Extraction

Newly trained CIA Agent Harry Turner (Kellen Lutz) learns that his father, Leonard Turner (Bruce Willis), a seasoned CIA agent has been kidnapped by terrorists who also want The Condor, a unit that will control all the telecommunications on the planet. Harry wants to rescue his father and fix the Condor so it can never be activated, but is told to stand down (Whaaaat??) and, of course, he doesn't.

We thought we would get to see the birth of another Jason Bourne in Harry Turner, but things didn't work out that way. Oh, Harry seems to have good fighting moves, but the production values stymied this to such a point we are not sure any more. The Director had the camera speeded up to such a point everything was a blur, the fights lasted too long (Jason Bourne wouldn't have let that happen) and the fights choreography were suspect. Much of the movie involved car chases which bordered on being quite boring. And lastly there were just way too many scenes in darkened areas. Not good.

Bruce Willis' name was used to draw in an audience and it worked, but we see very little of him as CIA super-agent Leonard Turner. In a word, this was quite disappointing.

Notables: D.B Sweeny as Harry's boss; Gina Carano as Victoria a CIA agent tasked to keep an eye on Harry.

There is a major twist later on, but we were not impressed. Kind of old hat when you see it.

We will have to wait a while longer to see a viable replacement for Jason Bourne. HA ! (3/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes.

The makers of "Extraction" use the same marketing gimmick as used in films such as "The Cold Light of Day", "Fire with Fire", "The Prince" and "Vice". It's the famous Bruce Willis magic trick. Actually, it's dead simple. Make sure this star actor of yesteryear (I have to say I was always a big fan of BW) participates in an upcoming B-movie. However, the length of time you can admire him is limited and his presence is evenly spaced. You let him turn up at the beginning of the movie as an appetizer and give the impression that this might be a real Willis movie once again. Eventually, he disappears for most of the film and pops up again in the end for the big reveal. Then place him centrally on the cover so future viewers will get the feeling that he's playing an important part in it. I'm convinced that this is the biggest marketing trick that ensures the necessary revenues. As a viewer, you feel cheated though. Yep. The "Die Hard" star adds just another B-movie to his record of achievements. I must admit that the beginning of the film provided a momentary enthusiasm. For a moment, I had a feeling the old Bruce Willis was back and I was getting ready for some cool one-liners and beaten up opponents. Yippie kai yee! The result was a short-lived excitement, because before you know it the Willis marketing trick reveals itself and he disappears like a white rabbit during that well-known magic trick. Not in a black hat, but in the murky world of terrorists who captured a device called CONDOR. When activating this device, telecommunications will be disabled worldwide. Or something like that. Time for Kellan Lutz to show up. He plays Harry Turner, a CIA analyst who would love to follow in the footsteps of his father, but his application is always refused by the respective services. Until the day comes when someone kidnaps his father Leonard (Bruce Willis). Despite the explicit prohibition of his superiors to get involved, he still heads out to defuse that CONDOR. And this with the help of this other field agent Victoria (Gina Carano). And what a surprise, she's someone Kellan had a brief relationship with before. Who would have thought of that? What follows is just a cheap Secret Service action movie with the necessary fight scenes. And with of course the obligatory locations such as a biker bar (starring some billiard balls and a broken jukebox) and a trendy nightclub. Carano showed already in "In the Blood" that she can stand her ground in such dark clubs. The story brings nothing new and is full of familiar clichés. Even the denouement at the end was predictable. Not quite a good movie, you might say. The same can be said of the performances. Willis plays another comatose role and looks quite pathetic and uninterested in the few moments when he's on screen. Lutz and Carano make the best out of it and during the action scenes, the entertainment level rose a bit. And then there's the fact that Carano's curves are certainly a feast for the eye. I wouldn't date her though. Not with this testosterone-filled chunk of energy. Before you know it, you're stuck in a stranglehold that can be fatal. For now I've lost all hope for another brilliant Bruce Willis movie. Yippie kai ... yeah yeah yeah!

Saturday, 19 December 2015

There are two movies with the same title "Extraction" for release in 2015. One which stars Bruce "Moonlighting & "Die Hard" Willis and sexy fighter turned actress Gina Carano. The other, a non union low budget full of unknown actors/actresses {actor-director, Tim Kirkpatrick, Caitlin Custer and Iranian-American actress Medalion Rahimi. The latter is set to be on DVD and the i- net later this month.

I have seen Bruce in much better action films, especially "Die Hard "1 & 2 and "The Jackal" with the brilliant Sidney Poitier. This movie is as bad as his old movie "Hudson Hawk". The action is predictable as well as the outcome ending. Some guys look good doing fight scenes beating up 5 or 6 guys such as real good martial artist/actors Wesley Snipes and Michael J. White. Even brilliant academy award winner, Denzel Washington's fight scenes in "Equalizer" and brilliant actor, Liam Neeson in all three "Taken" movies fight scenes looked way better than in this movie.

Kellan Lutz is not impressive. He is better doing non action films. His fight scene with the Asian man in the warehouse mid way in the film, the Asian man would have beat the hell out of him, but the script was written for Kellan to win. The only reason I am rating it a 5 is because sexy fighter turned actress, Gina Carano is in it. Gina is the saving grace of this movie. Gina is a real good fighter, nice figure, sexy and prettier than her competitor, Ronda Rousey.

Please "Extract" this movie from my eye sight.

This is one of the worst movies of the year, if not the decade. If this doesn't end Carano's and Lutz' career, nothing will.

Dull, boring, totally inconsistent and full of gaffes. They seem to have shot this for a low budget and then had to finish it off in 2 days. There are so many holes in the plot that the viewer is expected to write half the script of the movie.

Action scenes are okay, but they look incredibly choreographed and lack credibility. After a 5 minute fight, the actors look as fresh as having come out of the shower.

Lackluster performances from all main characters, even DB Sweeney who usually us pretty solid. This movie is a waste of time.

The film reminds me of, The Cold Light of Day, both involved Bruce Willis playing a dad whose son joins the family business of espionage after hit with tragedy

But instead of Man of Steel's Henry Cavill, we get some new guy, Kellan Lutz. It looks like the new guy is trying to showcase his fighting skills. Though the action sequences are OK, they do absolutely nothing to make me think this new guy could be the next Jason Statham or anything like that. Pretty lame since his name appears before Willis.

What really sucks is that the movie is sleeping Gina Carano's skills. I was thinking that she was in the film as a backup just in case the new pretty boy falls short, which he does, and she would pick up the slack, but she acted as no more than just the love interest for the hero, which is so lame, cause I seen her do too many amazing fight scenes to be second rate in this film.

Speaking of second rate, Bruce Willis most likely lends his name to the movie in exchange for a big pay check. He's barely in it. I will say when he is on the screen, Mr. Willis does do a little bit of acting. Just enough to give the character a little more depth than the others (guess he did not want young and hot new action star to upstage him)

So the movie is not as bad as I'm making it out to be. it's a 100% pure action flick and it's too generic to be in a good or bad category. It just is. Something that you can stream on your computer while distracted by other things.