Fonz's Favorite Frames: Extraction 2

Hey what’s up, it’s Alfonso on Ask The Fonz! In today’s blog, we’re going to be going over my favorite scene in Netflix’s latest summer blockbuster, Extraction 2. If you’re new to the blog, I basically choose one scene in a movie or television show that you should study the editing for. As always, there will be spoilers when I do this review so definitely watch the movie before reading if you don’t want it to be spoiled. More importantly, this movie was edited by William Hoy & Alex Rodriguez. Alright, let’s get right to it.

My favorite edited scene in Extraction 2 is…

The Prison Exfiltration.

Now you might be saying, “Fonz, isn’t that a full 21 minute one-shot scene? Where’s the editing in that?” It’s true, this scene is entirely a full 21 minute “one-r” but believe it or not, there’s a lot of editing that goes into this scene because they had to stitch together 2-3 minute takes together without you knowing they stitched them. But before we get into this, let’s gather the context of the scene and why the stakes were so high for Tyler Rake.

Context.

Fresh into retirement and recuperating from his last mission in the first Extraction, Tyler Rake, played by Chris Hemsworth, is needed again for his mercenary services. This time, it’s a bit more personal. His ex-wife’s sister, Ketevan, and her two children are being held captive by her husband, Davit, in a prison. Davit is the co-founder of Nagazi, the largest crime organization in Georgia. Rake needs to silently get Ketevan and her children out of there. However, it’s a tall order task because the prison is filled with Nagazi supporters and other enemy alliances. Rake could be caught in the middle of it so it must be a stealth mission.

The entire operation starts off well, Rake gets in quietly through a bribed guard but it quickly unravels when Davit hears and sees them sneaking out. He alerts his gang members which then causes a riot in the prison. The entire 21 minute “one-r” begins, as we follow Tyler Rake escape with the hostages with the help his small team. It’s an intense, suspenseful, well-directed, and action-packed sequence that stands out in the film.

What I love about this scene is that the mission is crystal clear: Escape with the hostages. Easy enough but it’s filled with hundreds of enemies. It’s Tyler Rake against everyone. And that’s what makes the stakes so high and exciting to watch. And a damn well stitched sequence. And that’s where the editing comes in…

“One-rs” Actually Include Editing.

It’s been confirmed that Director Sam Hargrave didn’t actually shoot a full 21 minute one-take long shot. They actually shot 2-3 minute takes and then stitched them together to make it seem like it’s all connected. This means that Editors William/Alex even more so had to be very intentional with their editing decisions. They had to find the right performances of the action sequences, and not only that, had to make sure it all seamlessly felt like one-take. That’s very hard to do with a creative limitation like this.

That means watching these takes very carefully and choosing the perfect one that crafts the storytelling without having to cut in 2-3 minute intervals. We’re looking for believable stunt choreography, strong performances in acting, and continuity throughout each stitched interval.

How did they hide the stitches? It’s usually in areas you wouldn’t notice, so the camera would pan through a train window, prison ground, or even an object, and they would seamlessly cut there so that you wouldn’t notice.

I would also guess that the Editors cheated performances during the takes, meaning they intentionally wanted visual effects work done in the “one-r” so that it helped them get certain performances or actions in the shot (that wasn’t necessarily in the current take).

Overall, editing a “one-r” can be challenging and more of a puzzle than editing a normal scene because not only do you have to properly tell the story correctly in one take but you have to make sure the audience doesn’t notice when you’re stitching.

Editing Gunfights & Why They’re So Hard To Pull Off.

The main reason editing gunfights are difficult is because if it isn’t done correctly, it comes across as fake and cheesy. Therefore, it will bump audiences and take them out of the film - people will usually laugh at the inauthenticity. Why I love this scene in Extraction 2, is because you’re taking that element of already trying to hide the inauthenticity of filming a gunfight by adding on another layer of not being able to cut. Meaning, the editors are trying to assemble an action packed sequence but are now given the challenge by not being able to cut! They must hide their cuts in the environment or when the camera moves using visual effects. That’s an incredible feat to accomplish.

