Personally, Extraction 2 is one of my most anticipated movies of the year. Of course, it’s because of Chris Hemsworth. Who couldn’t and wouldn’t love everything that this man does? From Thor to his ultra himbo role in the Ghostbusters movie, he just keeps getting better with each movie that he takes on. But there’s something so special about Extraction and the addition of Idris Elba just makes things even better for the sequel.
For those that need a little reminder, the 2020 film told the story of Tyler Rake. He was a “black market mercenary” that had suffered loss and was really focused on the job. When he gets hired to extract a young man named Ovi (Rudhraksh Jaiswal) in a dangerous situation, he bonds with Ovi and decides to protect him with everything he has. There was plenty of action, a serving of found family, and an ending that had me yelling and screaming at my TV screen because he had to be alive.
When Extraction 2 was announced I was worried that this was going to be a prequel. That’s often the easy route, especially after the injuries that he had in the first movie. But surprisingly enough this is a sequel and Rake actually survived the injuries of the first movie. And this time around he finds himself extracting a young mother and their child. The plot twist is that she is his ex-wife’s sister and her kid. As expected, things don’t go as planned and this action thriller goes off the rails as Rake does everything he can to protect them.
So far, I was sold. But the addition of Idris Elba into the mix of Extraction 2, just makes everything better. Even more so because they have worked multiple times together on previous Marvel films with Hemsworth playing Thor and Elba playing Heimdall. And according to director Sam Hargrave, Elba’s addition was a mixture of writer Joe Russo‘s Marvel past, Hemsworth connection with Elba, and a growing need to make the world of Extraction into more of a universe. Basically, they’re thinking of spin-offs.
According to Screen rant, Hargrave said, “…it just worked so well, the two of them sparkle on screen, there’s a chemistry that you can feel, it’s palpable, and it’s such a great thing to watch. Shooting with those two was such a pleasure every time we got them together. It was only a couple of days, because Idris was in and out, but that time was really fun, those two get along really great and have a special chemistry on screen.”
Special note has to be given to the fact that Hargrave said that he only worked with Elba for a couple of days. That means that Elba is probably not the big villain of the story. If anything he’s probably either setting Rake off on his mission in the first place or he appears towards the end of the movie as a jumping-off point for the character’s next adventure. Either way, it’s such an amazing opportunity to bring these two actors back together in a new way.
Elba also appearing in Extraction 2 is another opportunity to show how talented this man truly is and how he deserves an opportunity to have his own bond-like adventures. Because I know that they have been asking him a lot if he would take on this role and it might not happen. But that doesn’t mean that Elba can’t have his own action movies that show him running around and saving the day like in his upcoming show Hijack.
Whatever may come next, Idris Elba is a great addition to instruction two and we can’t wait to see how it goes down or if Hemsworth’s character gets the happy ending he deserves. And maybe a reunion two with the young man he saved in the first movie.
Extraction 2 premieres June 16th, 2023 on Netflix.
