Another web offering by Netflix from their originals stable is Extraction.
Extraction has been creating quite a buzz in the last month or so since its release. Promoted heavily on T.V. Channels, a genuine entertainer in Covid times is Extraction. Now a days the things that are being dished out on the web or the OTT platform in the form of originals, they are all anchored in the thriller genre.
They are generally about bad asses and how they handle extreme situation and achieve their motive at any cost. Yes at any cost may even include putting their own lives in the line of fire. Putting all in therefore nothing to lose that’s one way of looking at it. One more thing to note here is that in all such web series or originals, they show the law enforcement agencies, the police, the judiciary and in this case even an army (Bangladeshi army in cahoots with a drug lord in this case), in bleak light, almost like a caricature.
Extraction is also about that. International plot with an ensemble international cast with actors from Hollywood and our own film industry and an Iranian actress (Golshifteh Farahani). The location covers two countries – (India and Bangladesh) and particularly around their two important cities Mumbai and Dhaka.
Based on the novel Ciudad by Ande Parks. As the name suggests extraction- It’s about rescuing someone and delivering him to safety. In comes our hero Tyler Rake the ever bankable, handsome Thor…. err Chris Hemsworth (super as ever) a rogue mercenary who does odd quasi-military jobs round the world he has been hired to rescue and bring back or shall we say extract a 15 something Ovi Mahajan (Rudraksh Jaiswal – playing his part) son of incarcerated Indian drug lord Ovi Mahajan Sr. (mogul of web series Pankaj Tripathi in a minuscule role).
Rake’s partner in crime and also his back-up, his Woman Friday Nik Khan (played by absolutely gorgeous Golshifteh Farahani) the deadly unforgiving commando. Rake has been hired thru Nik by Mahajan Sr’s men. In another part of the story Mahajan Sr. in jail threatens Saju (Randeep Hooda sharp as a knife) his deputy to go himself to rescue back his son Ovi who has been kidnapped by the Bangla drug lord Amir Asif and is being held hostage in Bangladesh. Pending ransom. The sum offered for extraction is too mouthwatering for Rake to let go and this is the opportunity that he’s been waiting for. One last deal which will be enough for him to retire.
The extraction is planned and he has to deliver the boy at one of the bridges in Dhaka from where he would be airlifted. What seems like an easy task as he easily rescues the boy from the clutches of his captors, turns out to be complicated. The men who has hired the team for extraction double crosses and never transfers the funds promised to them.
Cut to Saju he has his own agendas, he has to prove himself to his boss as it was from his custody that the boy was kidnapped and also needs to safeguard his family and make off with some money. Now the game within a game begins with the story going in flashback mode a few weeks and then the reconstruction begins leading thru the events to present time on the bridge- the extraction point. The story is hard-hitting in parts with a soft angle, when the mercenary develops a bond with the kid and takes him under his wings. Thus transforming the mission from a mercenary one to a missionary one.
Though the movie may not offer much apart from the oft repeated theme that hardened criminals also have a heart or have their own demons to contend with. But still it does give you a certain high, the pace of the movie, the chases in narrow by-lanes of Bangladesh, the guerrilla type bullet fights and all.
The body count is a bit numbing to the senses. Well the critics be damned as they will always have a point of view.
The movie itself is well crafted, well directed and the casting is good. All the actors play their parts well and convincingly including the American leach of an agent Gaspar who is Rake’s contact in Dhaka.
As we all have plenty of time and also to utilize our expensive Netflix subscription its worth to have a look at a well-made product.
(Review by PAWAN GUPTA)
Cast of Extraction:
Chris Hemsworth
Rudhraksh Jaiswal
Randeep Hooda
Golshifteh Farahani
Pankaj Tripathi
David Harbour
