Extraction (2015)

 Extraction (2015)- * *

Directed by: Steven C. Miller

Starring: Bruce Willis, Kellan Lutz, Steve Coulter, D.B. Sweeney, Lydia Hull, and Gina Carano

CIA agent Leonard Turner (Willis) is "The Best", so naturally his son Harry (Lutz) wants to follow in his footsteps. Unfortunately for him, his boss Robertson (Sweeney), keeps turning him down for that darn promotion he's seeking. While working in Prague, Harry receives word that his father, and a sensitive and dangerous piece of technology known as CONDOR have both disappeared. Seeing his chance not just to rescue his beloved dad, but to prove his worth with The Agency, Harry goes rogue and heads to Newark, New Jersey, where the action is. While there, he teams up with co-worker/old flame Victoria Phair (Carano). Will dad and/or CONDOR be saved? Will certain secrets be revealed? And will someone or something receive some sort of EXTRACTION?


Extraction starts off promisingly enough, with a genuinely cool opening credits sequence that's worthy of any Bond film. The synthy score behind it by Ryan Dodson just amps up the excitement, and you think, "Hey, this may be a modern-day DTV outing, but maybe the quality is high enough so that it would have gone to the theater if it came out 15 years ago", or some such thing.


Unfortunately, it's not long after that when we see how Extraction hits some serious pitfalls and then can't get out of its own way. Our initial hopes were dashed, and we began to sink lower in our seats, when we saw that this is yet another one of those "Dark" movies, where much-needed lights were not turned on. Strike one. Then we, as the audience, have to suffer through some really annoying characters such as Sitterson (Coulter) (If you don't watch this with the subtitles, it sounds like everyone calls him "Citizen"). Evidently his dialogue was supposed to be "Cool & Edgy", but it just comes off as juvenile and dumb. (There's yet more misheard dialogue later as people talk about something called the Patriarch Key, which naturally sounds like "The Patriarchy" when people say it. Seems like the writers should have thought of that. It turns something that's already silly into something even sillier). Then we have Victoria's friend Kris (Hull), whose "airhead" character grates on your nerves. Strike Two.


From there on out, it's just unimaginative cliche after unimaginative cliche as barfights, training sequences, tired CIA blah-blah, escape scenes and even fight scenes go exactly the route you think they're going to, with zero suspense or surprises. Strike three.


How things could have been improved: Stop with the quick-cut-style fight scenes and let Gina Carano do what she does best. Let her fight scenes play out with more lighting and less cuts. Get rid of the annoying characters and dialogue, and turn on some damn lights. Come up with some relatively novel places for the plot to go, and, if time allows, embrace the idea of character development.


As far as the Brucester is concerned, it's clear his heart wasn't in this one (and who can blame him; although he was probably paid a pretty penny, so he should at least attempt to do his job and act like he cares), and evidently all his scenes were shot in one day. Director Steven C. Miller worked again with Bruce the next year for Marauders (2016), a better film and an improvement over Extraction. If you must see one Miller/Willis team-up, see Marauders.


Not to be confused with Extraction (2013) or Extraction (2020) - just showing the lack of creativity on display here - this particular Extraction gets off to a fine start, but ultimately disappoints. The cast deserves better, especially fan favorite Carano, who was not properly unleashed. On the up side, it's a mere 79 minutes before the ending credits. But, then again, it feels longer.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Kickboxer: Vengeance (2016)

 Kickboxer: Vengeance (2016)- * *

Directed by: John Stockwell 

Starring: Alain Moussi, Darren Shahlavi, Dave Bautista, Gina Carano, and Jean-Claude Van Damme

Kurt (Moussi) and Eric (Shahlavi) Sloane are Kick-Fighting brothers from Venice, CA. When Eric gets an invitation to go fight the infamous Tong Po (Bautista), the audience screams, "No, Eric! Don't do it!" But, of course, Eric flies to Thailand and ends up facing off against Mr. Po to tragic results. Naturally, Kurt follows because he wants KICKBOXER VENGEANCE. While in Thailand, he trains (and trains and trains and trains) with Master Durand (Van Damme), a mysterious Muay Thai master, as his name indicates. Of course, the Bangkok police are on to the illegal Punchfighting matches, and somehow Marcia (Carano) is involved in all this. Will Kurt Sloane avenge his brother by finally vanquishing Tong Po in the ring once and for all?



All of the above might seem a bit familiar to anyone who has seen the original Kickboxer (1989), which, presumably, is anyone reading this. Evidently, this takes place in a different Kickboxer universe than the first one, because Van Damme plays Durand, and Moussi plays Kurt Sloane. While director Stockwell does a good job with the technical aspects - the film is shot well, lit well, etc. - there really aren't too many surprises in store here, and the character development leaves a lot to be desired. That means that audience attention begins to flag around the halfway mark. It all feels like a slickly-done, but "Why?" run-through of classic Kickboxer moments.


