Extraction 2 ★★★

THE 2020 Netflix release Extraction snuck up on many critics.

Star Chris Hemsworth, writer Joe Russo and ex-stuntman director Sam Hargrove proved a winning combination and the American action film was a critical and commercial success.

So of course we would get Extraction 2 which basically features more of the same – no need to change something that works fine I guess.

Based on a graphic novel, the main character has the great name of Tyler Rake, an Australian mercenary played of course by Hemsworth.

Part two picks up where the first film ended with Rake washed up wounded on the bank of a river in Bangladesh.

He retires from mercenary work to live a solitary, recuperative life in the Austrian forest until he answers the call from his ex-wife to rescue her sister.

Ketevan is married to an imprisoned Georgian criminal – why she got involved with him in the first place is never really explained.

But let’s ignore pesky things like character development, back stories or narrative building; all you need to know is that her and their two children are in the prison and Rake needs to get them out.

What then occurs is a very well executed continuous action sequence beginning with the fight out of the prison, through a wild car chase and climaxing with a helicopter attack and train crash.

It’s one of the best supposedly one-take action sequences I’ve seen in a while and provides one of the film’s two highlights; the other being a fight atop a city skyscraper.

And, apart from a seemingly pointless cameo, that’s it ladies and gentlemen. Turn your brain off and enjoy until Extraction 3 arrives.