Extraction is a 2020 American action-thriller which was a sole directorial debut by actor and stuntman, Sam Hargrave, who also had a minor character role in it.
I like to think that, while I have my favourites, I welcome almost all genre of films. I do love a good action film, as long as it has a decent story at its core and contains other complimentary elements.
I watched this film when it came out last year, but due to a special request, I have decided to write a review on it. While I am sure many have already seen Extraction, weirdly, so many haven’t.
Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth), a former Australian army special air forces agent turned black-market mercenary, is recruited by mercenary colleague, Nik Khan (Golshifteh Farahani) to come to India and rescue a kidnapped teenager - Ovi Mahajan (Rudhraksh Jaiswal). Ovi’s father, Mahajan (Pankaj Tripathi) is one of the two feuding drug lords in India. Mahajan’s current state of incarceration can be held responsible for the vulnerability of his son to abduction by his rival, Amir Asif (Priyanshu Painyuli) for a ransom.
Tyler decides to take the contract job. This requires him to burst into where Ovi is being held captive, kill his captors, and then take him to the location where his father’s men were waiting to pick him up. It is at this point that Ovi’s father’s men would make a payment transfer for the rescue operation. Obviously, this does not go down as easily as I make it sound.
Anyway, like most films predicated on complicated and risky missions, things don’t go according to plan. It turns out, Mahajan is not prepared to pay the ransom for his kidnapped son as it would make him appear weak and ruin his reputation. This led him to order Saju Rav (Randeep Hooda), his son’s protector, and former special Ops in the Indian army, to retrieve his son, threatening to kill his family if he didn’t comply and succeed.
Consequently, when Tyler finally rescues Ovi and arrives at the appointed pick-up location, Mahajan’s men do not transfer the money as agreed, and Saju turns up in an attempt to kill Tyler and his team in order to recover Ovi. Despite losing his teammates, Tyler is able to get away with Ovi. However, Asif, who is unhappy about Ovi’s rescue, uses the police and law enforcement on his payroll to try to prevent Tyler from getting the boy to safety.
Meanwhile, Nik manages to arrange a point from which Tyler can be extracted with a helicopter but advises him to abandon Ovi since his father had not paid them for their mission and due to the obvious complications arising from his rescue. Tyler, who seems troubled with the haunting memory of being away on duty when his young son died of cancer, refuses to leave the boy. And so begins the unfolding of some major action packed scenes as Tyler battles to protect Ovi and get them both safely to the extraction point amidst the constant attacks by Saju, Asif’s men and corrupt law enforcement along the way.
I must say, this is one of the most violent films I have ever watched. Not boring violence, but a lot of violence, nonetheless. There were a lot of explosions, wrecking, smashing of heavy machines like vehicles and enough brutal fight scenes that would make you grimace. You just have to keep wondering at every point: how are they still alive… and standing? Hemsworth delivered a hardcore performance that somehow manages to outshine his Marvel character, Thor. The thrill effect is what really makes this film stand out. Remarkable directing there by Hargrove. I cannot fault this film much, except probably a little too much violent action for me, and not enough interesting substance. However, it’s a great film and one I would certainly recommend. Rating? 8.9 out of 10.
Released on Netflix, the film is currently available on there to watch.
Further Information
Played Tyler Rake
Played Ovi Mahajan
Played Saju Rav
Played Nik Khan
Played Mahajan Sr.
Played Amir Asif
Film Director. Played Gaetan "G" (Tyler’s partner and fellow mercenary)
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