Extraction 2 (2023)

Extraction 2 (2023)

8/10

Starring

Chris Hemsworth

Golshifteh Farahani

 

Directed by Sam Hargrave

 

When action movie buffs tell you a film is better than John Wick 4, you start to wonder—what more could they have done?

I half expected Extraction 2 to be worse than the first movie, but it’s not just a step up—it puts itself on another level. The movie is magnificent and one of the best I’ve seen this year. I like how it begins with the hero recovering, followed by the introduction of a new character, played by Idris Elba, who pulls him out of retirement for, as they say, “one last job.” Which is one of the most common phrase used in action movies, so when I heard it used here I had a smile wide enough to engulf the screen.

The movie unfolds as you’d expect: he says he’s out, but the game pulls him back in. I appreciate how the movie uses different locations to unfold its plot. The action scenes are just what you’d expect, and the movie doesn’t shy away from the Rambo-like trope of one guy against a whole battalion of bad guys. At least our hero has a team with him, but as Rambo-like movies go… I won’t spoil it for you. Watch it and see for yourself.

When Tyler (Chris Hemsworth) is offered a job to extract a woman and her two children from a prison, the money is good, and the person who sent Elba to relay the request is someone he can’t turn down. The woman and her children are in the prison because her husband, Davit, was imprisoned there. His own people on the outside, with the help of corrupt government officials, put his family in prison with him—partly to keep him company and partly as a way of controlling him. The problem is, he’s a terrible father and husband, and the extraction is meant to save the woman and her children from an unbearable life.

During the riot, the wrong people died at Tyler’s hands, and an entire army of men controlled by Davit and his brother Zurab came after him and his team. After a twenty-minute setup, the movie kicks into gear, and the action doesn’t let up until the end.

This is by far one of the best movies I’ve seen this year, and if you have seen  the first movie and you liked it, you will like this one too. It feels a lot like you're watching the same thing over again, and the movie introduces actors without giving us much depth—just glossing over their connection to the lead.

You can catch it on Netflix.