Chris Hemsworth is slowly becoming a bonafide action star in Hollywood. He effectively began his career in the MCU as Thor and has still held onto that franchise. Even though Thor: Love and Thunder was widely panned by the MCU fans, it still grossed $760 million on a $250 million budget.
In his tenure as Thor, he has carried out a variety of superhero-esque moves. After all, who can forget the character’s widely cheered entry scene in Avengers: Infinity War. But none of it is quite like what Hemsworth is doing in his second action franchise- Extraction. In fact, the director of the second entry in the franchise has called it better than the MCU films.
Extraction 2 Director Calls The Action In It Better Than The MCU Films
The MCU is a franchise like no other and its fanbase is unrivaled as well. Over the years, it has been consistently praised for its action scenes. After all, who can forget Captain America’s elevator fight scene in The Winter Soldier or the climactic battle in Avengers: Endgame.
However, it can’t be denied that over the years, the franchise has relied more and more on CGI to execute impactful fight scenes. Also, since the MCU caters to almost all ages with most of its films getting a PG-13 rating, it can’t really push the envelope with brutal action sequences.
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As such, franchises like John Wick and Extraction have come in to give fans of hardcore films what they desire. In an interview with Motion Pictures, Sam Hargrave, the director of Extraction 2 revealed that he executed an action scene that would have been impossible in the MCU. He said:
“You couldn’t rip someone’s hand in half in a Marvel movie.”
Indeed, it would be impossible to show someone’s hand getting ripped off in an MCU film. However, there’s hope of extreme action and gore with Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool 3 which has been confirmed by Kevin Feigi to be rated R. However, whether that film delivers the action or not remains to be seen.
Director Of Extraction 2 Set Chris Hemsworth On Fire In The Film
In the Extraction films, Chris Hemsworth plays Tyler Rake. In the second film’s first act itself, he goes into a prison yard and gets embroiled in a fight there. At one point, Hemsworth’s hero catches fire, but he keeps fighting. It’s an amazing visual and what makes it better is the fact that the fire is real and not CGI. Director Sam Hargrave spoke about that scene and said:
“I will take that as part of my legacy. The person who lit Chris Hemsworth on fire. The first person to light him on fire.”
But why didn’t Hargrave use CGI fires? It’s because it had to be practical to work. He said:
“CGI fires wouldn’t have the same reality. There are great companies that do some great work, and there are times that it would be really good, but for this, we needed it to be practical to work. Yeah, so—we lit him on fire. Now he can go down in the history of the action genre as an actor who lit himself on fire.”
Hemsworth, for his part, had no qualms about being set on fire. But will we ever see such hardcore stunts in the MCU? Probably. After all, the franchise isn’t over yet and is still actively experimenting.
Extraction 2 is streaming on Netflix.
Source: Motion Pictures
