Even before the world, cinemas included, closed for business during the current pandemic, the economics of going to theatres to see movies had become increasingly limited--mostly relying on tent-pole franchise installments. Disney owns a huge chunk of this business with childhood fare: remakes of their cartoons, MCU superheroes, etc. Not only have these new dynamics largely squeezed out the mid-budget drama from multiplexes, but also the traditional, usually stand-alone, macho action flicks such as "Extraction," and "Bright" (2017), and "Triple Frontier," and "Red Sea Diving Resort," and "6 Underground" (all 2019). Now, if it's not already part of a series, chances are you'll only get this lack-of-a-brand type of adrenaline injection from streaming services and at home. Unfortunately, "Extraction" is a mostly generic burger of a movie from MCU veterans taking a break before making "Avengers 83," or whatever.

Stunt choreographer Sam Hargrave gets a chance to direct, and his background in filming fighting moves, along with the similar skills of the Russo brothers and Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, shows. The next movie I saw after this one was "Angel Has Fallen" (2019), and it's painfully clear that the makers here put care into their craft, whereas the hacks behind the other one, despite it getting a wide theatrical release before making its way to Netflix, were merely there to cash checks. So, I do appreciate the action scenes here--especially the virtuoso, lengthy one-shot car chase.

Otherwise, though, "Extraction" is a lousy entry in the trope of the White Savior. Others have commented how poorly the picture represents Dhaka, which just demonstrates how little filmmakers of white-savoir rubbish care about depicting the racial other. Narratively, only the white male hero's journey is made to matter--how sympathetic he is to the supposed plight of the Oriental, as opposed to their actual state of affairs or characterizations. Blah, I prefer my white-savior myths to have some knowing humor and time-traveling, purple Malthusian giants. If for little else, "Extraction" is helpful for realizing how much I miss fat Thor.