Extraction is exactly what I thought it would be and so much less. It’s yet another direct-to-video (or very limited release) from Bruce Willis who is not only somehow second billed in spite of making a cameo appearance but billed behind Kellan Lutz, tells you everything you need to know.
Extraction
(2015)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Action
Lionsgate | R – 83 min. – $19.99 | February 23, 2016
Date Published: 02/20/2016 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE – 1.5/5 |
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Well, just when you think Bruce Willis hit rock bottom, he continues to disappoint. Although he is billed second to Kellan Lutz (who’d think that would ever happen?), this is yet another glorified cameo appearing for maybe 10-minutes, every one of which was phoned in. While Extraction did receive a minor theatrical release, as well as VOD courtesy of Lionsgate Premiere and had the stench of direct-to-video crap. Shame I was right.
The film opens in 2005 as covert operative Leonard Turner (BRUCE WILLIS) had been captured by a generic terrorist who wants Turner to reveal the mole within his organization and threatens Turner’s family. However, Turner manages to get the upper hand swiftly killing the terrorist and his hapless goons. He then makes an urgent call to his family but not before his wife is killed while his young son, Harry, barely escapes death thanks to family friend and Leonard’s colleague, Ken Robertson (D.B. SWEENEY). Ten years later and Harry is attempting to follow in his father’s footsteps but despite four attempts to qualify, cannot become a CIA field operative and is instead stuck behind a desk as an analyst working under Robertson who also aids Harry in his field training. Leonard meanwhile is still working but gets himself in a jam on his latest assignment and is captured supposedly by the same terrorist organization that got their hands on a device that has the capability, in simplistic terms, do any damn thing the screenplay wants it to do. Brass tax: it’s a super weapon. Anyway, in return for Leonard, they demand a special key to operate this device otherwise it will turn on itself after several hours? Honestly, it’s a bit vague why they even need the key to begin with.
The plot for this is nonsense any most of this just leads to poorly shot action sequences, half-assed acting especially for Willis, though Gina Carano, who generally isn’t terrible, provides a stilted performance on her part and Hollywood continues to feebly make Kellan Lutz into some kind of action star; let’s put it this way, they tried the same with Sam Worthington but by comparison, he was more successful… If the direction by Steven C. Miller (Silent Night) and writing from Umair Aleem (debut) and Max Adams (Heist) wasn’t bad enough, the score from composer Ryan Dodson (Satanic Panic) made Extraction all the more awful. I’m not sure what they were thinking but the music was an assault on the ears to the point I wanted to mute the damn movie.
Extraction is the latest dud from Bruce Willis who is quickly joining the ranks for so many others and I fear that unless the planned Die Hard prequel goes through, he will be relegated to slop like this (though to be fair, the likes of DeNiro isn’t doing much better). As it stands, it’s a messy film completely from the direction to the writing to the acting, albeit Carano exudes the most charisma of the bunch, I just hope she doesn’t continue with these types of flicks (she also co-starred in Heist). |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5 |
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This release comes with a glossy, title-embossed slip cover. Inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. For a DTV or limited release, there’s more features than normal. Audio Commentary – The track features Director Steven C. Moore and Actor/Star Kellan Lutz as they break down the film’s plot, working with the various actors and filming in various locations. Deleted/Extended Scenes (4:42; HD) – There were four scenes removed or cut down, none of which are of particular note and only would’ve prolonged the pain of an already lame movie. The Making of Extraction (12:57; HD) takes viewers behind-the-scenes with interviews by various cast and crew members explaining the story and characters. It’s rather basic and doesn’t exactly delve that deeply into the production. Cast/Crew Interviews (29:10; HD) features extended chats with the actors (including Kellan Lutz, Gina Carano, D.B. Sweeney, Dan Bilzerian and Joshua Mikel) and others (Director Steven C. Moore and Director of Photographer Brandon Cox) talking about their respective characters or the movie itself. Theatrical Trailer (2:06; HD) Previews — Heist, The Last Witch Hunter, MI-5, Sicario, Exposed |
VIDEO – 3.0/5 |
| Extraction comes to Blu-ray through Lionsgate presented with a 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. For a new movie I was rather disappointed: detail was mostly soft and there seemed to be some artifacting issues. However, colors were at least natural looking but otherwise this was a subpar video transfer, even more so given it is a recent release. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track at least is serviceable providing for crisp and clear dialogue levels throughout and the action sequences come through making usage of every available channel. Sadly, what also blared from the speakers was the aforementioned the god-awful score. |
OVERALL – 2.0/5 |
| Overall, Extraction is exactly what I thought it would be and so much less. It’s yet another direct-to-video (or very limited release) from Bruce Willis who is not only somehow second billed in spite of making a cameo appearance but billed behind Kellan Lutz, tells you everything you need to know; Gina Carano has charisma but not enough to overcome the film’s issues while Lutz is no action star but to be fair, it’s not like he’s given great material to work with either. The Blu-ray released through Lionsgate offers so-so video, fine audio and a surprisingly respectable amount of bonus material to peruse. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.