Extortion (2017) Online

I didn't know what to expect from this film with no reviews posted as I write this. What I found was a thriller that contained wild twists and turns as it progressed, but which also contained, at times, such highly implausible plot elements that I found myself shaking my head in disbelief.

Eion Bailey stars here as Dr. Kevin Riley, who is about to embark on a much anticipated Caribbean vacation with his wife Jules (Bethany Joy Lenz) and their six-year-old son Andy (Mauricio E. Alemany). Upon arrival,they rent a boat from a local, but, at the urging of Andy, end up exploring a deserted island far out at sea. However, with their outboard motor failing and with no food or water, they will find themselves in a most precarious and dangerous predicament.

From there, a series of wild and life threatening events will begin, and without writing too many spoilers I will say that a local fisherman named Miguel sees a golden opportunity for extortion here. Barkhad Abdi, who was nominated for and won numerous awards for his motion picture debut in "Captain Phillips" again turns in an amazing and most believable performance as Miguel.

Overall, this movie, written and directed by Phil Volken, was better than I anticipated and certainly kept my attention throughout, but be prepared for some extremely implausible plot elements along the way.

I read a few of the reviews who hated the movie. "how did this make it to Netflix?" - I can tell you how :)

It is entertaining. I read people complaining about how unrealistic the movies are. But those are the same kinds of people who love the Transformers series :) Not saying the movie is unrealistic, but let's face it. It's a movie, not a documentary.

There are a few plot holes, I give you that. But as a software engineer I just roll my eyes when someone 'hacks into a system' (again) in some movie for the sake of storytelling.

I do not need every single detail of the movie to be well researched. Which is why it is a movie.

So much about the disclaimer :) The movie itself is good. Main characters do a great job, it takes you around a few turns in the Caribbean - and the overall message of the movie is great. Family matters more than money.

I rate it 7/10 because of the things that other people actually hated the movie for. I liked it, I just consider those gaps in research 'flaws', not total failures :)

It is definitely worth watching. It is well cast and entertainingly written and filmed. It's far from a B-movie or a low-budget production.

Whoever calls this low-budget doesn't know the first thing about production value.

This movie is horrible, poorly written, very unrealistic. ****Spoiler alert**** Unbelievable things that happen in this movie. 1. The Spanish captain getting hit by a truck on an empty street. 2. The Spanish captain pointing to the island on his last dying breath 3. The dad finding the Spanish captain on the exact same bus he randomly got on. 4. The spear going off, then killing the daughter, then stabbing the dad, after it was being laid down on a table gently. 5. The dad not being able to carry the wife to the boat, which is 10 more feet. 6. The dad using CPR to save his son from Starvation/Dehydration. 7. The dad escaping 4 police officers after his wrestles a gun from one as he is recovering from a stab wound. 8. The villain asking for 1 million dollars to begin with. 9. Him negotiating with police after he is wanted for a double murder.

Everyone giving this movie good reviews need to rethink if any thing in this movie is actually possible.

Actor Barkhad Abdi is a person I would not want to be on the same boat as him.

Abdi plays a poor fisherman, Miguel who thinks his golden goose has dropped a golden egg when he finds Dr Kevin Riley (Eion Bailey) a heart surgeon on holiday in the Caribbean stranded on a broken down motorboat with his family and in desperate need for help.

After drifting for some days, his wife and son exhausted, Miguel seizes the opportunity to demand money from the Kevin. Then once the money has been transferred he leaves them all for dead fearing they would go to the police.

Kevin makes the search for his family and Miguel once he realises that the local police are no help.

This is another American in peril story abroad. The good doctor should had figured that there was no way the fisherman would release his family once he got the money. It really is a B movie, cheesy, the acting is rather wooden, Danny Glover is really too old to play a cop but it has some thrills but the plot is nonsensical.

I caught myself being engaged from the start, things unfold just about how you'd expect in this type of movie although you don't know exactly, we've seen it all before, but it is done alright. Engaged, never bored, but never mindblown. The fugitive 'light' in the Caribbean, not much else to say. Polished feel. Well-deserved 7/10.

Firstly i want to say that this is my first IMDb review, and English isn't my native language, so please excuse me if i make grammar mistakes.

I personally can't understand how such an awful scenario for this movie was approved. It is full of mistakes that in real life would never happen. I watched it just because of Barkhad Abdi acting in the movie.

Spoiler alert from now on !!!

In this review i will try to explain why this movie was so bad for me.

• In the beginning of the movie, when the family arrives on the island, the father rush to rent a jet ski to ride with his kid. When he is told all the jet skis are already rented he does a desperate move renting a boat from a local man, like he was in his last day of the vacation.