I would be remiss not to give Director Sam Hargrave, Cinematographer Greg Baldi, and Actors Chris Hemsworth/Tinatin Dalakishvili plus all of the stunt crew a lot of credit, on pulling this scene off as well. They’re direction, camera work, and acting are superb in this scene. There really isn’t any room for error. I can only imagine the amount of planning it took for the entire team to pull this off.

If we were to put ourselves in the shoes of Editors William Hoy, and Alex Rodriguez, what we would need to do is to watch every single one-r take. We would find the best moments in each of those takes, star them, build them on the timeline and then tag-team with the VFX department to see if we can stitch them all together. Obviously, there will be shots that are “un-stitchable” and are locked in into using those takes. However, being in their shoes, they must leave no stone unturned and build the sequence as if they can stitch everything together. That’s how I would start (and how I assumed they started). And then I would present it to the Director/VFX team and see how much could we actually stitch to make everything seamless. Everything is possible on a large scale film like this - it all depends if you want to spend the money on it and if everyone wants the idea to happen. You’ll win some battles and you’ll lose some battles as an Editor but the main point of this is you have to try.

I’ll digress here for a second because this is a very important idea for aspiring editors who are currently Post-PAs or Assistant Editors. I remember an Editor during ACE EditFest one year said, “When I give my Assistant Editors a scene to cut, I want them to edit that scene 3-5 different ways. I don’t like it when Assistants come back to me, tell me that they’re “done” and there’s only one version of it.” I love this quote because it’s exactly what we all need to do when we’re editing, we need to edit the scene to its fullest ability. That means shifting the perspective, finding new ways to make the scene work, and making a lot of mistakes. So keep this in mind when you’re on a project - always try.

Going back to Extraction 2, this scene had zero moments of it looking fake or cheesy. And that’s all due in part of the well-executed direction, fight choreography, camera movement, and editing decisions. I can bet you that this scene was probably one of hardest scenes to edit in the entire movie because of how much sculpting, fine tuning and stitching they needed to do. Again, even though it’s a “one-r”, don’t let that distract you from the fact that this had to be the most challenging edit in the movie.

Great Story Always Adds Meaning.

Lastly, why this scene was my favorite in the entire movie for editing was because this scene helps setup the rest of the movie and adds meaning (plus high stakes) for us as viewers. It will never get past me that great story always adds meaning. You can have the most epic fight sequence, but if we don’t care for any of the characters, it will always feel empty. No substance. Remember that as Editors.

For instance, in this sequence, we can argue that Davit’s son, Sandro, was an important character to watch in this scene because we’re unsure if he wants to break out of this prison because he looks like he wants to side with his Dad & the Nagazi. The performances and looks and times we cut to him are crucial in giving the audience information on our “unsureness” about him.

Similarly, Tyler Rake is trying to make up for leaving his wife/son to go on tour for the military. And while he was away, his son dies from lymphoma. The loss turned into a divorce between his wife Mia and him because he wasn’t there for his family, especially when his son was suffering. However, deep down in his soul, his family is his life and every time he fights, it’s always for his son and his ex-wife.

We’re confirmed by this when Mia tells Tyler:“His last image of you wasn’t you walking out on him,” Mia tells Rake. “It was you going off to save people.” His final words were: “I want to be brave, like Dad.”

This is why we need to be mindful of the story because our editing decisions will get influenced by this. It will help us with ideas that can make audiences feel our stories better. Whether that’s cutting to a flashback at a specific moment, or even picking a performance that matches the tune of the plot point. It’s crucial we understand the story inside and out and we should not get lost that story is always king when editing. It will always lead us to the truth.

In Conclusion.

So there you have it, thanks for taking the time to read my blog - I hope you were able to learn how I learn from watching movies like this. Side note, I always make it a point to try to watch as many movies as I can because every film has an editing sequence that can teach us something. So if you can, try to watch a lot and ask yourself what your favorite edited scene is and why. It’s a great way to really think like an Editor and predict the process of how they edited the scene.

Anyways, if you’re interested in supporting my channel check out all of my socials and give me a follow - I’m on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok all under @askthefonz. If you’re interested in pursuing a career in film editing, I also do 1-on-1 mentorship to help you get started. Schedule an appointment here if you’re interested. Thanks again for reading, let me know in the comments what your favorite scenes were in Extraction 2, would love to hear them. Until next time!

-Alfonso