At the end of May, after some careful consideration, I canceled my Netflix subscription, only to find out a few days later that “Extraction 2” is coming out on Netflix on June 16.

The first movie was really entertaining, the action and gunfights were extremely well coordinated and filmed in a way that fight scenes felt truly immersive. In my TFB article, I talked with armorers and the firearms instructor who worked with actors of the first “Extraction” to see how exactly they managed to achieve that.

The first movie set a high bar, and “Extraction 2” had a lot of expectations to uphold. Will the action be as good as in the first one? Will the characters and the storyline be better written? And most importantly, will it be worth it for me to resubscribe to Netflix all over again just to watch this one movie?

Without beating around the bush, I can say that for me personally, it was totally worth it. The second movie is actually better than the first one. And not just because the action is bigger and the fights are more spectacular, but because the story and characters are much better written.

There is complexity in characters, and not just in the main ones. Even the bad guys, Georgian gang members, have a pretty good origin story, internal conflicts that make sense, and most importantly, they are played by actual Georgian actors speaking their native language. The choice of weapons often reflects the background of the characters and adds to the storyline.

When it comes to gunfight scenes, “Extraction 2” features an extremely diverse selection of firearms: ARs, custom Glocks and 2011s, various machine guns and RPGs, and beautifully modified AKs. I spoke to Larry Zanoff, one of the most prominent armorers in Hollywood. The company he is working for, Independent Studio Services (ISS) provided guns bot both “Extraction” and “Extraction 2”.

Rifles used by actress Golshifteh Farahani in “Extraction” (below) and “Extraction 2”. Photo from ISS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CtxL4D4SZa6/

The second movie was filmed entirely in Europe, primarily in the Czech Republic. This country has one of the best firearm legislations in the EU. But even when guns are available locally in the country where you’re filming, it is impossible to match the experience and infrastructure that US companies like ISS have. Blank-firing weapons require expertise that you cannot teach overnight, and as we know, safety on a movie set is something that is not up for debate.

Therefore, weapons from local prop houses were not used. According to Larry: “the firearms seen on screen (in “Extraction 2”) were provided by ISS and shipped to the Czech Republic and Austria (as we did for “Extraction 1” when we shipped to India and Thailand).

The main characters in the movie used several custom Glock pistols that I could not initially identify. According to Larry Zanoff: “Yes, there were quite a few different handguns used in the film. Some were custom, others were stock, but all were selected to give the film that “cutting edge/hi-tech” style that has become the franchises trademark look. To name a few: Agency Arms, STI, ZEV Technologies, along with stock items like a variety of Glocks, Berettas, CZs, etc.”

Glock 19 pistol used by the character of Golshifteh Farahani in “Extraction 2”. Photo from ISS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CtkgMT4P6xU/

In one of the scenes, this Glock 19 has a stoppage, which in this case is an integral part of the story. But what if the stoppage isn’t planned? How do you deal with it during the shoot, when one malfunction can ruin an entire take? Does the actor attempt to clear the stoppage himself?

Larry shared his experience:

Yes, the “Extraction” franchise is becoming famous for long takes? Thanks to the very talented director and his team. Every scene is different, and the on-set armorer has to develop the SOP based on the geography of the set, the firearms abilities of the cast, and the requirements of the scene. We call it “gunfight choreography”.

That’s why employing a professional, knowledgeable, and experienced armorer is so important when firearms & blank ammunition are being used on set. And you are correct, the reliability of the blank firearms is paramount, both for filming aspects, as well as safety aspects. But to answer your question, we rarely have the cast try to clear malfunctions in the middle of a scene.

Leader of the Georgian gang, Zurab, loading his AK 102

In the Austrian skyscraper shootout scene, Georgian gangsters used some of the coolest AKs I’ve seen in modern cinema. By the angle of the magazine, the rifles looked like 5.56x45mm AKs, which you don’t see very often on the silver screen.

I thought maybe it was a more common AK 105 chambered for 5.45×39? But how can you find blank 5.45×39 ammo in Europe these days? Larry validated my guess: “The Austria shootout was a very action-packed part of the film, and many many rounds were fired out of many different platforms. No 5.45 firearms were used in the show.”

AK 102 used by the leader of the Georgian gang, Zurab. Photo from ISS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CtkgMT4P6xU/

One thing that surprised me in the movie was Milcor MGL, a grenade launcher with a six-round spring-driven revolver-style magazine. The problem most people don’t understand is that there are no “blanks” for such a weapon.

Even when you use inert projectiles that don’t explode, the projectiles remain extremely dangerous. essentially, these are giant slugs that can still do a lot of harm. So I asked Larry about it: “Those were indeed Milkors, and I am glad to see you picked up on the realistic firing actions. We have a method of creating a blank fire effect for those types of firearms, but I cannot divulge them as they are trade secrets. All part of our “movie magic”.

In the Austrian skyscraper shootout scene, Chris Hemsworth used an AR-10-style rifle with Leupold Mark 6 1-6 LPVO that I could not identify. Larry Zanoff clarified that: “It was a V Seven Harbinger. We always try to give the main characters some special firearm to set them apart from the rest of the cast, after all, they are the main stars. You can see this in many films (“Extraction 1”, “Sicario”, “The gray man”, etc.)”

HARBINGER 308 RIFLE from V Seven Weapon Systems. Photo from ISS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CtkgMT4P6xU/

The last question I had was about knives. Almost every character had some sort of tactical knife and was used during hand-to-hand combat scenes. I asked Larry who is choosing the knives that characters will use in a movie: “Each project is a little different. On this one, the knives were in the preview of the very talented prop master Thomas Salpietro and his crew who did an amazing job (not just with the knives, but with all the props)”.

In Part 2 of this article, we will talk about the training process actors went through with the tactical coordinator of the movie Craig “Chili” Palmer.

If you would like to know more about ISS and Larry Zanoff, check out this TFB “Behind The Gun” podcast: Silver Screen Guns with Larry Zanoff. You can also take a look at the tour that our fellow writer Nick Chen had at the ISS prop house in 2019.