‘Extraction 2’ Review: Chris Hemsworth’s Streaming Sequel Ratchets Up the Adrenaline-Pumping Action

variety.com:

Courtney Howard A funny thing happened during our worldwide lockdown in 2020. With theaters shuttered, our immediate movie-going futures looking bleak and escapist entertainment becoming a therapeutic necessity, along came the rise of The Streaming Service Blockbuster — most notably “Extraction.” Stuntman-turned-director Sam Hargrave’s muscular albeit convoluted actioner, centered on a mercenary sent to rescue the kidnapped son of a crime lord, was handed a captive audience.

All the folks at home made it a worldwide sensation for Netflix, and it continues to tear up the charts as their seventh most popular film ever (according to their internal, recently-released metrics).

Three years later and armed with a far better, bloody and bruising quest for the laconic hero, Hargrave, star Chris Hemsworth and screenwriter Joe Russo return to the burgeoning franchise with “Extraction 2”. (The graphic novel “Ciudad,” upon which the first film was based, was written by Ande Parks from a story by Parks and the Russo brothers.) The filmmakers’ renewed vigor is our reward as, similar to its unfussy title, this sequel deals in clean-lined action and suspense, removing much of the excessive weight that bogged down the original.

As its compelling lead character cuts through his personal strife whilst helping another family find the sense of freedom he too seeks, a new trail is blazed that recenters the series on bone-crunching brutality and bravado.