"Evacuation" (Extraction) or in local translation: "Tyler Rake: Rescue Operation" is an American action film of 2020, shot by great professionals of entertainment cinema, and the first director’s feature film Sam Hargrave - one of the best action directors of our time. He is also an actor, stuntman and action stunt coordinator. His main works as a fight scene director are: "Atomic Blonde", "War of the Wolves 2", several films about "The Avengers", "Captains America" and many others. But to truly understand the scale of his contribution to modern action cinema, just check out his full track record at IMDB.
As a producer "Extraction" one of the Russo brothers spoke - Joe Russo. They are responsible for the existence of films about "The First Avenger" и "The Avengers". And the main role was played by everyone's favorite Chris "Thor" Hemsworth. So, based on these names, we already understand that this is not another pass-through B-shka with Steven Seagal or Jean-Claude Van Damme. In any case, this is the impression one gets looking at the names of the filmmakers and the trailer, which was recently published on the FFI and VKontakte pages.
The plot of the movie
Fearless mercenary Tyler Rake has nothing to lose and agrees to an operation to free the kidnapped son of an international criminal. The boy is a pawn in a war between two drug lords, and he is being held hostage in the city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, which is one of the most impregnable, but criminal, places in the world. During the operation, the main character undergoes a reassessment of life values, and he decides to follow his principles...
This banal story is more than enough to make a good action film. Did it work? It depends what you expect. If you're just looking for a good action movie for the evening, you've come to the right place. If you're expecting a good film, things aren't so clear-cut. The narrative style at the beginning of the film can be a little tiring and disappointing for the viewer, and you may get the feeling that you have seen it before... but do not rush to conclusions, because you are watching the director's work of a real action master. While watching, you will see little new in terms of plot development, interesting dialogues and emotional scenes that could enrich both "Evacuation", as well as any other action movie, such as Korean "The Man from Nowhere" being the standard of the genre. The film about Reika is rather sparse in terms of feelings and emotions, and in terms of mood it is rather "Raid" и "Atomic Blonde", where special emphasis is placed on the action component, which the next paragraph will talk about.
Action
If you know Sam Hargrave, you already know what to expect from him in terms of staging the action. Remember the scene filmed in one shot during "Atomic Blonde" on the stairs where Charlize Theron dealt with three killers, smoothly flowing into a car chase, and which lasted about 10 minutes? Do you remember the 7-minute opening scene from "War of the Wolves 2" where the hero Jackie Woo deals with pirates? Well, Sam Hargrave has done it again! Except that the location and scale of what is happening has changed. This time the scene lasts about 11 minutes and includes constant changes of locations and weapons. The land chase turns into a car chase, and then... No spoilers. Just watch. We can only add that in terms of action, this film can safely be put on a par with "John Wick", "Atomic Blonde" и "Raid", but some may like it even more due to its bold technical solutions and clear camera work. Sam Hargrave once again does the impossible and outdoes himself. This is a truly individual style and a new level in terms of presentation of action. According to the degree of brutality, "Evacuation" is also not inferior to the above examples. There is also a variety of action here: there is hand-to-hand combat with the use of interior items, there are shootouts, there is a knife fight, chases, grabs, throws, exciting jumps and falls, in general, there is something to see. If every one of Van Damme's or Seagal's last 20 films had had this kind of action, we'd still be eagerly awaiting the release of each of their projects. On the other hand, if you remove Hargrave's action from Extraction, you'll end up with just another film with Seagal or Van Damme.
Disadvantages
Long timing. You can safely cut it for about ten minutes. Attention was focused on more minor scenes that are not particularly interesting to watch. They could have paid a little more attention to revealing the main character and his relationship with the environment. This is not to say that the film is a breeze to watch, with the exception of the action scenes.
Advantages
Action, amazing cinematography, Chris Hemsworth, Indian locations and sky.
Summary
Itself "Evacuation" there is little to surprise as a full-fledged film, it clearly lacks thoughtfulness "John Wick", revealing characters and relationships, as in Korean "The Man from Nowhere" or French "Leone", raising some important social problem of crime or kidnapping. That is why, "Evacuation" is far from a masterpiece, but at the same time we have no doubt that this film will appear in several nominations in summing up the results of combat cinema in 2020, and the action scenes will be cited as an example along with "John Wick" и "Raid".
I am waiting. I hope there will be something exciting.
I would like to mention Pasha as a person who has been an active participant in this project since…
Sad ending, albeit with a joke...
Added a video from the filming of "Twilight of the Warriors".