• Another thing that it seems weird to me, is that the boat has no radio station so you can emit an S.O.S. if needed. The biggest thing that i can't understand is the lack of cell phone on the family. Like really? No camera, no phone, no nothing when you go on a vacantion ?? A GPS on a phone would resolve so many things...

• Throughout the movie Kevin Riley is seen wearing a watch. From the moment he wakes up in the boat took by Miguel he can look at the time and calculate how much time was until they arrived at the harbor. This information would narrow the search area for the police.

• He is taken by Miguel to a payphone to raise the money needed. He is shown calling multiple persons. From where did he get the numbers? Highly improbable that he would memorate all that numbers.

• When he is left to drawn in the boat, the wood walls are old and frail so it is hard to believe that a strong man cannot put a hole in those.

• Highly improbable that the crossbow would trigger when put down gently.

• He escapes the hospital very easy, running with a fresh wound.

• Jorge get's run over by somebody right in the middle of the road, with no brakes, no nothing.

• With he's dying powers Jorge points a island to a map he barely seen (Kevin has three maps, but when Jorge opens his eyes he has the correct one in the hand) and is for the first time he is seen them.

• Again with a fresh wound Kevin runs for the nearest harbor but with just minutes ago he cannon run for more than a few meters.

• When refueling the boat the contor on the fuel pump run very slowly, but in the next shot it goes very fast, filling the 1200 litres fuel tank in just under a minute.

• When reaching to the island he miraculously saves his son life by doing cardiac massage (manage to get there just when his heart stops beating...)

If all this doesn't convince you that this is a bad movie i don't know what to say more.

Obvious, cheesy low budget movie. Acting is poor, the plot is predictable and not logical. Don't be fooled by the trailer, this movie is complete disaster. It is so predictable and unrealistic. At one point I had to stop watching because the movie got out of control. The camera is terrible as well, I felt dizzy at times.

I haven't been to IMDb site in probably 7 years. However, I was so curious what people said about this movie, that after googling reviews, landed back here and was reading. I felt compelled to register, sing in, and confirm the account all at 1 am my time. Just so I can share a review, that tells something about the movie?

The movie.

The most unbelievable plot ever made.

Plot is so bluntly consequential that you know from the very line of the neighbors about the lawn mower engine that something is going to happen. Now, movie is full of unbelievable and unreal scenes.

Adding to all of these mentioned before

Dad mentions owns a boating license when renting from a local, yet he goes out to open sea without a single bottle of water, no compass, first-aid-kit, etc all things you know and need to know if you get a license. Even if you buy one and not pass you know better.

On the good side, watching you ask yourself - what would you do (even if you wouldn't do such a dumb thing).

Acting is bad. Wife looks hot. Kid is a moron.

American family go traveling to a poor country, flash around money and are surprised the locals are resentful. Dad is a doctor with the brains of an oyster. mum is hollow, child is also hollow but gets more lines than mum (mom for you Yaqui's).

Dad is incompetent reckless and stupid and is amazed when things go wrong.

I think the villains were more likable.

I feel like 2 hours of my life has been thrown away.

Please listen to me.

If you rent this movie, you will possibly become enraged while watching it.

Because everything about it is so stupid.

First of all, in the first scene, you hate the wife of the doctor because she's such an irritating rag.

Then, Doc, our main character, who's supposed to be smart because he's a heart surgeon, makes an idiotic decision, putting all three of them at risk of certain stupid, preventable death.

Seemingly endless unpleasantness ensues, none of it believable, until the fast-forward function is utilized.

Nothing adds up. Why was this script approved? Why was this "movie" made?

Wow. Didn't know a product such as this could find its way into NetFlix.

This movie is just OK. The story is noting special, lots of barely believable scenes on which I had to "close" my eyes. I would have expected more from Kevin, an American doctor, in terms of being if not smart, but at least having some brains not to get his family into a potentially dangerous situation, which ended up being disastrous. I am assuming that doctors do have some intellect outside of their medical practices. Now about acting. It was just satisfactory and at times Eion Bailey completely fails to deliver emotions expected from a distraught and desperate father and husband whose family is on a brink of survival. They say that eyes don't lie and it is through eyes we express out emotions, not from a face scrunching ( Will Smith and J.Aniston have never figured this out), so in few scenes where Kevin's agony should have reached an apogee, his eyes remain absolutely calm. I should probably mention that he did manage to pull some emotions in some scenes, but as a whole, his performance was uneven. All other actors did not occupy the screen for long enough to rate their performances, but I would say that no one had impressed me. It is not a bad film, I still recommend to see it, for it has an entertaining value.

