Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Extraction.
Netflix's new action thriller Extraction is based on the comic book Ciudad, which was co-written by Anthony and Joe Russo with Ande Parks, and illustrated by Fernando León González. Though both the comic book and the movie tell the story of a mercenary called Tyler Rake (played by Chris Hemsworth in Extraction) on a mission to rescue a kidnap victim, there were a number of changes made from the graphic novel for the film version.
In Extraction, Tyler Rake is an elite Australian mercenary who is still haunted by the death of his young son. Indian teenager Ovi Mahajan (Rudhraksh Jaiswal), the son of a crime lord who has been sent to prison, is kidnapped by his father's biggest rival and held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Knowing that his boss can't really afford mercenaries to rescue Ovi, right-hand man Saju (Randeep Hooda) hires Tyler and a team of fellow guns-for-hire to rescue Ovi, with plans to kill them all once the boy is free instead of paying what he owes.
Unfortunately for Saju, Tyler is a hard man to kill. Extraction turns into a race for survival as he tries to get Ovi out of Dhaka while facing off against the collective forces of powerful gangster Amir Asif (Priyanshu Painyuli) on one side, and the fiercely determined Saju on the other. While Extraction follows most of the general plot beats of the comic book it's based on, there are some major differences in the setting, characters, and ending.
The Comic Book Is Set In Ciudad del Este, Not Dhaka
As the title suggests, Ciudad is set in Ciudad el Este, Paraguay, rather than in Bangladesh. Described in the comic as "a relatively lawless and corrupt triangle that spans Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina," Ciudad del Este is known for being the "Wild West" of South America, therefore making it the perfect setting for an action comic about gangsters and mercenaries. It's not entirely clear why the setting was changed for Extraction, though it may have been the result of favorable production tax breaks (filming took place in Thailand, India, and Bangladesh), or a desire on Netflix's part to appeal to South Asian markets.
Whatever the reason for the change in location between the comic book and the movie, the city of Dhaka was chosen as the stand-in for Ciudad del Este and plays a similarly central role. Before it was called Extraction, the film adaptation was actually titled Dhaka. Ranked by The Economist in 2017 as one of the ten most dangerous cities in the world, Dhaka serves as a suitable backdrop for the story of the comic book, with a few tweaks to character names.
Tyler Rescues (And Romances) A Teenage Girl In The Comic Book
In Ciudad, Ovi is an 18 year-old girl called Eva Roche. The circumstances of her kidnapping are very similar to Ovi's in the movie; she's outside a club sharing a joint when her kidnappers (dressed in police uniforms) arrive and shoot her companion in the head before capturing her. Tyler's rescue target being a (just about) adult young woman rather than a young teenage boy somewhat predictably leads to the bond between them becoming romantic and the two of them kissing before parting ways. There's also a rather traumatic scene in which Eva experiences a bloody miscarriage, as a result of an abortion pill that Tyler secretly dosed her with in case she was raped in captivity. The pregnancy was not actually the result of rape, but of a previous relationship - presumably with the boyfriend who was killed.
The change in the age of gender of Tyler's young charge in Extraction led to the addition of the dead son in his backstory, which is not present in the comic book. In lieu of Tyler developing romantic feelings, the movie justifies him going out of his way to keep Ovi alive by connecting him in Tyler's mind with his own son, whom he was unable to save.
Tyler Is Definitely Still Alive In The Comic Book Ending
In the original draft of Extraction's script, Tyler died after falling off the bridge with multiple gunshot wounds. However, following test screenings the reaction from audiences was split down the middle, with some satisfied that he had completed his character arc and sacrificed himself, and others hoping that he would survive. The decision was made to leave Tyler's fate ambiguous, with a final scene of Ovi jumping into a swimming pool and emerging to look at a figure watching him - a figure that looks a lot like Tyler. Speaking to IndieWire, director Sam Hargrave explained:
"If people on one hand feel like the story is complete and is a story of redemption through sacrifice, then for them it’ll be where the kid is imagining [Rake standing there], and then now you go, ‘Yes, I’m satisfied.’ If you feel like you love Tyler Rake and you want a sequel, and you’re like ‘There’s no way, you can’t kill him!’ then that’s Tyler Rake standing there looking at you."
In contrast to this ending, Ciudad makes it very clear that Tyler is still alive at the end of the story. After falling into the river he wakes up in a bed in Argentina, where he's being treated for his wounds. After confirming that Eva made it out OK, he tells his fixer to send her a million dollars from his account - more than he can afford, but enough to grant her freedom from her father and former life.
Eva Runs Away And Starts A New Life In The Comic Book Ending
In Extraction, Ovi returns to his normal life after being rescued by Tyler - though he's obviously been transformed by the experience. At the end of Ciudad, however, Eva decides to escape her life after it's made clear that her father's love for her has its limits. She reinvents herself as "Natalia" and is last seen taking a sculpture class in Paris, presumably having made use of the money that Tyler sent to her. This was most likely changed in the movie because Ovi is younger than Natalia and wouldn't be able to set out on his own in the same way. However, the scene of him jumping into the pool at the very end does represent a similar kind of liberation as Eva's escape, with Ovi haven broken free from the fear and uncertainty that he felt at the start of the movie.