the logistics and choreography it took to attain this result. From close-up action to swiveling and lunging on top of a train and inside a helicopter then plunging to a glass rooftop, the acrobatics and camera work are all simply amazing.
The storyline has absolutely nothing new, but let’s face it, these movies aren’t about depth of story. They’re all action all the time and “Extraction 2” delivers this in spades…there’s a pun there, but you’ll have to watch it to understand that reference. Of course, the ending gives way to “Extraction 3” but whether or not the star will continue in this role is another story.
2 stars
