Extraction (2020)
Sometimes, a movie has to only do one thing very well, and the rest can be “good enough” for it to still earn its stripes. I’m not talking down on action movies that are simply action movies. In fact, I’ll be the first to argue in their favor, as it’s nice sometimes to not have to worry about deeper questions when you’re watching a movie. However, having that thing will easily help one stand out amongst the crowd, and that’s exactly what Extraction has.
The Chris Hemsworth vehicle tells the story of Tyler Rake, an Australian mercenary who’s lost everything in life, and thus, is willing to do any job his handlers throw at him. This time, the job is to help extract the kidnapped son of an Indian gang leader, who was nabbed by a rival gang. While doing so, Tyler and the boy, named Ovi, learn a lot about each other, and both affect the other in meaningful ways.
It’s not the first time we’ve heard a story like this, though admittedly, it’s usually a young and precious girl who teaches the big, burly dude to be more human. This time around, Ovi is a teenager who already has his own personality and worldview, which is pretty refreshing. This also means that, when the two start to bond during the course of the completely FUBAR mission, there’s different ways they connect that aren’t just “innocent child, cynical adult”. It’s a welcome mix-up of a common trope, and I would like to see it done more often.
The real spectacle of Extraction, though, is the camera work. The director for this movie, Sam Hargrave, is a veteran stunt man. This is actually his feature film directorial debut, which is impressive. It’s always a good watch when a stuntman is the one behind the wheel, because no matter what the story is about, they know exactly what makes a scene look great. The flow of the combat in this movie is impeccable, and nothing exemplifies that fact more than what has become the most talked-about scene for this movie: the oner.
I’ll first have to admit it: I’m an absolute sucker for a long take, also called a oner. I know some folks are tired of seeing it, and feel that it can be a bit gimmicky, but I firmly disagree. A long take, especially in an action film, serves the invaluable purpose of making the viewer feel just how long the sequence is going on. When we engross ourselves in the violence of an action flick, we tend to lose a certain something with every cut. The breaking up of the action, even if no time is cut out, still feels like an arresting of the momentum, to a degree.
With a oner, the viewer feels every second. Every action, every reaction, the slow pileup of stress and exhaustion and violence, all of it flow to us in real time, and that can make for some incredible cinema. Sure, there’s oners in other forms of cinema. Goodfellas has an excellent scene that follows Henry through the Copacabana, showcasing the hustle and bustle behind the scenes of the ritzy Vegas nightlife. I still feel, however, that action movies (or similar, like 1917) are where this technique does the most work.
In this movie, this is taken to a fantastic level. In an uninterrupted 12-minute long take, following Rake through a car chase, a firefight in close quarters, a hand-to-hand fight with a lone assailant, and finally another car chase. The entire time, Rake is trying to accomplish a single objective - get Ovi out of the city so that they can extract to safety. The use of a oner makes one thing abundantly clear: it’s gonna take a hell of a lot of work to do that.
Look at him. He’s only halfway done with this take.
That’s why the choice here feels completely correct, rather than just being a gimmick. The drawn-out nature of just 12 minutes of Tyler’s mission helps the viewer realize just how brutal combat can be. There’s next to no downtime in that span; every second is either spent fighting or bracing for the next fight. It’s legitimately peak art, and I say that with no irony. It accomplishes what art should, which is make the one consuming it feel something, whether it be positive or negative.
Even besides the phenomenal long take, there’s plenty of solid choreography and camerawork, which is not surprising when you consider that Hargrave was the stunt coordinator for Marvel for quite some time. He knows how to make the shot look just right, and the fact that this is his first full-length film is wild, to say the least.
The story and writing back up that work, even if only through being “good enough”. With that said, though, there’s a particular quote that, while stolen from an author, sums up the central theme of this movie very well:
“You do not drown by falling into the river, but by staying submerged in it.”
This applies to the death-seeking mentality that Rake approaches life with. He lost his son to lymphoma while he was away, and his wife is estranged because of it. He doesn’t feel like there’s anything that he has left, and so, he has no misgivings about charging headfirst into the breach. It’s especially poignant that the one delivering this quote to him is Ovi himself, the one who he just went through hell to save.
It’s a high point in the writing, and the movie overall is easily worth the time. They’ve already started on a sequel, and there’s whispers of an even longer oner in that one. Maybe that one will be more gimmicky, or maybe it’ll serve the same purposes this one did. Either way, I can’t wait to see what comes of this franchise.
