![]() Why did this happen? Why didn’t action films rekindle the same curiosity as a Die Hard series, with Bruce Willis, did back in the ’90s? Or, was there an "action film fatigue" setting in, just like the ongoing superhero fatigue due to repetitive Marvel films? Whatever be the case, it was clear that the cinema goers required a different film genre to satiate their palette, at least for a while. This reflected in not just the box-office numbers but also in the reviews and IMDb ratings. Somewhere in the late aughts and early 2010s, audiences seemed to have lost the appetite for action films. This also warrants a question - why are action film franchises suddenly popular again? With Extraction 2, Chris Hemsworth seems to have cemented his place firmly as an action hero who carries a franchise on his back - think Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible series, Keanu Reeves’s John Wick, Matt Damon’s Bourne series, Jason Stathum’s Transporter franchise or Liam Neeson’s Taken films. That, perhaps, is the franchise’s biggest win - it is self-aware and unapologetically catering to those who’d much rather watch an exhilarating train sequence than a commentary on religion or toxic masculinity, even though these themes are present in the film. The Russo brothers and director Sam Hargrave know their target audience and are in no way trying to sound too cerebral. But that’s the thing about the Extraction franchise - it is not set out to offer social commentary. There is also a sub-plot on how religion is radicalising men which, at least partially, falls on its face. Writers Russo brothers also comment on the perils of a traumatic childhood and how it can have lasting ramifications. While the next two acts of the film are comparatively tamer and not as high on adrenaline, Extraction 2 and Chris Hemsworth deliver what they promised - two hours of maddening action. The meticulously crafted sequence more than lives up to the hype there are sudden grenade explosions, knife attacks, burnt helicopters, and a lot of blood and gore. It begins in a prison as Rake rescues the kids, defends himself from a mob of prisoners, and makes his way to a train which eventually derails and crashes. What follows is 21 minutes of the much-hyped action sequence which was shot in one take. All it takes is an Idris Elba in a thick British accent to convince Rake to pack his machine guns and go straight to a Georgia prison to extract the wife and kids of a Nagazi leader, Davit. After being shot in the chest, falling off a flyover and being declared clinically dead for over nine months, one would expect Tyler Rake (played by a hunkier Chris Hemsworth) to sit back, relax and reflect on the events of last year - perhaps, go to therapy? Bollocks.
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