Extraction   Starring: Sasha Roiz, Jenny Mollen and Dominic Bogart Distributor: Signature Entertainment RRP: £15.99 Certificate: 15 Release Date: 09 September 2013

An engineering scientist called Thomas Jacobs invents a device which records and places you into your own memories. The purpose is to help people with psychological problems, and to separate real from false memories. He is approached by a backer representing the Justice Department, which wishes to invest. In return for making him and his family very wealthy, he is persuaded to adapt his device to place someone mentally into the memories of another person. The test subject is a dangerous criminal convicted of brutally killing his girlfriend. Thomas agrees to demonstrate the machine himself, and spends time watching the man’s memories from within. However, when the time comes to leave, Tom finds he is trapped inside the man’s head. For four years, he is obliged to repeatedly witness past events from the point of view of the convict. But then a slight malfunction in the system allows the convict to notice his presence. The desperate man is convinced he is innocent of the charge of murder, and so forces Tom to uncover the truth or stay imprisoned within his head forever...

This is another one of those films which surprises you with its originality and inventiveness. This is no big budget blockbuster, and works all the better for it. It is well-crafted and tightly edited so that it hits the ground running and is constantly evolving and picking up pace. The plot is intriguing, but the background gives it just as much substance. I like the fact that, within the scene of a given memory there are points of detail which have been forgotten. These are filled-in by the programme, and Tom has to carefully trigger the clarity of these details. Whilst initially taking for granted what he is told about the situation, Tom becomes guardedly sympathetic to the convict’s plight as more information is uncovered and doubt overcomes him.

In retrospect, the storyline of Extraction allows for many of the memory scenes to be repeated with only minor alterations, without ever seeming like the movie is scrimping and saving on its costs. This consequence may have also reduced the filming schedule. Nevertheless, it’s well worth a look for those who enjoy technological science fiction or murder mystery thrillers, as it straddles both genres.

7

Ty Power