Extraction offers the familiar action-movie combination of breakneck pacing, a paper-thin storyline, and dazzling set-pieces. As the title suggests, it's about a mercenary by the name of Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) carrying out the extraction of a little boy (apparently, the son of a drug lord in India) from the clutches of a Bangladeshi drug lord. Aiding him covertly in his mission is a team led by Nik (Golshifteh Farahani, who's best known for About Elly). A subplot brings Saju (Randeep Hooda), the Indian drug lord's enforcer, into the scenario. What ensues is a series of ultra-violent, well-crafted (and tastefully shot by Newton Thomas Sigel) action-movie clichés.

Hargrave chooses to cover up the fallacies in the script, some inane casting choices (Priyanshu Painyuli, for example, is a particularly bad one), the lack of locational authenticity (most of the film is shot in India, not Bangladesh except for plateshots), and disjointed Bengali lines mouthed by the gangsters, with neatly choreographed action. One such set-piece (shot like it's a single take) that gets going shortly into the 35-minute mark, is probably the best I've seen in recent memory (which is why it gets a 3 and not a 2.5). The action is punctuated by bullets whizzing past narrow alleyways, hand-to-hand combat that we've seen done better in Asian films, and a sufficient amount of blood-spilling.

Heck, in what seemed like a minor nod to The Raid films, Tyler uses a rake (which is also his surname, mentioned later in a scene) to dispose of a thug. The single-shot-set-piece is straight out of the books of "Call of Duty", with the camera splendidly juggling between first-person and third-person action. Even for a hardcore action flick, Joe Russo writes in a few scenes that attempt to humanize the characters of Tyler and Saju. They aren't exactly acting showcases, but they get the job done. Plus, the presence of Randeep Hooda subverts the 'white savior' cliché to a certain extent.

While the scenes involving the Bangladeshi drug lord (dressed in awkward costumes) were the weakest (in terms of writing and performances), I did like how Hargrave portrayed the plight of underprivileged kids in the Indian subcontinent and how they were being used as gun-wielding henchmen. It's a template action movie alright, but there's enough machismo, explosions, and gore to please fans of the genre. It, however, needed better writing, a (much better) baddie, and more heart, to rise above its surface-level coolth.