Extraction

The action is what saves Extraction from being totally written off considering its story and characters are so generic - the screenplay from Joe Russo (Avengers: Endgame) does it no favours.

Head shot, body shot, Hemsworth sad, brown people bad, head shot, body shot. That's the rhythm of Extraction, and yes, it's also a white-savior narrative.

The body count is off the scale, yet you may well find the cartoonish violence oddly lulling. I did.

The sheer orchestration of some of the action set pieces is really quite breathtaking.

That slip of a setup... triggers breathtaking - and outlandish - action sequences, one of which is a dazzling 11-minute, sorta one-take spectacle... There's even an emotional payoff at the film's end.

Director Sam Hargrave and writer Joe Russo don't seem very interested in the personal histories of these people. The characters are paper-thin.

In the end, Extraction is going to be remembered for its insane action and a fantastic lead performance by Chris Hemsworth.

Ultimately unable to escape its genre roots... it is difficult not to enjoy a film where a man called Rake kills two men with a rake!

It doesn’t want to be character study or a think piece. It’s not interested in commentary or metaphors. Instead “Extraction” is a throwback to the better action movies of the late 80’s to mid-90s. It’s straightforward, unapologetic, and an absolute blast.

With its fidgety two-hour runtime and the nonstop procession of gunfire and explosions, Extraction grows tedious, largely as a fault of the screenplay.