Extraction 2: What this Accouncement can teach Indian Cinema

Two days back, Joe Russo, the co-producer at the film Extraction, made an announcement stating that they are putting pieces together to take forward the life of the black ops mercenary, Tyler, played by Chris Hemsworth.

Extraction Poster (Source: Netflix)

Why? Just why man? I mean, can there be anything more saddening?

The producers whom you love for the kind of masterpieces they pulled off with Endgame and Infinity War. The director who has previously worked as the action-director at several of Russo Brothers’ films like Civil War & Endgame. The lead actor whom you love the role of the amazing Thor that he has played in the MCU. And what you see them doing? Trying to build a franchise and make money off of a movie that had no substance to it apart from the action which yes, feels fabulous initially but soon just gets too tedious beyond a point.

Joe and Anthony Russo (Source: Google)

Man, I know the movie stars some really talented actors, not only from Hollywood like Chris Hemsworth, Golshifteh Farahani, and David Harbour but also the Indian Film Industry like Randeep Hooda, Priyanshu Painyuli and Rudhraksh Jaiswal. But see, you can’t just be praising the film because you think the cast is cool. 

Let’s talk about the film for a second. The story is about a physically and emotionally tarnished man, Tyler who is on a deadly mission to rescue the kid of an Indian druglord, from Dhaka where the rival Bangladeshi druglord has got that kid kidnapped. During this suicidal mission of his, Tyler develops a bond with the kid, Ovi, played by the talented newcomer Rudraksh Jaiswal. I mean, this bond is what the film thinks is adding the emotional depth to it, but it actually never does. And a reason to blame for that is the weak dialogue writing. Joe, who wrote the screenplay of the movie basing it on a graphic novel written by Ande Parks, himself and his brother Anthony; couldn’t manage to put up dialogues that added any emotions to these shallow characters. And guess what, he is onto writing a second part. 

Really the only two people who seem to be benefiting from the movie, are Rudraksh, who should really be appreciated for the decent performance that he brought forth with his debut and the director of the film- Sam Hargrave whose excellence in the field of action-direction is subdued by the lack of nuances in his characters.

Sam Hargrave (Source: Google)

I am a big big fan of the Russos myself, or maybe I was, but it’s really sorrowful to see them make these futile attempts to appease to the Indian audience. It’s almost as if they are mocking: ‘see your cinema is dumb and you make a ton of money out of it, we would capitalize on it too. At least we have budgets for good CG.’

And this is something that should be forcing us to introspect, as an audience, as a mass consumer of content- What is it that we look for in a movie? Is it just the sort of action where characters with no real depth, are beating the hell out of each other, or the kind of comedies with just lame accents and no actual humor? We need to think about that.

 

Yes, it is an ugly reality we cannot deny, though we have a few appreciable underrated masterpieces*. But the majority of mainstream cinema in India is still nonsensical. Mindless action and absurd love stories are still quite a lot prevalent. And Hollywood has started to see this as an opportunity too. Extraction is the first step towards that. The inclusion of Indian actors in the cast seems nothing more than a marketing strategy. Hollywood already does it for the Chinese audience. Look at Transformers 4, Looper, 2012, or Pirates of the Caribbean, the list goes on. They won’t mind doing the same for India. 

Pirates of the Caribbean (Source: Fandom)

So, What might just be the reason for the majority of our mainstream audience having no, or very little objections to the mindless cinema that it consumes? It’s possibly because we don’t see movies through a critical lens. And that is what needs to change. It’s something that must change. We have to be critical about what we are consuming, be it a film produced abroad, or in our own country. We have to question whether the film fits in logically, or whether you connect to the characters, or what messages the film is inserting in your head. I know entertainment is the supreme purpose of cinema, but should it be at the cost of logic? Tell me in the comments down below.

-Hardik Jaimini

*To check out my list of a few underrated Bollywood Movies, hit the link below:

10 Must-watch Underrated Bollywood Movies