Netflixable? “Extraction 2,” More Mayhem, More Hemsworth

There’s a properly extravagant and epic-length long-take showacase moment in the first act of “Extraction 2,” a 21 minutes/no edits first-person-shooter video game-style plunge through a prison break that takes the viewer and our hero Rake (Chris Hemsworth) from tunnels underneath the Republic of Georgia prison, inside to extract his target — a woman and her two children — through crowded hallways, a brutal beat-your-way-through-the-exercise-yard, a vicious SUVs pursued by motorbikes, etc. chase onto an escape train hounded by helicopters.

It is something to see, more impressive than thrilling, although it does deliver “The Cool Parts,” with Hemsworth deftly ducking bullets and blows, turning his back on explosions he’s caused at just the perfect moment, man-handling a heavy machine gun needed to shoot down gangster helicopters and the like.

The 15 minutes or so opening that introduces the Georgian gangster family that must be contended with here, with scenes where we see our hero “recover” from the grievous wounds of “Extraction I,” sent into retirement in the Austrian hinterlands only to be commissioned by a nameless tough-guy/smartass (Idris Elba) and reassembling his “team?” Kind of dull, save for Elba.

“If it all goes well, you don’t get caught or shot in the face, I’ll meet you on the other side t’give you a kiss!”

Well, we’d sit through two hours waiting for that “prize,” right?

“Extraction 2” is more relentless than “Extraction,” as if that was possible, an almost endless succession of firefights as Tyler Rake and his team (Golshifteh Farahan and Adam Bessa plus cannon fodder extras) mow down more Georgians than a drunk driving Reese Witherspoon ever could. OK, the “other” Georgians.

Hearing the top lieutenant of the “Nagazi” gang tell his dear leader (Tornike Gogrichiani) undercount the death toll at “10” at one point may be the biggest laugh in this thing. How Putinesque of him. We’ve seen dozens dropped, and unless the Nagazi have really good insurance and maybe their own MASH units, they’re goners.

The set-up — a Georgian mobster is imprisoned for murder. A corrupt politician has allowed him to keep his wife (Tinatin Dalakishvili), teen son (Andro Japaridzem) and little girl inside with him. They’re all in jail together, with the husband (Tornike Bziava) only one psychotic killer among many.

A deep-pocketed somebody’s willing to pay to get the wife and kids out. By the way, she’s Rake’s ex sister-in-law. Go figure.

Rake, who barely clung to life after his Bangladeshi bloodbath, must survive another array of unsurvivable stabbings, explosions, brawls and falls to get them out and collect that kiss from his unnamed contractor.

Hemsworth, an amusingly self-aware Thor, is just a brawny piece of man-meat trained to handle fight choreography in most scenes here. Here Rake is, given the chance to “reach mindfulness” in retirement,” one of his sibling team cracks, and he’s going into action to save a mob moll and her brainwashed mobster-in-the-making son.

“These men are killers,” his rescued damsel tells him, stating the obvious.

“Yeah? So am I!”

The violence is extreme, but it has consequences. There are “stakes” in all this, formulaic though they are.

There’s a lot of money on the screen here, and one can understand the Netflix impulse to make a movie that makes a splash. But considering the scarcity of fresh English language dramas, thrillers, romances and rom-coms in their “film” queue, one does wonder if they’re spending that cash wisely.

If you’re like me, you go much of each month wondering why there’s so little that’s not a doc-series that’s “original,” so that I end up watching lots of Spanish language, Nigerian, Filipino and Indonesian films just because of how slim the pickings are otherwise.

In any event, “streaming” is a good place for this action overdose. It’s not interesting enough in between action beats to make you stay in the same room with it. Bathroom break? Need to make a sandwich? Just leaving it running. You’re not missing much.

Rating: R, lots of graphic violence, profanity

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Golshifteh Farahani, Tornike Gogrichiani, Adam Bessa,Tinatin Dalakishvili, Andro Japaridzem and Idris Elba.

Credits: Directed by Sam Hargrave, scripted by Joe Russo and Anthony Russo, based on a graphic noel by Ande Parks. A Netflix release.

Running time: 2:02

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About Roger Moore

Movie Critic, formerly with McClatchy-Tribune News Service, Orlando Sentinel, published in Spin Magazine, The World and now published here, Orlando Magazine, Autoweek Magazine
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