Extraction Killed The Heck Out Of Tyler Rake, So How Is He Back For Extraction 2?

This post contains spoilers for "Extraction" and Extraction 2."

In Sam Hargrave's "Extraction," black ops agent Tyler Rake died a hero's death. Tyler's eventful life as a competent operative was unfortunately full of regrets, as he was mired in guilt after abandoning his son who had lymphoma. This haunted Tyler throughout the course of "Extraction," and when he was given a choice to abandon the young Ovi (Rudhraksh Jaiswal), the child of a drug lord he had been contracted to rescue, Tyler chose to be a better man and assumed the role of protector for Ovi.

You might remember the tense bride sequence towards the end, where Tyler got shot a dozen times, which left him bruised and bleeding all over. While Ovi and Tyler's mercenary partner Nik Khan (Golshifteh Farahani) were hopeful that he might live, a bullet in the neck caused him to tumble over the bridge and land right into the river beneath, seemingly dead.

In "Extraction," Tyler's demise is set up in such a way that he appears to be deader than dead, going out like a redeemed person who has finally achieved salvation. For one, there is no way a man can withstand so many bullet wounds, and even if he does manage to do so, the fatal nature of the neck wound would make him bleed to death in minutes. Moreover, he falls right into Bangladesh's Buriganga River, which is considered one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Surely, the combination of exposed wounds and noxious waste would speed up an already inevitable death? Nah, not when it comes to Tyler Rake, who miraculously survives (!) only to return in "Extraction 2," because men like him are just built differently.

"Extraction 2," also helmed by Hargrave, directly gets to resolving the question of Tyler's supposed "death" by explaining how ended up surviving. We pick up right after Tyler falls off the bridge into the water, and it turns out that Tyler's unconscious body ended up on the shore, and he was rescued by some locals and provided immediate medical attention. Now ... this isn't a super convincing way to bring a character back, especially one whose death carried some meaning and brought his arc full circle, but hey, if this entails Hemsworth kicking some butts and looking cool while doing it, I guess it's more than fair.

Tyler doesn't immediately recover though. He is, understandably, in a coma, as his injuries are particularly grave. And even after he comes to, his body is broken and battered to the point that he's unable to walk properly. Khan looks after Tyler and advises him to rest during his retirement, but the premise of "Extraction 2" wouldn't be as fun if that were to be the case now, would it? Sure enough, he's approached soon by a mysterious handler (Idris Elba), who hires him for a mission of a more personal nature and gives him six weeks tops to whip himself back to shape.

Accomplishing the impossible yet again, Tyler Rake takes off his casts and immediately engages in a grueling training regiment near his woodland cabin like he's Rocky gearing up for a fight with Ivan Drago. Lo and behold, he not only recovers in six weeks but somehow looks more rugged and menacing than usual while he violently chopping wood or doing pull-ups on a makeshift bar. Seriously, what a dude. 

To be fair, while Tyler's "death" in the first film looked pretty final, "Extraction" does end with Ovi seeing the blurred vision of a man who looks a lot like Tyler. The open-ended nature of the ending was deliberate for sequel-churning purposes, but it also conveyed the message that Tyler now has something to live for, having atoned for his mistakes by saving the life of another child. This does not magically absolve him of his guilt but provides him with a new-found purpose to do right by his loved ones, which is the impetus behind his central mission in the sequel.

In "Extraction 2," Tyler's journey is much more personal than his mission to save Ovi, as his mission also includes saving another kid name Sandro (Andro Jafaridze). Due to a rather complicated family situation and upbringing, Sandro is confused about his allegiances and is rather skeptical and distrustful of Tyler even after the latter goes to great lengths to save him and his family. However, Tyler is not one to simply give up, and once again puts his life on the line to save an innocent life.

There are no death-related cliffhangers this time — although Tyler ends up in prison for a while, he is now a free man, relieved of the guilt that haunted him for years. Thankfully, his fate this time around does not include almost bleeding to death or floating around in a dense, polluted river.

"Extraction 2" is now streaming on Netflix.