First of all, I'm the father of a daughter. If things happen like this I believe I would do most the same as this dad did in the movie. A message to some people seeing this is a nonsense movie, here are my concluding:

1. In real life, You have to imagine there will be a lot more worse and more stupid people than bad guys in the movie that you could never understand WHY!

2. in case no one trusts you, you have to find your own way to solve the problem, not to wait for any congenial ideas from any men, from any government. Because they are not living in your mind, not in your urgent time, not understand your situation, not living for your life, do not expect any empathy if they don't have it... So don't wait for them to say in their final word that is "we are sorry"...

In this particular scene, no men can search for his family among thousand of islands within 1 night and 1 morning, so don't blame that he is stupid unless you put yourself into this...

3. If the father waits for the police to catch that Haiti and tracing banking account, cell phone, interviewing suspects, doing process kinds of stuff... the next day will be wasted forever and could lead to the death of 2 fresh bodies...

This is the first time i am ever writing a movie a review on IMDb. So bear with me if my English is not good. But this movie deserves one. This movie literally kept me on the edge of the seat and gasping on the violent and unexpected twists. Many a time a scene comes and you are left wondering 'what the hell just happened'. With hell lot of twists and surprises this movie keeps the action going on. There are no particular points along the time line where you are bored. Pure thriller from start to end. Also happy to see Danny Glover in action. all in all a must see. it deserves a rating more than 7.

I am a sucker for all kinds of adventure/thriller or adventure/drama/thriller movies so I was excited to see that my favorite actress from One tree hill Bethany Joy was in this new movie. I rented it on redbox and got ready to enjoy a movie with my favorite actress, rather than an actual movie. And I was surprised. As much as a lot of movies like this are pretty predictable in how the events will unfold, this movie kept me "on my toes". It started off pretty slow, but then picked up a pace and it got my attention until it was over. Great acting, interesting "unpredictable" turn of events at some points, and pretty cool ending as I thought it might end differently. Yes, there are elements of "unbelievable" situations, where you might chuckle, but come on.... name one movie that is completely REAL and appears 100% legit in every darn thing. Exactly. Anyway, I liked it a lot. I might even watch it again.

Another disappointing movie, no suspense, absolute garbage The acting is pretty awful, Its about time Danny Glover retired instead of starring in movies like this I was so bored 40 minutes in that i started to Fast forward the movie, I'm really glad as I didn't miss much.

I don't normally review movies on IMDb, but I went into this movie not expecting too much. It got great reviews on rotten tomatoes and only 6/10 on IMDb. I gotta tell you this movie is fantastic. Full of suspense and drama, kept me on the edge of my seat the entire movie. It also full of feels, and you don't even expect it. I recommend this movie as a sleeper hit, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a suspenseful thriller with a great ending.

Kevin Riley (Eion Bailey) is the county hospital heart surgeon who can't fix his own lawn mower. So when he takes his family out for a boat ride, we already know he won't be able to fix it. They get help from Miguel (Barkhad Abdi) who extorts money from the doctor then leaves everyone for dead. Kevin manages to survive and the authorities (Danny Glover etc.) don't seem to be any help, thinking he planned the whole thing for the insurance money. Kevin conducts his own investigation to find his family...

Eion Baily is not Liam Neeson so when he gears up to go "walking tall" there is no adrenaline rush. A doctor who can't fix a lawn mower has zero MacGyver potential too. He is not a former SEAL or special operative, just a guy. Danny Glover has a role smaller than his billing, meaning they can't sell the film on it's own merits. Low energy.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

The scenario"A fun trip go horribly wrong" had been done countless time before and is one of my favorite movie sub genre but if only it well directed and this movie Extortion (2017) hit all the right note in my book.The movie told a story about a family man will do anything to get back his family when he get caught up in a deadly situation involving a local fish man.The thing i like the most about this movie is although the bad and good guy line is pretty clear from the beginning but the more the movie go the more you will feel sympathy for the bad guy brilliant played by Barkhad Abdi a very underrated actor you may recognize from Captain Phillips.The main character played by Eion Bailey also very good in this movie when it come to emotional scene and showing the die hard will of a man.I'm also very please when seeing Danny Glover in this movie despite being a supporting character.The thing turned me off the most is i freaking hate what they did with Barkhad Abdi character when they kill him off during the movie climax.

