'Extraction' Ending Explained: We saw the bittersweet climax coming but it still packs an emotional punch
Spoilers ahead for 'Extraction'
Considering that the plot for 'Extraction' is pretty-straightforward, the ending is pretty predictable and direct. But that doesn't stop the feeling of heightened suspense the flick brings in.
To explain the ending, we need to look at the final act that sees Chris Hemsworth's Tyler Rake reach out to Saju (Randeep Hooda) to help smuggle the boy, Ovi (Rudraksh Jaiswal), out of the country.
This move comes in after Ovi kills Gaspar (David Harbour) who at first is revealed to be an ally of Rake's, but instead is actually working for Asif Amir (Priyanshu Painyuli), Dhaka's crime lord, the man responsible for the kidnapping in the first place.
For those who haven't watched the film, the son (Jaiswal) of an imprisoned crime lord is kidnapped by one of his nemesis, Asif Amir (Painyuli) and is kept captive in Dhaka. Rake is a mercenary hired to extract Ovi and what follows is a brutal, bloody and gritty event that sees bullets sprayed and bombs hurled all over Dhaka.
With Dhaka's Military Police in Amir's pockets, the task of getting Ovi out of the country soon turns into a suicide mission for Rake.
Despite trading blows with Saju earlier (the character is actually Ovi's caretaker of sorts back in India) who attempts to take the boy home by playing Rake, he still reaches out to him to help get Ovi to the extraction point where Rake's men led by Nik Khan (Golshifteh Farahani) come to rescue Rake and the boy.
While Rake takes on an entire army in town, Saju and Ovi make their way to a bridge where Nik and the team get ready to land one final assault as they pick Ovi up.
However, with Amir's men and the DMP in hot pursuit, Saju and Rake quickly find themselves overpowered by the sheer number of killers coming in. Their orders are pretty clear: Take no survivors. Bloodied, battered and almost at the end of their tethers, both Saju and Rake fend off the hordes of men.
Colonel Shadek (Shataf Figar), known to be the top-notch sniper in business positions himself to snuff out Ovi, Saju and Rake. Meanwhile, Saju, in his attempt to take down a bunch of soldiers is grievously injured. As he prepares to make one final stand, Shadek shoots him flush in the head killing him brutally.
Rake and Nik get attacked on either side of the bridge and Rake plows on despite being riddled with bullets. Nik manages to keep the soldiers at bay and eventually locates Shadek and snipes him to death.
Meanwhile, Rake struggles to stay alive and takes out the remaining militia. Just when it feels like it is over, he is shot in the neck signifying the merc was all but minutes away from death. The shooter was revealed to be one of Amir's men who exacts revenge after being beaten up by Rake earlier.
Rake, bleeding and in his last breath looks up at Ovi and Nik with tears in his eyes, nods, and topples over the bridge into the water.
The scene shifts to eight months later where Nik infiltrates Amir's party and kills him ruthlessly by shooting him multiple times. Ovi is back in school and the final scene shows the still disturbed teen jumping into a swimming pool.
He comes up from the water and looks to his right where we see a hazy figure looking like Rake watching him from a distance.
Did Rake actually make it out alive?
Maybe, maybe not. But this has been a question that's plaguing fans. It's hard to gauge considering the amount of bullets Rake was riddled with. And odds of survival after a vital part of the body is hit makes it even harder. Should Rake have survived that after toppling of the bridge, it is a miracle that he actually made it.
The only possible theory that supports the fact he survived is the eight-month gap where maybe he was somehow extracted. And Nik probably finished the revenge part by killing Amir. After all, he hadn't seen her throughout the gunfire on the bridge.
Or was it Ovi's vision?
Most fans looked at the bullet to the neck as pretty much game over for Rake, and Ovi being the closest to him as they escape, knows a lot more about Rake and his past.
Probably more than anyone else, and eight months post-trauma, he may still find it hard to process the grief. So when he sees a blurry vision of a man in a green shirt, it just might have been his vision or the sense of feeling that Rake would be watching him, wherever he was.
It is a bittersweet ending. Hemsworth fans will surely be hoping he's made it out alive. And that's what we hope as well. 'Extraction' is available for streaming on Netflix.