Susan Granger’s review of “Extraction 2” (Netflix)
If you’re into brainless, mucho macho mayhem, “Extraction 2” is 85% action, 15% narrative – meaning there’s lots of fighting, particularly hand-to-hand combat, even though it’s never clear how these ‘ordinary’ Eastern European men can take that much physical punishment and maintain their ruthless bravado.
Australian black ops mercenary Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) is still recovering from his previous mission. Reuniting with director/stuntman Sam Hargrave, he embarks on this sequel, tracing its origins to Ande Parks’ graphic novel “Ciudad” from a story by Parks, Joe & Anthony Russo.
This time, valiant Rake is recruited by Alcott (Idris Elba), a mysterious man who says he’s a friend of Rake’s Georgian ex-wife (Olga Kurylenko) whose sister (Tinatin Dalakishvili) is married to Davit Radiani (Tornike Bziava), an abusive gangster who is keeping her and their two children imprisoned with him.
The subsequent ‘rescue’ sequence is a frenzied, 21-minute continuous fight, as Rake once again teams up with Nik Khan (Golshifteh Farahani) and her brother Yaz (Adam Bessa). According to director Hargrave, this action scene took 4-5 months to rehearse and 29 days to film.
During the riot, Davit is killed which ignites a revenge vow from his psychotic brother Zurab (Tornike Gogrichiani) and their crime family. Problem is: Davit’s teenage son Sandro (Andro Japaridze) is torn between loyalty to his mother and to his dead father’s Nagazi cohorts. So much for pulpy plot.
Since the characters are generally underwritten, it’s difficult to evoke any emotional connection to the unrelenting, ultra-violent, if cleverly choreographed chaos, simplistically chronicled like a live-action video game by cinematographer Greg Baldi.
The only revelation about Tyler Rake’s backstory comes when he confesses he went to Afghanistan for another tour of duty as his son was battling an incurable illness; presumably, that led to his divorce, burden of guilt and now redemption.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Extraction 2” is a shallow, if adrenaline pumping 4, streaming on Netflix, which has already green-lit “Extraction 3.”
