Extraction (2020 film)


Extraction is a 2020 American action-thriller film starring Chris Hemsworth and released on Netflix. It is directed by Sam Hargrave and written by Joe Russo, based on the graphic novel Ciudad by Ande Parks, Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Fernando León González, and Eric Skillman. The film's cast also features Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Randeep Hooda, Golshifteh Farahani, Pankaj Tripathi and David Harbour, and follows a black ops mercenary who must rescue an Indian drug lord's kidnapped son in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Netflix released Extraction on April 24, 2020. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances and action sequences, but criticized the plot and excessive violence. It became the most watched original film in Netflix's history, and a sequel is in development.

Plot

After a day at school, Ovi Mahajan – son of an incarcerated Indian drug lord – sneaks out of his house to visit a club, where he is kidnapped by police officers working for rival drug lord Amir Asif. Saju Rav, a former Para operator and Ovi's protector, visits Ovi’s father in prison. Unwilling to pay the ransom as it will hurt the prestige of Ovi's father, Ovi Mahajan Sr. orders Saju to retrieve his son, threatening Saju's own family.
Tyler Rake, a black-market mercenary and former SASR operator, is recruited by fellow mercenary Nik Khan to rescue Ovi from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Rake and Khan’s team prepare to extract Ovi, with his father's men set to pay them once Ovi is recovered. Rake rescues Ovi, kills his captors, and takes him to the extraction point, but his father's men intentionally fail to transfer the funds. Instead, Saju kills Rake's teammates to bring Ovi back himself to avoid any payment to the mercenary group. Learning of Ovi’s escape, Asif orders an immediate lockdown of Dhaka, securing all bridges out of the city.
Khan arranges for a helicopter to extract Rake outside the city and tells him to abandon Ovi as they will not get paid for Ovi's extraction contract. He refuses, haunted by memories of his own son, who died at a young age from lymphoma when he left. After escaping Saju and the corrupt police and tactical units, Rake fights off a gang of boys led by Farhad, a young criminal determined to impress Asif. Rake calls his friend Gaspar, a retired squad-mate living in Dhaka, and he and Ovi lay low at Gaspar’s home. Gaspar reveals Asif has placed a $10 million bounty on Ovi, which he offers to share if Rake allows him to kill Ovi. Rake refuses and fights Gaspar, who gains the upper hand but is fatally shot by Ovi.
Rake calls Saju and asks for his help, forcing them to team up to escape Dhaka. Rake draws attention away from a disguised Saju and Ovi as the two make their way through a bridge checkpoint, then follows to cover their escape. Khan and her remaining mercenaries approach from the opposite side of the bridge, as Asif watches from afar with binoculars. In the ensuing firefight, Saju is sniped by Asif's colonel Rashid, who is in turn sniped by Khan. Wounded, Rake instructs Ovi to run to Khan’s waiting helicopter. As Rake follows, he is shot in the neck by Farhad and, seeing Ovi is safe, falls into the river. Ovi, Khan, and the extraction team escape to Mumbai.

Eight months later, Khan kills Asif in a men’s restroom. Ovi jumps into his school’s swimming pool and surfaces to see a man watching him.

Cast

On August 31, 2018, it was announced that Sam Hargrave would direct Dhaka from a screenplay by Joe Russo. In addition, Chris Hemsworth was set to star in the film. In November 2018, the rest of the cast was set.
Production began in Ahmedabad and Mumbai in November 2018. Filming next took place in Ban Pong, Ratchaburi, Thailand and plateshots in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The cast stayed in Nakhon Pathom. Principal production ended in March 2019. The film's working title was initially Dhaka but was changed to Out of the Fire, before the final title was revealed to be Extraction on February 19, 2020.
Henry Jackman and Alex Belcher composed the film score, who worked together in 21 Bridges while the Russo Brothers producing the film. BMG has released the soundtrack.

Reception

Viewership

Extraction was the top-streamed item in its debut weekend, then fell to sixth place in its second week. Netflix estimated the film would be watched by about 90 million households during its first month of release, the biggest premiere in the service's history. The film returned to the site's top-10 during the 4th of July weekend. In July 2020, Netflix revealed the film had in-fact been watched by 99 million households in its first four weeks of release, the most-ever for one of their original films.

Critical response

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, 68% of 201 reviews compiled are positive, and have an average rating of 6.15/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Spectacular stunt work and an electric performance from Chris Hemsworth can't save Extraction from being dragged down by its aimless violence." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Rohan Naahar of the Hindustan Times praised the performances of Hemsworth and Hooda, and wrote: "Featuring one of the most stunning action scenes in recent memory... is breakneck and bonkers." Entertainment Weeklys Leah Greenblatt gave the film a "B" and wrote that it "mostly delivers what its swaggering trailer promises: international scenery; insidious villains; a taciturn, tree-trunk Aussie."
Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and said: "Aiming for the fight poetry of the John Wick franchise, Extraction comes closer to a series of stunts strung together to look like an ultraviolent video game in which the avatars are played by actual humans."
Extraction was criticized by several outlets as having "white savior" elements. Variety called the film "a white-savior version of Man on Fire," while Screen Rant said that the film's "regressive white savior elements" drag it down. In an overall positive review, Scott Mendelson of Forbes wrote: "Look, let's get this out of the way. Yes, director Sam Hargrave and writer Joe Russo's Extraction... is an arguably 'problematic' white savior flick but it’s also a solid action-adventure".
The Daily Star expressed concern over the representation of Dhaka, calling the representation "bleak and inaccurate". BBC Bangla also noted many complaints online about the portrayal of Dhaka and Bangladesh in the film.

Sequel

In May 2020, it was reported Joe Russo had been hired to write a sequel to the film, with the intention of both Sam Hargrave and Chris Hemsworth returning.