Extraction

The Weight of the Weapon

It starts with sweat and dust. Sam Hargrave’s *Extraction* (2020) drops us straight into the sweltering heat of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Hargrave spent years taking hits as Chris Evans’ stunt double in the MCU, and you can feel that physical toll in every frame of his debut. He isn't interested in weightless CGI fights; he wants you to feel the impact of the concrete. The movie pulls a lot from 80s action thrillers, but the look is pure modern grit—all sickly yellows and burnt oranges.



Chris Hemsworth plays Tyler Rake. (And yes, he eventually kills someone with an actual garden rake—we'll let the pun slide.) Hemsworth is a massive guy, usually seen playing gods or space heroes, but he carries his size differently here. His shoulders are heavy, his eyes are bloodshot. He looks like a man who’s just looking for a quiet spot to bleed out. He’s a mercenary hired to rescue Ovi, the son of a drug lord. It’s a classic action setup—the killer finding redemption through a kid—but Hemsworth ditches the usual ego. His fighting isn't the slick, graceful stuff of John Wick; it’s ugly, desperate survival. You can see the exhaustion in his face.



The big talking point was the "oner"—a twelve-minute tracking shot that feels like a long panic attack. It moves from an apartment building into a car chase and then a brutal street fight. The camera is literally strapped to a car (Hargrave actually did this himself) as it follows Hemsworth through tight spaces and out of windows. It’s an incredible technical feat, though I’m not sure it always helps the story. Sometimes the camera feels like it’s just showing off, which breaks the reality they’re trying to build. David Ehrlich at *IndieWire* was right when he said, "There’s a fine line between awe and tedium, and sometimes not even Chris Hemsworth is able to blur it for us."



The script by Joe Russo is pretty thin. The villains are mostly cardboard cutouts, and the movie occasionally leans into the 'white savior' trope where nameless locals get mowed down. But there’s a quiet scene in the middle of all the noise that really stuck with me. Rake and Ovi are hiding in a dark room, and Rake finally opens up about his own son. Hemsworth’s voice drops, and his huge, scarred hands look completely useless just sitting on his knees. He’s a machine built for violence, realizing that no amount of momentum can fix what’s broken inside. *Extraction* is loud, messy, and definitely has flaws. But beneath the shell casings, it actually has a pulse. And sometimes, that's enough.