Chris Hemsworth’s Best Franchise Is #1 On Netflix
Chris Hemsworth dominates Netflix as Extraction and Extraction 2 sit in the top three streamed movies.
Move over Thor, Tyler Rake is Chris Hemsworth’s most popular character now. Hemsworth plays Rake in the Extraction franchise, which according to FlixPatrol, is absolutely dominating the Netflix charts! The just-released Extraction 2 is currently the most streamed movie on Netflix, with 2020’s Extraction close behind in the number three spot.
The Extraction series stars Chris Hemsworth as Tyler Rake, a former Australian Army SASR turned black-ops mercenary. The first film sees Rake going on the most dangerous extraction of his career when he’s hired to rescue the abducted son of an international crime boss. Extraction 2 sees Glutton for punishment, Tyler Rake, leap back into action on a mission to rescue his ex-wife’s sister and her two children from a Georgian prison.
Stunt-man turned-director Sam Hargrave directed both action-packed films putting his years of stunt work to good use. Hargrave’s experience in front of the camera gives him an interesting perspective when directing action scenes. Nowhere is this more evident than in Extraction‘s 12-minute long, one-shot fight scene and Extraction 2‘s mind-blowing 21-minute long one-take action sequence.
The Extraction franchise is the brainchild of Marvel‘s Russo Brothers. The duo, not content to have one huge, record-breaking franchise starring Chris Hemsworth, decided to write and produce a second series for the overly-muscled Aussie. The brothers initially conceived of the story for the first Extraction by adapting the graphic novel Ciudad by Ande Parks. Once the initial story was hashed out, Joe Russo went ahead and wrote the screenplay.
The movie was originally announced in 2018 under the title Dhaka, but the name was soon changed to Out of the Fire. The final title wasn’t revealed until February 2020—just two months before Extraction‘s April 2020 release. The movie was shot on location in Ahmedabad and Mumbai, as well as Ban Pong, Ratchaburi, Thailand, and Bangladesh, where the production employed the same crew used on Avengers: Age of Ultron during that movie’s time shooting in Bangladesh.
Extraction was relatively well received by critics who criticized the movie for having some “white savior” elements but praised its action sequences, with one critic even calling the film “breakneck and bonkers.” Viewers, on the other hand, loved the movie. The Chris Hemsworth-led film was viewed by over 99 million households in its first month on alone, making it Netflix’s most-watched original film.
With that kind of success, it was only a matter of time before a sequel was announced. In May 2020, just one month after Extraction’s release Joe Russo was hired to write a follow-up movie with the assumption that Sam Hargrave would again direct Chris Hemsworth as the black-ops merc Tyler Rake.
In December of the same year, the Russos expressed their desire to develop an Extraction cinematic universe beyond the sequel, possibly exploring some of the other characters introduced in the first film.
Filming on Extraction 2 was supposed to begin in Chris Hemsworth’s native Australia in September 2021 but was hampered by safety measures relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. This caused the production to shoot instead in Prague before jumping over to Austria. Filming for Extraction 2 officially ended on April 6, 2022.
According to director Sam Hargrave, the film’s 21-minute one-shot action sequence alone took a whopping 29 days to shoot, and that was only after 4-5 months straight of rehearsal.
The sequel was released earlier this month on June 16 to a slightly warmer critical reception than its predecessor. Some critics went so far as to call Extraction 2 an improvement over the first movie. While it’s too early to tell if this Chris Hemsworth action extravaganza will be viewed in as many homes as the first, audiences like it enough to make it the #1 most-streamed movie on Netflix currently. Chances are Extraction 2 will end up performing comparably to its older sibling.
Netflix wasted no time in announcing that Extraction 3 is already in development, with Chris Hemsworth and Sam Hargrave both set to return. It’s assumed that the Russos will again have a hand in E3‘s development as well, although whether one of the brothers will be writing this time around or if the duo will just stick to producing isn’t known at this time.
With the newly announced Extraction 3 on the horizon, now is the perfect time to catch up on the series so far. Both Extraction and Extraction 2 are currently streaming on Netflix.