I really enjoyed this movie which I assume was a low budget straight to Netflix production The movie is based on a true story which is interesting in itself and provided you can turn a blind eye to some dodgy plot twists it is a fast paced thriller with lots of action that keeps you guessing until the end. The cinematography is excellent with beautiful shots of the Caribbean islands just off the coast of Puerto Rico where the film was made and the actors including Danny Glover give good performances. Special mention must go to the director Phil Volken who has only directed a handful of movies so far however I was impressed by this effort and look forward to his next offering

Yes, the actors are unknown. Yes, it seems a little low budget. Yes, the camera is shaky (that is a style of visual effect, btw).

I for one could see past all that for what this movie really is. It had me on the edge of my seat almost the entire time, wanting to see what would happen next. It was interesting, suspenseful and well, I just really enjoyed it!

..The only thing I kinda thought odd about this movie was.. Why was the kid a Hispanic child? I mean his parents were 100% Caucasian yet he looked, and sounded, 100% Mexican.. Adopted? I dunno, it didn't say.

A movie that leaves you still thinking about it afterwards ...is a good movie! All action thrillers have some element of 'unrealistic'. It doesn't matter...its not based on a true story.. I could really 'feel' the desperation of the father...just wanting to get back to that Island where his family lay helpless. You never saw him eat anything or even sleep because time was of the essence..just like Liam Neeson in Taken..the time factor was crucial. Its what made this movie an edge of your seat Thriller! The constant ticking of his brain for the next move just made you go YESSSSS!!! The extortionist was perfectly played..you hated him even though you see why he did what he did later.. Danny Glover was fantastic, just cool calm not overplayed as the cop in charge. The main actor was the father who at times resembled Bradley Cooper ????. The only thing I would have liked is 'more' to the ending..like Taken..it leaves you that bit more satisfied that all is OK, whereas Extortion leaves you to assume it. Great movie nonetheless..I can see an Extortion2!!

you're so unbelivebly ice-hearted, numbless, without any minimum feelings! predictable - No! it's wonderful life adventure, with spiritual messages about difficilties in life, and morality.

who ever here think of himself as "know it all", and judge everything for the worst - is a poor small man, miserable person.

because it's not about realism or not. this is not the issue. you should stop bringing good ideas and movies and stories down, shut t f up, and do something for yorself beside judging others accomplishments. get a life!

grow t f up! you spoil stupid children

awesome and deep movie, recommend very much. and if someone have better movies - i'll be happy to know which.

Very nice acting and the movie was thrilling and breath taken. But for real the mother should have take water for here child and some snack on boat trip like that

The only conclusion I have after watching Extortion is that it could have been much better. The movie is entertaining, there is no doubt about that, but there are too many plot holes in the story. Many times I was thinking "How the hell could he knew that?, That's not possible, Yeah right, and so on". And that's never good in a well balanced story. The acting wasn't bad though, but it could have been better sometimes. The ending wasn't great either, I thought they were just tired of writing a good ending for a movie that could have been much better if they put a bit more effort into it. But to watch once it's okay if you just want some entertaining and you are not to fuzzy about the perfection in a story.

In the DVD version of "Extortion," the film's writer-director Phil Volken describes how he wanted to make a film that would have "universal" implications, engaging viewers with the story of a desperate man on the run faced with "one obstacle after to another." Volken's ultimate goal was "a story people can relate to."

Unfortunately, the film was slow for the first half, then, when the action scenes kicked in, they were often so difficult to believe that the film collapsed into preposterous moments that lost all sense of credibility. That's not the kind of universality that the director desired.

There is a defining moment early in the film when the protagonist, a medical doctor named Dr. Kevin Riley, is about to leave on a vacation with his family, but seems unable or unwilling to figure out the operation of his power lawnmower. That detail has consequences later when the doctor is stranded on an island after he is unable to restart his rented motor boat. In turn, the doctor is blackmailed by an extortionist fisherman, who demands a million dollars to bring the hapless family back to civilization. The extortionist is played by Barkhad Abdi, who does a virtual re-enactment of his villain role in "Captain Phillips."

In his attempt to save his wife and young son, Dr. Riley makes one mistake after another, leading him deeper and deeper into a hopeless situation. His plight is compounded by the ineptitude of one of the most incompetent police forces imaginable. Suddenly, Dr. Riley goes from being the hunter to the hunted as the drama plays out.

In the bonus segment of the DVD, the writer-director described the challenges of filming on water. Members of the cast and crew became seasick, and the shoot was a laborious process. The filmmakers deserve some credit for an effective climactic action sequence in the sparkling blue water of the Caribbean. At the same time, the there were far too many scenes that stretched credibility to the limit and kept the film out of reach of the major goal of "a story people can relate to."