When John Wick snuck under the radar before blowing up on streaming services, it changed cinema in the way that Hardcore Harry showed the possibilities of POV. Keanu Reeves' character bobbed and wove through seamless action scenes littered with bodies and close quarter pistol techniques that were both brutal and poetic. Extraction brings the efficiency and intensity of battling for survival to the underworld of India in the hands of Chris Hemsworth's haunted mercenary- Tyler Rake.

The character introductions are well handled, with Tyler's depression clearly signalling a painful past. Flashbacks are used to hint at the nature of this past, without fully becoming clear until the final act. Tyler is recruited to a mission that he says no other mercenary would touch, and this again signifies Tyler's broken state accepting a mission that is bound to go wrong. There is more characterization done on Tyler's counterpart, the man hired to protect the victim from the start, with a clearly defined motivation and predicament around the boy - Ovi, who is excellently played by Rudhraksh Jaiswal. What follows is an intense series of action scenes with few breaks for exposition before wrapping up in the final act.

Where the story succeeds most is in the dynamic visuals and the scant dialogue is effective in furthering the plot while racking up a massive body count. Scenes move smoothly from running through the jungle, to a furious car chase, before the camera travels out a window into a building chase sprawling multiple rooms and floors before crashing from a balcony into the streets again. This gives little time for characters to emote beyond grunts of exertion and desperation. This leads to some of the films shortfalls, moral ambiguity and lack of vested interest. Far too little time is spent getting to know characters that their loss is hardly felt, while others undergo significant screen time that ends in tragic survival. This undermines the primary antagonist when subordinates demonstrate agency over their actions without consequences and often in ways that don't affect the narrative arc. A show down takes place, for example, between a background character that has had only a few short lines, while significant time is spent flushing out the unexplained thirst for violence in a young person who ultimately fails to contribute much to the plot at all. This leads to a moral ambiguity that is emphasized by a conversation between Tyler and an old friend - There are no good guys.

Tyler demonstrates many admirable traits in the film, willing to stick with things to the bitter end, driven by something deep within him. He fights for what he thinks is right and does it well. He is however working for a drug lord to rescue his son from another drug lord. No matter where you point, there is no moral high ground, and there is legitimate concerns raised over the permanence of their actions, causing many questions to be left with simplistic or incomplete answers.

The end result is a genuinely impressive action film, which benefits from a simple viewing. There are some deeper themes hinted at, not very well flushed out, but for sheer adrenaline and stylistic violence, it is a well done film. Chris Hemsworth and the other leads deliver on pretty well all fronts, and the production is very well done.