Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019)

At first I thought this was going to be one of those Chinese co-productions where everyone who's Chinese has superpowers, but then I realised that it was actually every man in the movie who has super powers. So, like, equality I guess, so long as you're a man. On that subject, is it just me or does it kind of suck that Jaime King's character gets taken down in the first act because of the romantic relationship she has with a man old enough to be her grandfather? Either way, what's _The Extractors_ got going on? Well, interestingly enough, the fights in this are actually better than the previous _Escape Plan_ movie, despite that movie being entirely about fighting. I weirdly also kind of bought Devon Sawa (who I guess finally doesn't look like he's 17 anymore) as the villain of the piece. But it does feel distinctly as if it's two movies that got jammed together. Or maybe just one actual movie that had another plot jammed into it to accommodate the mandatory Chinese business concern storyline. Not sure that either one of these is the case, but it wouldn't surprise me if one was. Regardless, it's certainly how it feels. _The Extractors_ has a lot of the problems of its predecessor, but it is ultimately a better movie, if not a very good one. It's a shame, the _Escape Plan_ franchise started out... Well not "strong" exactly, but, promising I guess? And has really not lived up to what Schwarzenegger and Stallone could have done with this thing. _Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._