de facto film reviews 3 stars

In the current cinematic climate, packed to the gills with overblown action movies, one rarely stands out, and 2020’s Extraction is hardly the exception. However, its impressive one-take scene, consistently explosive action sequences, and Chris Hemsworth’s badass protagonist Tyler Rake garnered the approval of genre enthusiasts and general film fans alike. Shortly after its Netflix release, the streaming giant announced the sequel, Extraction 2, a production initially hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic that overcame that small hurdle to produce a bigger and arguably better film than its predecessor.

Extraction 2 sees Hemsworth return as Rake alongside his Extraction companions, Nik and Yaz Khan, played by Golshifteh Farahani and Adam Bessa, respectfully. After the first film’s climactic finale, in which Rake barely escapes alive, the mercenary undergoes extensive rehabilitation. Despite his wounds and trauma forcing him into early retirement, Rake gets dragged back into the dangerous world of hostage extraction by Idris Elba’s mysterious and unnamed character. Moving away from the corrupt streets of Bangladesh in Extraction 1, Rake must perform a much more personal extraction this time: his ex-wife’s sister, Ketevan (Tinatin Dalakishvili), and her two children, Sandro (Andro Japaridze) and Nina (Miriam and Marta Kovziashvili), from under the iron grip of her gangster husband in a Georgian prison. Immediately, this story has higher emotional stakes than the first, with Rake wrapped up in a family matter that causes him to confront his abandonment of his sick son in a much more intimate way and his separation from his wife because of it.

The story is a sign of maturation for Extraction 2 writers, The Russo Brothers, at least in terms of the franchise to date, moving away from a movie that consisted of primarily action set pieces and technical gimmicks to a deeper narrative and character-driven effort. That said, the film’s dialogue and more profound, slower moments are largely a chore to sit through and quite familiar, even cliché, among action flicks, but it’s a step in the right direction. Indeed, this growth still adds something more substantial to the sequel. And despite the reasonably generic content, Hemsworth, Farahani, and even Tornike Gogrichiani and Tornike Bziava as the film’s antagonists, Zurab as Davit, are all given more to work with and produce commendable performances.

Where Extraction 2 shines, of course, and allows the audience to forgive its undoubtedly less essential elements is in the bombastic, grandiose, and undeniably entertaining action expected of it. Returning director Sam Hargrave continues the one-take tradition but makes it even more exciting in Extraction 2, leading Rake through a heart-pounding prison extraction sequence that – regardless of some questionable effects and possible match cuts – outshines its predecessor’s daring single-take scene.

The rest of the movie’s thrilling moments also feel meatier and more significant, including an incredible train ride and a skyscraper scene that almost rivals the one in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. The gun-fu and brawls are still nowhere on the level of a John Wick or The Raid, but Extraction 2, as a complete action blockbuster package, still delivers high levels of thrill—enough to call it a worthy successor to one of the better raw action films of the past five years.