Stories about violent men who get a shot at redemption when they inadvertenly become "dads" are definitely having a moment (just look at the popularity of The Mandalorian and The Witcher), but of the recent additions to this myth-making tradition, Extraction is easily the most problematic. It's not that the film is badly made; far from it, stunt coordinator Sam Hargrave constructs some terrific action sequences in his directing debut. Yet, it's also tone-deaf in the way it centers its thinly-sketched narrative around a white protagonist who kills a whole lot of brown-skinned people, all in the name of saving one he's taken a liking to. Despite the spectacular stunt work, Extraction is a garden-variety action-thriller dragged down by its regressive white savior elements.
Chris Hemsworth stars in Extraction as Tyler Rake, a black market mercenary who spends his days trying to numb his pain (physical and spiritual) with booze and pills when he's hired to rescue Ovi Mahajan (Rudhraksh Jaiswal), the son of an imprisoned crime lord (Pankaj Tripathi), after he's kidnapped by his father's main rival (Priyanshu Painyuli). However, what could've been a simple operation turns out to be a far deadlier mission, and before long Tyler and Ovi are on their own in the densely populated city of Dhaka. With a small army of hired hands and corrupt police officers hot on their tail, it's up to Tyler to protect the boy and deliver him to the new extraction point alive.
Backing up a little, it should be pointed out Extraction is certainly better at humanizing its non-white supporting characters than, say, fellow recent Netflix Original Six Underground (though, that's not exactly setting the bar high). The script by Joe Russo, who's adapting the Ciudad comic book he co-created here, even starts off by showing Ovi in his regular life with his schoolmates before he's taken hostage. These are the same scenes in which viewers are introduced to Saju (Randeep Hooda), a subordinate who works for Ovi's father and is tasked with making sure he's rescued, lest his boss have his own family killed. Saju, in many ways, is the most compelling (and morally complicated) antihero in the film and it arguably would've made more sense to make him the lead, rather than reducing his involvement in the storyline to a subplot.
But, of course, Hooda isn't the superstar Hemsworth is and so, following these early scenes, Extraction shifts its attention to Tyler, who spends his days drinking, casually diving off high cliffs, and risking drowning himself in the water below (a not so subtle metaphor which the movie revisits later on). Tyler is a stoic collection of cliches, right down to him having a tragic backstory involving - you guessed it - a child who died, and while the film does pause to touch on his trauma from this incident, it skimps on examining the guilt he feels from having led a life of violence since then. Because of this, his arc from unfeeling hired gun to becoming Ovi's guardian is both predictable and rings hollow, as does their relationship (in spite of Jaiswal and Hemsworth's best efforts). At a certain point, Ovi only really serves to function as a plot device, much like Tyler's handler Nik (Golshifteh Farahani) and his fellow mercenary Gaspar (David Harbour, who's good as ever in a curiously minor role).
Behind the camera, Hargrave (who also plays a small supporting role as a sniper on Tyler's team) proves his mettle as an action filmmaker by delivering a series of dynamically staged, yet visually cohesive, bone-crunching fights and scenes of Tyler handing out headshots like he's John Wick. The much-promoted centerpiece is a 12-minute sequence shot which, for the most part, successfully weaves together multiple set pieces to create the impression of a fluid single take. Problem is, Extraction's gritty tone and approach clashes with the way its white protagonist racks up a body count like he's playing an ultra-violent video game. It's one thing when John Wick mows down enemies in a heightened reality where every other person is a killer-for-hire; it's another thing when this movie wants audiences to think of its Bangladeshi antagonists as real people and examine the cycle of violence they're trapped in (as it does with one particular story thread), yet also cheer Tyler on as he slaughters them one by one.
Following their impressive run with Marvel Studios, the Russo Brothers seem interested in making more grounded action-thrillers highlighting everyday people (heroes and antiheroes alike) for the moment, and Extraction (which they also produced) allows them to continue doing so. Much like last year's Russos-produced 21 Bridges, though, the results are a run of the miller genre movie propped up as being something more by well-directed action and an MCU veteran who outshines the material. And while Extraction is the more polished of the pair, it's also the more dodgy because, at the end of the day, it's a story about a white guy who chooses to rescue a person of color in order to truly save himself. So that's something to keep in mind while you're deciding what to stream this weekend.
Extraction is now streaming on Netflix. It is 116 minutes long and is rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, language and brief drug use.
