I forgot they made a first Extraction. That’s how much I got into the first film. My notes say I found it tolerable but lacking. This one was better. Despite a slow start and no change in writer, director, or star, these people took the same movie and made it enjoyable.
Huh. That’s a neat trick.
As one might guess, Extraction II has plot extracted directly from Extraction. The film beings where we left Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth), as chum in a Bangladesh river. Fished out and forced into rehab. Tyler decides on a quiet solo life in a remote Austrian cabin. I didn’t know mercenaries got retirement, and –apparently- neither did Tyler as he is soon asked to rescue his sister-in-law from Georgian prison.
Oh boy, I’m gonna have to explain this, huh? First of all, Georgia the nation, not the one on my mind. Secondly, Ketevan (Tinatin Dalakishvili) doesn’t belong in prison, but got sent there anyway. You see, hubby Davit is a crime lord, and while Georgia isn’t corrupt enough so that his crimes can be ignored, it is corrupt enough so that if a crimelord insists his family go to jail with him, it happens.
And, wow, is that an asshole move. “Well, if I have to go to prison, so does my entire family! C’mon, honey, kids, let’s go! That’ll show ‘em.” These are the kind of things that come up when you’re asked, “Why didn’t you go to your father’s funeral?”
Speaking of father’s funeral, the king’s horses and king’s men who put Tyler back together again
want Tyler to rescue Davit’s fam – mostly to piss of Davit, it seems—but Extraction II is a little II loud and Davit goes after Tyler. Davit is Davit-ed (“De-veat-ed?”) by Tyler, putting Ketevan suddenly on the market, woohoo! Now if only she and her kids can get out of the prison alive … and then they all get to deal with Davit’s warlord brother Zurab (Tornike Gogrichiani).
Boy, those family picnics must have been fun, huh? One super mercenary and two local warlords? When they all play “Capture the Flag” there’s a body count.
So, Extraction II isn’t as good as, say, RRR, but the Tyler v. Prison Yard sequence sure put me in mind of RRR. Can’t say I love the characters – mercenaries and warlords are just never going stir up the empathy quite like … pretty much any other potential protagonist. However, there is superior stuntwork and action in Extraction II. Adrenaline junkies will see this as a day at the circus.
Our mercenary’s new procedure denotes
Slitting uncountable ex-Russian throats
With this, he is wise
To avoid Georgian demise
So long as he doesn’t ask for more votes
Rated R, 122 Minutes
Director: Sam Hargrave
Writer: Joe Russo, Ande Parks, Anthony Russo
Genre: Pissing contest
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Fans of bury men beating on each other
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Maybe you don’t have a taste for Georgian prison?
