Why The Extraction 2 Team Decided Against A Prequel For The New Installment
When "Extraction" debuted back in 2020, we were all stuck inside due to the whole global pandemic thing. And apparently, all we wanted to do was watch Chris Hemsworth battle his way through extended action scenes and one-take set-pieces because "Extraction" became Netflix's most popular original movie. Now, the streamer is trying its luck in the post-lockdown world, with "Extraction 2" set to hit the platform in a couple of weeks.
Whether this sequel proves popular will largely determine whether director Sam Hargrave makes his "Extraction" trilogy. What's more, writer Joe Russo and his brother Anthony, who produces the "Extraction" movies, previously threatened an entire shared universe based on the Chris Hemsworth-starring action series. So, basically, we'll be seeing a lot more of Hemsworth's black market mercenary Tyler Rake in the future if "Extraction 2" does well.
Which, in terms of narrative, is somewhat of a surprise considering Rake was shot in the neck and fell off a bridge at the end of the first movie. Prior to "Extraction 2" being announced, Hargrave suggested he might be making a prequel movie, which made a lot of sense seeing as Rake seemed well and truly done for at the end of "Extraction." However, we're about to see the ex-Australian Army man return for round two having seemingly dusted himself off after taking a bullet to the neck. Which raises the question of "why?" Why make a sequel containing some tortured explanation for why Rake is absolutely fine when a prequel would have avoided that whole mess? Well, Hargrave has his reasons.
'What? How? Who? When?'
In "Extraction," Tyler Rake frees Ovi Mahjan Jr., the son of India's biggest drug lord, from captivity before the soldier is gunned down and plunges into a river. Then, in the final scene, we see Ovi dive into a pool before returning to the surface, only for a mysterious figure to appear in the background, suggesting Rake may have survived his apparent murder. And according to Hargrave, this final ambiguous scene was added after test screenings split the audience between those that wanted more of Chris Hemsworth's mercenary, and those that were glad to see the end of him.
So, when the movie broke Netflix audience records and a follow-up became a sure thing, the director was faced with a choice between leaving things open to interpretation and making a prequel or giving audiences a definitive answer to just what the hell was going on in that swimming pool scene. And it seem Hargrave just couldn't leave things hanging. As the filmmaker told Collider:
"I don't think you can [leave] an audience with that ending and then not go figure out what happened because that's the question. Everyone's like, 'What? How? Who? When? How did that happen?' And so, we have to answer that question."
But there was more to it than that. As Hargrave went on to explain, the original movie provided a fair amount of insight into Rake's past, revealing that he'd lost his own son to Leukemia — a tragedy that propelled much of his dogged protection of Ovi. And in the director's view revisiting Rake's story leading up to "Extraction" would be akin to "rehashing the similar things of his past," adding that, "it's hard to get more emotionally fraught and higher stakes than your son dying of cancer, leukemia, right?" Fair.
Action, action, action
Steering clear of retelling Tyler Rake's emotional backstory seems to have been about more than just avoiding a rehash. "Extraction 2" looks set to push the action beyond what we saw in the original movie, with Sam Hargrave saying as much in a behind-the-scenes featurette in which he promises "at least twice the action."
Thus far we know we're getting a prison fight that Chris Hemsworth claims is the "hardest thing [he's] ever done" and which involved the Aussie star literally being set on fire for the 21-minute one-take shot. Plus, the "Extraction 2" trailer teases a movie that looks to deliver on Hargrave's promise of doubling down on the action, with Hemsworth's hero dispatching enemies in just about every which way you can imagine.
Which just reinforces Joe Russo, who wrote "Extraction 2," and Hargrave's reasons for making this movie a sequel rather than a prequel. By choosing not to rehash Rake's backstory and his struggles with losing his son, it freed them up to do what Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves did with "John Wick: Chapter 2" — i.e. not "worry about plot" and "push the action even further," as Stahelski put it.
Judging by the trailer and the fact that Hargrave doubled the one-take shot from a 12-minute oner in "Extraction" to a 21-minute oner in the sequel, it looks as though the director and Russo are counting on all-out action to convince people to watch their movie. With an audience that's happily been extracted from lockdown, will Hemsworth's physical efforts be enough to justify this sequel? We'll have to wait and see when the movie debuts on Netflix on June 16, 2023.