When Extraction was released on Netflix on 24th April 2020, comparisons to the John Wick series came in thick and fast - Both feature a one-man-show badass character who is well-versed with gun-work, stunt driving and close quarter combat. Both main characters are shown as not invulnerable, but able to take copious amount of damage and still come back for more.
Lastly, both movies are not shy about the violence and gore. But can this Chris Hemworth vehicle hold a candle to the beloved John Wick franchise?
SPOILER WARNING BELOW!!
In Extraction, Chris Hemsworth plays Tyler Rake - a former Australian special forces operator with a tragic past, who now ekes out a living as a gun-for-hire. This time he is hired to rescue the kidnapped son of an Indian druglord.
Of course, everything goes south. His team is killed and he finds himself stranded alone in Dhaka with his mark, teenager Ovi Mahajan Jr.(played by Rudhraksh Jaiswal). Surrounded on all sides, he needs to fight his way out of the city to the extraction point, whilst keeping Ovi alive.
On the surface, this is like any shoot'em up action flick not unlike the old Rambo films - lots of shooting and stabbing with some character development threw in.
Not that it's a bad thing. The action sequences are really well made, with the pièce de résistance undoubtedly being the first chase scene which was a 11-minute long continuous shot from a car chase to a foot chase and a shootout, then ending with a truck chase.
There is a bit of depth to the narrative, just enough to give the players an agency. Tyler is a daredevil who seeks to redeem his past through death. Ovi start off being a timid young boy and by the end of the film he becomes....less timid? It's all pretty 2-dimensional but par for the course given the genre.
Interestingly, if you didn't notice it, the film makes time to portray children being employed as combatants by the drug syndicates and the main character's bafflement in the face of a small child army who could barely hold their rifles up.
Nonetheless, the action is quite relentless and the audience barely have any time to reflect on these small vignettes.
Extraction is definitely passable as an action movie and are very generous with it's action set pieces. The atmosphere and visuals are effective, the action sequences are visceral as well as heart-pounding, even if some of the visual effects looks dodgy.
Circling back to the John Wick comparison - Personally I do question the need to compare both. John Wick's action scenes are almost poetic. The choreography is deliberate but face-paced, juxtaposed with a distant and zen-like calm camera work. Extraction is often frantic with a lot of running-in-cover and close-up shaky cam sequences. There is anything wrong with either approach, they are just different.
If anything, John Wick's characterization plateaus after the initial emotional upheaval at the beginning of the first film. The rest of the franchise he is played expertly with Keanu's flat, but somehow charming, acting. To put it simply, you want John Wick to win because he is a badass; but you want Tyler to win because he deserves a win.
Going in with the right mindset, Extraction is definitely worth that bowl of movie popcorn. Just sit down on your couch and prepare to be entertained, but expect nothing else.