During Netflix’s press tour for their highly anticipated action thriller The Gray Man, Collider’s Steven Weintraub had the opportunity to talk with director duo Anthony and Joe Russo, who can do no wrong after giving the world both Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. But they’re far from done wowing audiences: for one of their upcoming next projects as producers, the duo is shaking up a franchise that kicked off with a movie that was praised as one of 2020’s best: Extraction.
Due to the popularity of the first film, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Netflix decided to just repeat the formula and deliver another guaranteed hit to its catalog with Extraction 2. However, as previous announcements revealed, the only constant in the sequel seems to be its lead Chris Hemsworth, as the next entry in the action movie is doing a 180 to bring fans something completely unexpected. This was underlined by Joe Russo (who wrote the script) during the interview:
“It’s great. It’s very different from ‘Extraction 1’, which we like. It’s its own movie in that regard. It has a different color schematic. It’s set in a different part of the world. It has a different pace, a different tone than the first one. And that, to us, is an interesting way to approach serializing a story, is that it’s more surprising and unexpected, and you’re not going to get the exact same movie that you got the last time out. So we’re really excited about it, and we think it was beautifully shot. Hemsworth’s fantastic in it. And we’re excited to share it with audiences.”
In case you haven’t been following the news on Extraction 2, Russo is referring to the fact that the sequel is abandoning its hot Bangladesh setting to move to a new freezing cold location. Earlier this year, the Russo brothers shared a video of Hemsworth on a moving train to tease the film. The stunt is apparently going to be part of one of the more memorable stunts of the sequel, as the star suggested back in March. In the first film, a 12-minute continuous take in an action sequence made the movie a must-watch, and apparently, they are looking to do something insane once again.
The first Extraction tells the story of black-ops mercenary Tyler Rake (Hemsworth) who is on a mission to rescue the son of an international crime lord. His mission plunges him into a world of weapons and drug traffickers. Director Sam Hargrave returns to direct the screenplay by Joe Russo. The story is based on a graphic novel entitled Ciudad.
The filming of Extraction 2 wrapped back in April, but Netflix has yet to reveal the release date or a trailer. More as we hear it.