Extracted (2012)

Powerful

Good start, but then it gets ruined

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I'm a professional screenwriter and director, and I can tell you how monumentally difficult it is to get a first feature film off the ground and into production... let alone to make it any good.With Extracted, Nir Paniry has done an absolutely stellar job.He has managed to tell a big story that could easily have cost millions of dollars on a modest budget. There's great credit due to the script for that. The film itself is compelling, well cast and acted, emotionally involving and commercially appealing.This deserves a huge amount of credit to Paniry together with his cast, crew and producers. I hope they're as proud of this as I was impressed by it.To pick up on a minor flaw, I agree with a couple of other reviews that have pointed out that the plot comes a touch unstuck in the final denouement when all the details are revealed. But I'll more than forgive it this for its otherwise great strengths and commendable execution.If you haven't seen Extracted and you enjoy sci-fi, then you must give it your time.

Movies like Extracted, have such potential, however mistakes in the story often become their downfall. Extracted is the story of a scientist who has developed a new technology, that allows him to temporary transfer his consciousness to another person. Once inside their head, he can see their memories and know their feelings. Of course the Government is interested in this technology for criminal justice purposes and pay the scientist to go into the mind of a murder suspect, to find out if he's guilty or not. Once inside, the scientist becomes trapped and must figure out a way to make the suspect aware of his presents, before he can figure a way out. The problem I had with this story is that the scientist becomes trapped the very first time he uses his invention. What scientist would ever use themselves as the guinea pig? Additionally, are we supposed to believe that the government would just drop a bundle of money on an untested technology? Once inside the mans head, we constantly see memories out of order and jump between scientist memories, suspect memories, and what's going on in the outside world, making for a very confusing film. Dominic Bogart stars as the suspect and really does a nice job, however the scientist, played by Sasha Roiz wasn't nearly as believable. Extracted had a great story to work with, but a mediocre star, with a confusing timeline, making it nearly impossible to follow. I loved the premise, the investigation was interesting, and Dominic Bogart was really good, but all those things weren't enough to save an otherwise confusing and uneven film.

It annoys me this film isn't well known or at least recognised. Just because it's not made of CGI and big actors, people find it easy to judge this film as an amateur work. However it has better writing, directing and heart than many other blockbusters out there. Maybe it's because my favourite film is "Moon" that I have a soft spot for indies, but I implore you to watch this film. Domanic Bogart is brilliant and so is Sasha Roiz and I really invested in their characters.I see a lot of reviewers are also frustrated with it's IMDb score. It should at least be 7.6.

The shaky camera was annoying me thru the whole move. I liked the concept (someone jumping inside other's memories and even talking to the host), yet it was not developed into anything interesting. The whole movie revolves around proving if some junkie is guilty or not of murdering his girlfriend. I never really cared. The junkie character did not evoke any sympathy. In the end of the movie they pose a question if memories are reliable and answer: no, they are not. So, say, they aren't reliable for legal procedures. Well, OK, I guess that's common knowledge anyway. So, all in all, they took an interesting concept (watching memories of _others_, not just yourself) which is actually not new but that's fine, and built something around it, plus shaky camera. Was it fun? Not much really. This movie well deserves its 6-something rating.