[Courtesy of T.G.I.M. Films & AGBO]

Film Review: Extraction

01:00 May 06, 2020
By: Fritz Esker

The original movies released on demand or streaming during the COVID-19 quarantine have largely been either uninspired or downright terrible (Amazon Prime's Blow the Man Down is an exception). Netflix's Extraction is a drab, ultra-violent thriller that will be quickly forgotten.

In director Sam Hargrave's film, Chris Hemsworth plays a mercenary hired by an Indian drug dealer to rescue his son (Rudhraksh Jaiswal) from a rival drug dealer in Bangladesh. There's a decent plot twist a little over a third of the way through the film, but the movie largely consists of Hemsworth's mercenary mowing down faceless henchmen, crooked cops, and others. I didn't keep an exact number in my head, but the body count here probably cleared triple digits.

Extraction is an ugly film (a child is tossed off a roof at one point) with little to mitigate its cruelty. It doesn't establish much of an emotional connection between the mercenary and the kidnapped boy, so it mostly feels like watching a video game. The script issues would've hampered this if it played in cinemas, too, but the fact that it's on small screens robs the action scenes of any visceral impact that they might have achieved if viewed on the big screen.

Speaking of big screens, New Orleans movie buffs should absolutely buy gift certificates online to the Prytania Theater (theprytania.com), the Broad Theater (thebroadtheater.com), or Chalmette Movies (chalmettemovies.com) and support locally owned cinemas during this difficult time.

★★ (out of four)


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