DEEP in the dark underbelly of a Georgian prison full of ruthless gang members is a trapped, battered family — and the next deadly mission of Australian mercenary Tyler Rake (played by Chris Hemsworth) is to get them out alive and safe.
This is the premise of the action thriller film Extraction 2, which premieres on Netflix on June 16. It is a sequel to Extraction, where the character of Rake nearly died in a black ops mission in Bangladesh, as per the graphic novel source material Ciudad by Ande Parks.
Co-starring are Golshifteh Farahani, who reprises the role of Nik Khan from the first film, and Adam Bessa, playing her brother Yaz. Georgian actress Tinatin Dalakishvili is Ketevan, the mother of the trapped family, while Idris Elba appears in a surprise minor role.
Mr. Hemsworth and the film’s director Sam Hargraves kicked off the Extraction 2 global promotions tour in the Philippines, speaking to Asia Pacific press on June 6 at the Conrad Manila.
“Probably one of the craziest things we did in Extraction 2 was land a helicopter on a moving train,” Mr. Hemsworth said of the film’s stunts.
Because Mr. Hargraves is a stuntman-turned-director, his approach to keeping the fight choreography and stunts fresh and exciting for audience’s eyes was to simply create scenes he would want to see as an avid action fan himself.
One such scene in Extraction 2 involved about 300 extras, which saw Hemsworth and a few others set on fire in the middle of a large fight amid a crowd of thugs.
The director explained: “We looked at each other and we said, how can we push each other to do something we will be proud of 10 years from now and try to make it something memorable for the fans?”
For Mr. Hemsworth, the experience of shooting that particular scene was terrifying, but necessary.
“I think we all knew the elevated risk was going to give us an elevated performance, and ultimately an elevated effect,” he said.
Mr. Hargraves added that the standout scene — the “oner,” or a long scene edited together to look like one take — was also tedious to shoot. It is akin to the one in the first film which involved shootouts, car chase stunts, and fights through rundown buildings and streets in Bangladesh.
In Extraction 2, the “oner” was bigger, larger, more exciting, and full of many variables.
The average day on set saw Mr. Hemsworth on top of a train moving 40 to 50 miles an hour in the snowy Czech Republic, with a helicopter about 20 feet in front of him flying backwards.
But aside from incredible action sequences, the film also explored the emotional side of the Tyler Rake character.
Mr. Hemsworth said there was no doubt they could “recreate the action in a massive way and step it up a notch,” but the true surprise would be Rake’s emotional journey through the relationships in the film.
“There’s a lot of heart,” he said.
Extraction 2 premieres on Netflix on June 16. — Brontë H. Lacsamana
