Extorsion

Last night, i saw Extortion (2017) with high hopes, because the reviews were good, and the plot seemed interesting.

And it starts off as a thrilling ride.

The first two-thirds of the film excel in building a sense of urgency and desperation, drawing us into a tale of survival against nature's and human greed.

The vacationing family, the doctor and his wife and son, become stranded on a remote island after a boating mishap and the escalating tension and moral dilemmas faced by the protagonist are portrayed remarkably well.

However, the promising buildup takes an unfortunate turn in the final act, where the narrative begins to falter due to implausible situations. The descent into absurdity becomes more and more apparent as the once-grounded storyline travels into overly dramatic and unrealistic scenarios.

One such instance occurs when this doctor suddenly transforms into an action hero, navigating through dangerous situations with unrealistic ease. The transition feels forced and really doesn't align with the established tone of the movie.

Furthermore, the resolution of the plot relies heavily on convenient coincidences and improbable occurrences, further straining our suspension of disbelief.

In conclusion, "Extortion" is a nice little thriller with its intense premise and compelling build-up. However, its downfall in the final act is marked by implausible situations and a departure from its initial realism. Despite its flaws, the film remains a decent watch for those who can overlook its shortcomings in favor of its thrilling early sequences.

The only conclusion I have after watching Extortion is that it could have been much better. The movie is entertaining, there is no doubt about that, but there are too many plot holes in the story. Many times I was thinking "How the hell could he knew that?, That's not possible, Yeah right, and so on". And that's never good in a well balanced story. The acting wasn't bad though, but it could have been better sometimes. The ending wasn't great either, I thought they were just tired of writing a good ending for a movie that could have been much better if they put a bit more effort into it. But to watch once it's okay if you just want some entertaining and you are not to fuzzy about the perfection in a story.

I read a few of the reviews who hated the movie. "how did this make it to Netflix?" - I can tell you how :)

It is entertaining. I read people complaining about how unrealistic the movies are. But those are the same kinds of people who love the Transformers series :) Not saying the movie is unrealistic, but let's face it. It's a movie, not a documentary.

There are a few plot holes, I give you that. But as a software engineer I just roll my eyes when someone 'hacks into a system' (again) in some movie for the sake of storytelling.

I do not need every single detail of the movie to be well researched. Which is why it is a movie.

So much about the disclaimer :) The movie itself is good. Main characters do a great job, it takes you around a few turns in the Caribbean - and the overall message of the movie is great. Family matters more than money.

I rate it 7/10 because of the things that other people actually hated the movie for. I liked it, I just consider those gaps in research 'flaws', not total failures :)

It is definitely worth watching. It is well cast and entertainingly written and filmed. It's far from a B-movie or a low-budget production.

Whoever calls this low-budget doesn't know the first thing about production value.

This movie is just OK. The story is noting special, lots of barely believable scenes on which I had to "close" my eyes. I would have expected more from Kevin, an American doctor, in terms of being if not smart, but at least having some brains not to get his family into a potentially dangerous situation, which ended up being disastrous. I am assuming that doctors do have some intellect outside of their medical practices. Now about acting. It was just satisfactory and at times Eion Bailey completely fails to deliver emotions expected from a distraught and desperate father and husband whose family is on a brink of survival. They say that eyes don't lie and it is through eyes we express out emotions, not from a face scrunching ( Will Smith and J.Aniston have never figured this out), so in few scenes where Kevin's agony should have reached an apogee, his eyes remain absolutely calm. I should probably mention that he did manage to pull some emotions in some scenes, but as a whole, his performance was uneven. All other actors did not occupy the screen for long enough to rate their performances, but I would say that no one had impressed me. It is not a bad film, I still recommend to see it, for it has an entertaining value.

This is the first time i am ever writing a movie a review on IMDb. So bear with me if my English is not good. But this movie deserves one. This movie literally kept me on the edge of the seat and gasping on the violent and unexpected twists. Many a time a scene comes and you are left wondering 'what the hell just happened'. With hell lot of twists and surprises this movie keeps the action going on. There are no particular points along the time line where you are bored. Pure thriller from start to end. Also happy to see Danny Glover in action. all in all a must see. it deserves a rating more than 7.