Extraction (2020) Dir: Sam Hargrave

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Sam Hargrave's Netflix original action thriller is one that my Dad has been telling me to watch for quite a while now. I can't say it looked brilliant, but it did seem like there was a good deal of action to get my teeth into, at least. Reviews have been decidedly middling for this film, so I made sure to keep my expectations at a fairly similar level.

The first thing I noticed was that the film used that horrible yellow tint that always gets put on films set in Mexico, India, and other such countries - it's always so ugly and unnecessary. It always gives a false, unrealistic, perception of what these countries are like. What's more, it doesn't even look good. It's generic, unappealing, and visually boring.

The action scenes were this film's big strong point. How they were shot was just as impressive, if not more-so, than the choreography of each scene. There were a couple of great extended shots, that were really well done, particularly the one that took place in the car. I almost wish some of the less impressive sequences were just as good.

The story was a bit mediocre, as far as I was concerned. Not only did it just not do anything all that unique or interesting with its equally bland characters, but it adhered to that mercenaries with morals trope, which always amuses me with its inevitably selective moral standpoint. That said, from an entertainment perspective, it was fine. It did the job.

Chris Hemsworth gave a solid, though largely uninspired, performance in this leading role. His Hollywood action credentials were clear to see, that certainly wasn't an issue, but I found his acting to be somewhat dull. I never felt particularly attached to him or his character in the film, although, I should say, his acting was still functional enough to carry the film along.

Rudhraksh Jaiswal was actually quite enjoyable in his key role. I wasn't expecting to like his character or acting as much as I did, but I was more than happy to see a character in the film who was actually pretty likable. He had some amusing little moments, and his fear was always more believable than not.

Randeep Hooda's character was very formulaic in nature and writing, but his acting elevated it somewhat from entirely forgettable to fairly entertaining. He didn't steal the show, psr-se, but he did give a better account of himself than it seemed like he was going to, based on the earlier scenes in the film.

The rest of the supporting cast did fine on the acting front, but all suffered from a total lack of character depth. It was a particular shame for Golshifteh Farahani, whose character had a lot of potential, but only did anything of interest right at the end of the film. Her aside, Pankaj Tripathi and David Harbour also deserved note.

Overall, this was a pretty generic action film, which I don't expect to stick around in my memory too much. The only thing of significant note, in my mind, was the aforementioned one-shots, which were very cool to watch. I might watch the sequel, though I can't say I'm in a huge rush to get to it. It's the kind of film that I'd watch on a night when I didn't want to use my brain so much.