The streaming wars have been in full effect for years now, and each service has a number of megahits. For Netflix, one of the biggest original movie titles is Sam Hargrave's Extraction. Starring Marvel favorite Chris Hemsworth as black market mercenary Tyler Rake, the 2020 original got a ton of views when it was released, and a sequel was quickly green lit. After a few years of waiting, Extraction 2 is nearly here, and somehow the action of the burgeoning franchise is even more bonkers this time around.
Release Date: June 16th
Directed By: Sam Hargrave
Written By: Joe Russo
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Golshifteh Farahani, Adam Bessa, Olga Kurylenko
Rating: R for strong/bloody violence throughout and language.
Runtime: 2 hours 2 minutes
Extraction 2 picks up right where the first movie ended, where we saw Tyler Rake seemingly die while helping to save young Ovi. He miraculously floats to the shore and is able to get the medical attention needed to save his life. That process is long and grueling, but eventually another mission comes Rake's way. As such, he comes out of retirement and prepares to rake up a wild body count. Spoiler alert: that's exactly what he does. The second movie in this Netflix franchise also spends more time on its protagonist, allowing the audience to understand more about who Tyler is as a person. That is, in the rare moments were the action stops throughout the movie's runtime.
Extraction 2 Makes Tyler Rake A More Fleshed Out Character
While we spent a ton of time with Chris Hemsworth's character throughout the first Extraction movie, much of it was dedicated to him taking out enemies. We did learn that he used to be married and had a son who died of lymphoma while he was away on a tour. But this story mostly seemed to exist so Rake and Ovi's relationship felt fleshed out by the end of the movie.
Because the second Extraction movie picks up shortly after Rake's near-death experience, we spend a bunch of time with him as he recovers from his injuries. This is an opportunity to see a more intimate view of the protagonist before the chaos of his mission begins.
In Extraction 2, we get deeper into the backstory and psyche of Tyler Rake. His relationship with Nik Khan's Golshifteh Farahani is more fleshed out, and we also learn more about his family thanks to the various new characters who debut in the sequel. This helps to further raise the stakes of the action, as we know the man behind the weapons. Hemsworth obviously put his entire body into the role, but he also brought a ton of heart to his killer protagonist.
Once Extraction 2’s Mission Starts, The Pace Doesn’t Let Up
As previously mentioned, Tyler Rake is in bad shape at the start of Extraction 2. As such, it takes a chunk of the movie's runtime before action kicks off. While some viewers might be antsy to see all the chaos occur given the wait between movies, once the mission starts, things go totally off the rails, and in the best way possible.
The marketing for Extraction 2 has teased that Tyler has a major action sequence in a prison escape. Rather than that occurring late in the movie, it's actually what begins Rake's mission. Filmmaker Sam Hargrave makes the bold choice to film that fight as if it's one long shot, which catapults the story forward and majorly kicks up the pace of the project overall.
While there are moments of stillness, Hargrave, Hemsworth and company don't pump the breaks as Extraction 2's runtime carries on. The pacing and stakes only continue to rise until we get to the conclusion of the streaming blockbuster. That helps the sequel to absolutely fly by.
The action of Extraction 2 is absolutely bananas.
Of course, the reason why the first Extraction movie became such a huge success on Netflix is because of the action. The growing franchise is known for dizzying fight choreography, with the majority of Chris Hemsworth's screen time dedicated to him dispatching enemies. Extraction 2 definitely rises to the occasion, and even manages to top the thrilling action from the original.
Obviously Extraction 2's prison escape scene is an important one, and the idea of shooting and editing it together as a one shot is an extremely immersive experience. It almost feels like we're the middle of a live-action video game. And no, that's not criticism for the movie's visual effects.
While the prison escape sequence is thrilling (and yes, Chris Hemsworth fights bad guys while on fire), the rest of the action sequences are equally exciting. In addition to Hemsworth, other members of the cast like Golshifteh Farahani also really destroy their big fight scenes. Those two actors seem to have a great chemistry, one that I'd love to see more of if/when a threequel is ordered by Netflix.
Overall, Extraction 2 somehow raises the stakes from its predecessor. Chris Hemsworth's hard work really pays off, and I wouldn't be surprised if he stuck with this growing franchise for the foreseeable future. We moviegoers should be so lucky.
