The Netflix fans in Bangladesh have been waiting for the release of Chris Hemsworth starrer ‘Extraction’ for a long time. Despite the name being changed from the original title ‘Dhaka’, the Bangladeshi fans were looking forward to the performance of Thor-famed Chris Hemsworth’s performance in the film which has partly been shot in Dhaka.
To some it might seem like a state of raising the name of Dhaka to an international standard that will be viewed and enjoyed by many. On the other hand, to some of us natives it was a complete downer. The name of the film itself gives an idea that it is no run of the mill film that is going to be lost in the tide of time rather we would get to see sequels of it probably like ‘Avengers’ or ‘Expendables’.
But, after watching it one can clearly envision that this was probably a onetime thing that is not going to get a revival for the fans in the form of a sequel. Even if it did because of a star cast which no one is willing to skip out on, it is going to be very hard to smooth the dent that has been left behind by this title.
The first thing that everyone notices is undoubtedly the fact that the level of action is quite high. The rough and tough Tyler Rake played by Hemsworth is a black ops merc who is supposed to extract the son of an Indian kingpin who was kidnapped by a Bangladeshi kingpin. The story is simple enough! Maybe that’s why the film failed.
Anyway, getting back to the issue at hand, when the two major players who are working from behind are bad guys it is quite possible to think that this was going to be a letdown because of the cliché idea that bad guys never win.
On another note, Bangladeshis have rebuked the film very harshly because of how lowly the title has portrayed the capital of the country which is considered as one of the world’s mega cities. The stuntman cum director has very efficiently failed when he portrayed a metro city in the form of a slum in the opening scene of the film.
This was not the only downside, the pride of being a Bangladeshi might also get a bit tarnished when the tried and tested way of shooting action flicks, one versus one hundred, seems to pit the Bangladeshi elites in the form of army and police personnel against Hemsworth and are seemingly killed effortlessly.
Not to mention that the entire film shows Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, to be a bustling city of crime and underworld crime bosses ruling from the shadows. The only thing that the director has been able to do successfully is that he had ensured enough practice time for Hemsworth to get the only Bangla dialogue, ‘Proman Dao’ (give me the proof), down to a T.
Maybe this was a show of respect to our culture and history of fighting and dying for our language. However, that too is debatable based on the other poor show of the main setting which has been set forth in the film by the director.
In a nutshell it can be said that the film holistically is a letdown that demotes the image of the capital of Bangladesh to the world rather than elevating it or keeping it as it is. This is far from what the Bangladeshi audience was expecting from this movie. There was definitely scope of doing better.