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The first Extraction film was fun. It started in fairly regular fashion with a script that felt like it was written by ChatGPT before ChatGPT was a thing (or was it? I’m sure Skynet didn’t announce its existence until it had already taken over the world) but then it had this incredible one shot action sequence that took the camera in places it could never go and the movie flew from there. (It wasn’t truly one shot and CGI was clearly involved. Maybe whole thing was probably generated by AI, even though it was ‘before AI was a thing’.)

Knowing where it’s previous strengths were then, this sequel does the same thing. In fact it outdoes it because the oner launched in this film is incredible. It starts with a whistle and then what follows is a gripping twenty one minutes taking in crowds of people, multiple locations, several different forms of transportation, a wealth of varied weaponry and some of the most tense fights, jumps, chases and explosions that have ever been seen in American cinema, all without the camera averting its eye for a second. Then again, like it’s predecessor, rather than sitting back it builds on with more character driven action until it reaches its conclusion.

When I say character, I don’t mean to suggest the film has an involved plot that focuses on a sophisticated portrayal of its central players. That might be over stating it. Still though, the thing the movie does have beyond the thrills is the engaging screen charisma of Mr. Chris Hemsworth. His lead performance is key to the success of the movie and you wouldn’t be as invested if there wasn’t such a likeable person in the middle of it. Hemsworth’s comedy stylings are not a part of this as the have been when he has played Thor but there is a hint of that knowingness there. The story is serious and it aims to get you emotionally involved but it isn’t po-faced.

That story sees Hemsworth’s Tyler Rake recovering from the apparent death he suffered at the end of the last film. He has become a bit of a legend following his actions in part one, which is actually a nice touch. There are plenty of series where the protagonist stays anonymous despite their unbelievable heroism, often having been at the centre of incredible carnage and destruction, so it is good to see here that having previously saved a kid from the middle of what was essentially a city centre war zone, in peacetime, on a busy public bridge, he has got himself a bit of a reputation. Just as he is facing injury induced retirement though, someone else from the Marvel superhero movies arrives and draws him back in.

Incidentally, it is no great surprise that this actor is a fellow Marvel Studios alumni; there are so many of them now it is almost inevitable. This film actually has three people who have been in the MCU in it, the last movie I watched had one and there was one in the one before that. Going back further it was three, then three again, then one, then three, and then one. I have to go back to the Michael J. Fox documentary until I come to something with nobody from Marvel in the cast at all.

It seems likely there will be a third Extraction movie, the film ends on a note that makes a sequel likely, I mean Hemsworth is not dead this time so a follow up seems inevitable. More than that though it actually has an ending that closely mirrors the end of the Luther movie where Idris Elba got recruited into a secret spy organisation, promising more high octane adventures. Based on this film, I’m in. Based on two films now, the Extraction saga has developed into a fun and exhilarating action series.

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The Ripley Factor:

Golshifteh Farahani’s Nik returns from the first film and actually has a lot more to do this time around. Rather than just being Rake’s handler, the two of them, along with Nik’s brother Yaz, now make up the operations team that perform the extraction jobs, this time saving a mother and her unjustly incarcerated children. Nik is every inch the capable mercenary and more than stands her ground against male and female assailants. She isn’t objectified, she isn’t a token female, she’s not there to define the men and she isn’t fridged. Crucially she also isn’t the one to connect with the children they are rescuing, so what has also been extracted here is the antiquated gender stereotypes.

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