As for our main hero, was he Joe Flanagan? Matthew Reese? John Krasinski? It's hard to tell. He seems to do well throughout all the extensive training sequences, but Van Damme looks like he was in shape too. He should have fought Tong Po. Or, if Po is as good as everyone keeps saying, how about a 2-on-1 fight with Durand, Sloane, and Tong Po? That would have been something new. But, no, the film doesn't do any twists or anything like that.


Dave Bautista, or David Bautista, as he's credited here, has very silly hair. Somehow trying to put classic Tong Po hair on his head just doesn't quite look the same. T.J. Storm is here, playing a guy named Storm, which was nice to see. Gina Carano is also on board, but she does no Martial Arts. Fans may be disappointed by that. She and director Stockwell worked together on In The Blood (2014), so maybe she had fun doing that and wanted to do a small role here. Who knows? But her not fighting was a missed opportunity.


The marketplace fight, the barfight, and the fact that one of Kurt's training exercises is to pull Durand around on a rickshaw are movie highlights. But truly the best was saved for last, because at the beginning of the end credits, we get a split screen with a clip of Van Damme doing his classic dance from the original Kickboxer on the right, and Alain Moussi imitating his moves on the left. That was probably the best part of the whole movie. Rather than save it for the end, they should have had Kurt Sloane find himself at a roadside diner in the middle of the film, where he then starts dancing. That might have improved things a bit.


In the end, if you always wanted to see Kickboxer, but really needed to see it done in a modern style with Chokehold (2019)-style flat line deliveries, this is really the movie for you. And where is Sasha Mitchell in all this?

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up from our buddy, DTVC!

Blood and Bone (2009)

Blood and Bone (2009)- * * *

Directed by: Ben Ramsey

Starring: Michael Jai White, Eamonn Walker, Dante Basco, Nona Gaye, Bob Sapp, Gina Carano, Kimbo Slice, and Julian Sands











Isaiah Bone (White) gets out of prison and ends up renting a room at an L.A.-area house run by Tamara (Gaye). Bone is a quiet and mysterious man, and we don’t know much about his past. What we do know is that he’s an outrageously talented fighter, and he proceeds to get involved with the illegal, underground Punchfighting circuit. 

Immediately recognizing that Bone is head-and-shoulders better than the normal street thugs, charismatic fight promoter Pinball (Basco) takes him under his wing and Bone moves up the ranks. This puts him in the sights of James (Walker), a high-class thug with aspirations to join the ranks of the ultra-wealthy, as represented by Franklin McVeigh (Sands). James also recognizes Bone’s fighting talents and wants to use him to break into the really big time. But Bone has his own reasons for doing what he’s doing, and only his strength and personal honor and integrity guide him through his mission. But will he make it out alive?

Blood and Bone is as good a movie as you could possibly hope for in the world of the modern-day Punchfighter. There’s just enough depth and interesting things going on with the plot and characters to raise it above the muck and mire of the “I-punch-you-you-punch-me-and-that’s-it” Punchfighters out there. Seemingly, it’s a movie out of time, as we felt this could have come to the movie theater, had it only been released in 1997 or so. 

The only things that mark it as new are some brief - but still unfortunate and unnecessary - uses of CGI. Otherwise, the plot has a nicely familiar feel, and Michael Jai White makes a powerful hero.

As for MJW, we’ve always been huge fans. His Martial Arts abilities and screen presence have only continued to improve since Ring of Fire III (1995) and Ballistic (1995), which is rare. It’s a joy to watch him execute his moves. One of the great injustices in life is that Steven Seagal is more of a household name than White. White deserves to be in the action pantheon with Dolph, Van Damme, and (unfortunately), Seagal.  

His appearances in two of the Universal Soldier movies make sense towards that aim, but it seems MJW is primarily known in the action community. We feel he deserves wider recognition. As for fellow fan favorite Gina Carano, she has a criminally small part. It would have been awesome to see her team up with MJW to take down the baddies. Maybe someday that will happen.

As for Julian Sands, you might ask yourself as to why he's in an urban-themed modern-day Punchfighter. His one scene where he verbally faces off against James should answer all your questions. One of the things that make Blood and Bone a worthwhile movie, besides its pleasantly surprising spurts of intelligence at times, is its sense of humor, which is well-portioned out. 

We don’t know if this was on purpose, but in a throwback to the Blaxploitation movies of the 70’s, all the Caucasian characters are just lightweight, silly, stereotypical whiteys. The Punchfighter “Cowboy” is just a “redneck” stereotype, the white family that eats dinner with James wear sweaters around their necks and listen to Wang Chung, and Julian Sands is the whitest person on earth. It’s hard to discern whether the tried-and-true plotline and some characteristics of the movie are homages to the past, or just a simple lack of originality. That’s the danger of homages, the audience might misunderstand your intentions. The Hitter and Lionheart seem to be primary influences.

But just as in all great movies, Blood and Bone gets its own title song during the end credits. Seeing as how it’s a competently-made film with just the right amount of depth, and you really have a hero to root for in MJW, we feel that Blood and Bone is one of the better modern-day Punchfighters out there.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Also check out write-ups from our buddies, DTVC, The Video Vacuum, and The Action Elite!