Extraction

This is one of those movies that you either have to blink rapidly or pinch yourself 'til you bleed in order to escape pure suspension of belief, and not in a good way. One just can't believe the movie is so god-awful. I admit there was a tender part of me that rejoiced seeing a slimmer Sean Austin in a counter-terrorism role, as he appeared in one of the 24 seasons, and to hear Danny Glover's sinister yet comforting voice as he appeared in Shooter...but the eye-popping resemblance to a soap opera (gamey, wooden, one-dimensional) was in a word, unforgivable. Vinny Jones should of course stick to cockney gangster films, which he is quite adept at (who forget his performance in Snatch?). Sorry, Crackle. AVOID.

I have seen action on screen in all its forms. Whether it was Bruce Willis fighting Germans in a building or Steven Seagal killing rouge Navy Mercenaries on a boat, I've seen it. However for the past few years, aside from legendary actioneers like Stallone or Schwarzenegger keeping the genre alive, action film have gone really downhill. It is a category of film making that has almost disappeared entirely because of guys like Peter Berg and Louis Leterrier, who instead of having quality actors doing real stunts in places other people wouldn't think possible, they place pretty boys like Jamie Foxx and Sam Worthington into lackluster scenarios and just let their doubles do the work while they capture the "action" with the most annoyingly shaky camera work in order to make the action more "realistic." Ironically enough however, in reality, its all BS. Now in comes Tony Giglio, writer and director of the amazingly underrated 2005 action thriller Chaos, with his new film Extraction, a old-school die hard action film that pulls no punches, literately. The fight sequences make guys like Jason Bourne look too liberal. It is hard to believe a film that was shot in 18 days and made on only a million dollars could come out this good and deliver action as rock solid as this. With almost no CGI and some of the greatest martial art scenes ever filmed, fans of the right kind of action movies will dig Extraction. With cool performances by Vinnie Jones and Jon Foo, this is Die Hard meets Delta Force meets the Raid: Redemption. In summation folks, why Tony Giglio isn't directing Expendables 3, I'll never know.

Extraction was an entertaining action film that was just fun. It has a serious plot but the film never takes it self too seriously. All the actors do a great job. Sean Astin, Danny Glover and Vinnie Jones all do their thing. But it was the unknown stars of the film that really stole the show. I didn't know who Jon Foo or Falk Hentschel was before this. But I do now. Foo is a beast. And Falk has the looks and acting chops to be a breakout star. I just saw he's also in the new Nolan- produced Johnny Depp film TRANSCENDENCE.

The tone of the film starts out serious, but ever so naturally, the film lightens its mood and becomes wonderfully comedic. It, however, never strays from the action nor does it forget it's plot. Some nice story twists and turns keep you guessing.

I gave it 9 out of 10. Very fun solid piece. The first film I ever watched on Crackle. I'll watch more from now on. I'll also be on the lookout for more Foo and Hentschel.

I looked at the other reviews for this movie and I seriously wondered if they watched the same movie I just saw. Then I noticed that there were very few reviews, and I realised that the majority of people who were unfortunate enough to waste time and money on this absolute rubbish, probably just wanted to erase the experience from their memories. That seasoned movie stars such as Danny Glover and Vinnie Jones could have any part in this I think shows that money is now more important to them than either their fans or their self respect. There is absolutely nothing even remotely good about this movie, so there is no point in listing all the things that are wrong with it. It is easier to just say that it was mind boggling bad, and I was enticed to watch it because of the cast, which I am sure was the producers plan. Shame on all Participants in this farce. Stay far away from this movie.

While this was clearly not a big-budget, blockbuster, mega-action, summer-release, slug fest, it was a surprisingly good movie. Relative newcomer Jon Foo gives a veteran performance with an excellent display of his martial arts skills and better-than-workman-like acting skills. Sean Astin and Danny Glover have some unfortunately somewhat two-dimensional roles, but Joanne Kelly, who it's nice to see is still finding work after Warehouse 13, brings a Myka Bering-esque likability to her role. For me, the lowest point in this movie is the tiresome Vinnie Jones. If you're not familiar with his work, just watch this movie and you'll have a pretty good handle on it. (yawn) Meanwhile, the story itself is not totally far-fetched and the fight choreography and special effects are definitely up to snuff. All-in-all, it's a good, Saturday afternoon, nothing else to do way to spend an hour and 45 minutes.