Extraction II ***½ (2023, Chris Hemsworth, Golshifteh Farahani, Adam Bessa) – Classic Movie Review 12,559

Chris Hemsworth is tremendous value in director Sam Hargrave’s spectacular 2023 action thriller film sequel Extraction II, with some brilliant stunts, visual effects and camerawork, and marvellous, extended fight sequences in bravura long takes. Some of the set pieces are amazing. Sometimes, many times, Extraction II is nothing short of astounding. Unusually, it is even better than the 2020 original, Extraction, much more of a film than an animated comic/ graphic novel this time, with more, better plotted story, stronger dialogue and fuller, richer characterisations.

Chris Hemsworth, Golshifteh Farahani and Adam Bessa all reprise their roles from the original, with Olga Kurylenko, Daniel Bernhardt, Tinatin Dalakishvili, Tornike Gogrichiani and Idris Elba joining the cast. And Sam Hargrave returns as director.

Chris Hemsworth stars as mercenary-for-hire Tyler Rake who recovers from his near-death experience in Extraction, and is recuperating at a quiet, safe home in a cabin in Austria when he is approached by a stranger (Idris Elba) who tasks him with extracting to safety a family who are at the mercy of a ruthless Georgian gangster. He agrees because the mother is Ketevan (Tinatin Dalakishvili), the sister of his ex-wife Mia (Olga Kurylenko).

Tyler infiltrates one of the world’s deadliest prisons to rescue the mother and her teenage son Sandro (Andro Japaridze) and young daughter Nina, but, while they are making their escape, he has to kill the gangster father Davit Radiani (Tornike Bziava) to stop him killing the mother. Tyler and Ketevan manage to board a train and plane and flee to Vienna, but the gangster’s equally ruthless brother Zurab (Tornike Gogrichiani) tracks down Rake and his team to get revenge. They attack Tyler and his team in their DC Towers skyscraper location in Vienna. A conflicted Sandro has secretly contacted his uncle and revealed their location.

Challenging all credibility, but also challenging you not to believe every word, and also to love it, the complicated, exciting screenplay is written by Joe Russo, based on the graphic novel Ciudad by Ande Parks, Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Fernando León González, and Eric Skillman. Of course, in the end, right from the beginning, Extraction II is all about the action, and it’s stupendous. Hemsworth is a great hero and Tornike Gogrichiani is an impressive villain.

Principal photography began in Prague, Czech Republic, on November 29, 2021. Shooting took place in Vienna, Austria from January 28, 2022 to February 14, 2022, with scenes shot at Donau City around the extraordinary DC Towers. Filming wrapped on April 6, 2022 but reshoots took place in Prague in November 2022.

Extraction II was released by Netflix on 16 June 2023.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,559

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