Film Of The Week: EXTRACTION (2013)
SYNOPSIS:
A major feature exclusively for digital, EXTRACTION follows a U.S. Black Ops team member who finds himself the only survivor of a botched prisoner extraction mission. Forced to fight his way out of a maximum-security Chechen prison, he must keep his target alive in order to catch a terrorist arms-dealer who is a threat to thousands of lives.
EXTRACTION features Danny Glover (LETHAL WEAPON, THE COLOR PURPLE), Vinnie Jones (SNATCH), Sean Astin (THE LORD OF THE RINGS franchise, RUDY), John Foo (TEKKEN), Joanne Kelly (WAREHOUSE 13) and Falk Hentschel (KNIGHT AND DAY). The movie is written and directed by Tony Giglio (CHAOS, IN ENEMY HANDS), and produced by RANGER 7 FILMS, founded by executive producers Mike Callaghan, Reuben Liber and Justin Bursch.
Time passes and the mission ultimately expands further into a larger scale assignment to stop a possible large scale terrorist attack by pursuing and retrieving a well-known, elusive criminal by the name of Rudolph Martin (Falk Hentschel). However, it turns out that acquiring Martin will be the team’s most dangerous challenge yet, as he is presumed to be held captive by Ivan Rudovsky (Vinnie Jones), a ruthless warden in charge of a Chechen prison that extends eight levels below the Earth’s surface.
The film plays out like a blend of The Raid, The Rock and U.S. Marshalls, but on a somewhat of a smaller scale than the former. And looking back on the film’s plot formula and small bits of fight coordination here and there, I can honestly see how the comparison would a perceptions would work, which probably annoys some uber-action film critics. I will also say though, that I did enjoy the film’s concept of its hero fighting his way from the bottom-up through hordes flying fists and bullets. It’s a concept that does work here, and has its entertaining moments.
Actor Falk Hentschel does leave a memorable impression as the witty, saracastic supporting character who must join forces with Foo as they fight their way through the prison’s obstacles to make it to safety. After initially seeing Hentschel as the train assassin in the Tom Cruise action comedy vehicle, Knight And Day, Hentschel proves once again that he knows how to handle himself on screen, both dramatically and physically. So with any luck, we might see him in some bigger roles in the not-too distant future. And as always, actor Vinnie Jones is all his own when he’s on screen as the film’s principal villain. When he’s not busy being a scary badass in one movie, he’s busy being a scary badass in another movie, which is all the time… if that makes any sense!
In all honesty, despite the film’s formulaic alignment with select contained-action classics, the film might be a slight disappointment for some hardcore fans of Jon Foo who are used to seeing more lively work illustrated previously in films like House Of Fury and Tom Yum Goong. The stunt coordination by seasoned veteran stuntman, actor and action director James Lew and co-fight choreograper Lin Oeding was pretty enjoyable while watching both Foo and Hentschel trading blows with the film’s screenfighting extras. But it’s only at the biggest fight scene at the cusp of the film’s third act between Foo, and actor Paul Duke, where Foo gets to flex his muscles a little more, but only a little.
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!
