Look Closely, And You'll See Extraction's Deadly Weapons Are Really Just Rubber
In years to come, we'll tell tales of the time we were locked inside during a global pandemic with only Netflix for comfort. And in our time of need, what heroes did our streaming overlords send? Chris Hemsworth, of course, who punched and shot his way through a couple hours of non-stop action in "Extraction."
Joe Russo's tale of a black ops mercenary hired to free the kidnapped son of an Indian drug lord apparently struck quite a chord back in 2020, becoming Netflix's most popular original movie. And while the "Avengers: Endgame" co-director added what he no doubt saw as significant emotional depth to his "Extraction" script, the movie was a pretty run-of-the-mill actioner that relied more on fancy camera work and well-crafted stunts than anything else.
Directed by Sam Hargrave, himself a stunt coordinator and performer, "Extraction" wasn't quite as bland as some of the other offerings the Russo brothers have been involved in since their "Avengers" tenure. Hargrave was in top shape for the filming, and got about as hands-on as you can get while shooting, putting himself in the center of the action by taking over camera op duties on many of the film's most outlandish action scenes. That included what might be the best part of the feature's 156 minutes: a 12-minute one-take shot that followed Hemsworth's Tyler Rake as he battled his way through the streets of Ahmedabad, India (standing in for Dhaka, Bangladesh) as he tried to pull off the titular extraction.
Unfortunately for Hargrave, shooting on location meant he had to make a significant sacrifice — namely, using rubber weapons.
A cost/benefit analysis
The 12-minute shot in "Extraction" is actually several takes stitched together with hidden cuts. But that doesn't mean it wasn't quite the undertaking. As a behind-the-scenes featurette on the long take revealed, planning and executing the shoot, which happened over the course of 10 days, was an incredibly in-depth process. The end result is an impressive sequence that sees Tyler Rake battle waves of enemies, fighting them man-to-man and, of course, using plenty of guns.
And while some of the "hidden" cuts are actually fairly obvious and somewhat take you out of the action, what I hadn't noticed at all was that all the firearms used in the "oner" were actually rubber. Sam Hargrave spoke to Coming Soon in April 2020, where he explained how he was legally unable to bring guns, even prop guns, into India. He said:
"It was kind of a cost/benefit analysis. And the location gave us so much visually, it was so important to be there and to see that space and to move through it that we're like, well, either we go somewhere else where we can have the guns, or we just make do with the rubber ones."
Ultimately the location won out, allowing Hargrave and his crew to shoot in the crowded streets of Ahmedabad, which added a level of realism that would otherwise be almost impossible to recreate. Unfortunately, that meant all the actors had to pretend they were shooting real guns, without any of the kickback or weight that comes with handling an actual prop weapon. "The props department has amazing guns," Hargrave explained, though conceded that "the most amazing part is the performers adapting — because it's not easy to make shooting rubber guns look real."
Will it work a second time?
If you watch the sequence, it's not obvious that the guns are rubber. The actors do indeed do a good job of selling the realism, aided, of course, by CGI. But the sound designers also subtly add to that realism by not simply putting in gunshots but also the clinking of rifles and magazines as the soldiers search for Rake.
As I said, it's the sometimes unnatural camera movements and whip pans that take you out of the whole thing, rather than any fake weapons. But you have to give props to Sam Hargrave for not only filming so much of this solo, but for planning such an ambitious on-location shoot in the first place.
Soon, "Extraction 2" will arrive, complete with a new one-take sequence that looks set to outdo the original in every sense. This time around, instead of 12 minutes, we're getting a whole 21 minutes of uninterrupted action, in a sequence Chris Hemsworth claims is the "hardest thing [he's] ever done." This time, he'll be fighting his way out of a prison brawl, for which Hemsworth actually set himself on fire. Will it be enough to convince us all to once again stream his over-the-top exploits now that we're no longer stuck inside? We'll have to see when "Extraction 2" arrives on Netflix on June 16, 2023.