Extraction 2
Extraction 2 felt like a throwback to the kind of Hollywood movies that defined action movie genre for me with its unashamedly over the top enjoyable action sequences that used to form backbone of 90s movies. Gun fights, explosions car chases, brutal hand to hand combats and a highly trained extremely resourceful man put against overwhelming odds, it’s not hard to spot echoes of a bygone era of wonderful action flicks that enriched my childhood. It’s really refreshing to have movies like this which knows what they are and the audience its catering to instead of patching together plot devices from conflicting ideas of different genres. We have seen the results of which in the cesspool of Marvel Movies that rely on spectacles of visual hammer blows to distract you from the plot holes and poorly written generic flawless idealized characters with bloodless, bruiseless fight scenes where people take half a dozen punches to the face without so much as messing up their hair.
Extraction 2’s plot is as basic as they come in movies like this; a hardboiled, combat-trained hero is entrusted with a mission to extract a target from a Georgian Prison under the control of a ruthless gangster. I can Iive with a movie falling back on predictable tropes, so long as it doesn’t render itself bland and dumb down the narration. Because simple, unpretentious movies done well are a joy to the eyes. Like its predecessor, Extraction 2 doesn’t really break any new ground in the action movie genre, but with enough gory, brutal violence and set pieces to keep me engaged for it’s 90 minute run time which doesn’t let out from start to finish, it serves as an antidote to the sanitized, overblown, neutered CGI shit fest passing off as action movies lately.
Tyler Rake is a refreshing take on male heroes these days amongst soft, pampered, effeminate pussies [yes, I’m referring to the likes of Timothée Chalamet and Tom Holland] laughably pretending to be heroes. It warms my heart to watch a leading character acts and looks like a man and Chris Hemsworth absolutely nails it. He’s got the look of a hard bastard who can take on anything and anyone on his way while keeping the character Grounded and believable. It’s not complex or thought provoking or delve into the mysteries of human condition and it’s fine by me because when a movie doesn’t aspire to anything fancy or pretentious it can leave you satisfied.