Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you a drama,
sci-fi film from 2012, titled Extracted. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care.
It's late at night when Anthony enters his ex-girlfriend Adrienne's house and points a gun
at her as Tom watches. There's nothing he can do about it before the gun is shot and Tom wakes up
in a white room, to then move a room with a piano. The voice of an AI called Minnie reminds him that
it's time for his daily reminder, so Tom begins mentioning details about himself to check his
memory is working well and he hasn't lost sense of himself. He also mentions he is a prisoner
of his own creation and that he's getting bored, so Minnie renders another location for him. Tom
is now reliving a memory from some months ago. He was with his pregnant wife, Abbey, telling
her he finally got a potential investor for his invention. Later, they had dinner with his sales
reps, Richard, where Tom explained exactly how his invention worked. The machine could explore
and showed the subconscious mind of another person and help them with issues like trauma and amnesia,
and it was programmed to detect if memories were false. Richard however, had other plans:
the investor he made contact with wanted to use the machine to enter other people's minds. This
went against Tom's and Abbey's morals, but Richard explained that he wouldn't find anyone willing to
fund his project if he didn't compromise a little, so Tom ended up accepting for the sake of the
baby and the debt they were drowning in. This decision makes him argue with Abbey later. He
went ahead and started working with his business partner Gary on an improved machine that could
put an outsider in another person's mind and guided you to the memories you wanted to find.
They built a virtual command center as a starter area and used Tom's house as a model for it before
also hiring an actress, Minnie, to be the voice of the guiding AI. In case things go wrong,
they also install a self-destruct system for her. Now Tom is visiting another memory - once that
isn't his own. He's been trapped for four years inside Anthony's head, and he now watches him have
fun on the beach with Adrienne. Meanwhile, in real life, Abbey takes their daughter Donna to see her
dad at the hospital, where his body lays in a coma while his subconscious lives in Anthony's head.
After the beach memory ends, Tom asks Minnie to take him to another one of his own, the one that
showed how all this got started. One night, he was woken up by a call from Richard, informing him
they would have to do the presentation the next day. Gary wasn't happy to hear that later since
they were supposed to have six weeks to finish the project and some things weren't tested yet, but
they had no other choice to accept if they didn't want trouble. The next night, they took their
machine to a big warehouse, where they were joined by Arthur, from the Department of Correction,
who had brought a bunch of cops and a criminal with them. They wanted Tom to use the machine
on that criminal, Anthony, to see if he was truly innocent or not. If it worked, no criminal would
have to consent, using the machine would become mandatory in trials. This enraged Tom and Gary,
but they couldn't leave: Richard reminded them that they already took these people's money,
so disobeying would get them in trouble. After sedating Anthony while avoiding the junkie scars
and injecting him with the microchip that will connect to the machine, Tom asked Arthur for
the details: Adrienne had been found dead, an anonymous tip had seen Anthony's truck near the
crime scene, and the murder weapon had Anthony's fingerprints on it. With this information in mind,
Tom connected to Anthony's mind, and everything he saw appeared on the computer screen. He
showed up at the starter area first and asked Minnie to show him the night of the murder.
Anthony was in his truck, looking at a text from Adrienne saying they were over before getting out
and hitting the front door of her house. Since she wouldn't answer, he entered through the back door,
and it seemed the night of the crime was fuzzy in his mind because the machine had to place
placeholders where pictures and drawings would usually go. Anthony found Adrienne and after they
struggled for a moment, she ran to the bedroom, where she apologized before he shot her with her
own gun. Afterward, Anthony ran to the bathroom to take some pills and call his dad while Tom asked
Minnie to analyze the memory: the chances of being real were 95%, which was a pretty solid number.
The missing details weren't uncommon for an addict, so now that the police had what they
wanted, Tom asked Gary to take him out. Instead of coming back however, Tom found himself back
in the starter area. Gary couldn't take him out no matter what keys he pressed, so Tom asked Minnie
to self-destruct. She did so, but for some reason, Tom still wouldn't come back. Back in the present,
in prison, Anthony wakes up after dreaming about the day he was arrested. After some Bible reading,
he is taken to the visitor area, where his father Martino is waiting for him. He's brought Anthony
some old family pictures for him, but he also reminds his son that he wants him to clean up in
jail as he did. Anthony tells him he's been taking a carpentry class and shows him the lack of needle
scars on his arms, promising he's trying his best, but his dad doesn't trust his word anymore.
While Anthony looks at the photos in his cell, Tom visits a memory he's seen dozens of times.
Little Anthony is trying to make his dog sit, but the little guy wouldn't listen,
and Martino tells him the only way to teach something is through constant repetition, because
if you tell someone something enough times they'll believe it, but this dog is incredibly dumb. When
little Anthony goes to the fridge to grab a beer for his father, he actually sees Tom, but before
Tom can do anything, the memory resets. Tom tries to make contact with the kid again twice more,
but he doesn't see him anymore, and Minnie insists that's impossible anyway. Trying to figure out
what makes this occasion so different, Tom asks Minnie to show him Anthony's memory of what he'd
been doing while Tom interacted with his younger self. He finds Anthony looking at the pictures and
staring for longer at one of his old dog before he glances at Tom as if he could see him too.
Tom realizes what happened then: Anthony had been thinking of the same memory Tom had been visiting,
so to communicate with him, he needs to be at the memory he thinks of the most.
Minnie sadly can't locate memories by the number of times they were seen, so Tom asks her for some
memory where frequency is discussed, like therapy or a confession. Minnie shows him one of the many
times Anthony talked to a priest. He told him about a memory that still haunted him all the
time, and Tom decides to visit. One day years ago, while hanging with his friend and dealer Eric,
he realized he couldn't live another day without his fix, so together they planned a robbery.
After covering their faces with ski masks, Anthony took Eric's gun and both of them went after a man
that just visited his bookie: Martino himself. The man didn't take them seriously, so Eric hit
him and ran with the money while Martino punched Anthony and, after retrieving the gun, took off
his mask. He was very shocked to see his son and refused to talk to him, so Anthony ran away.
The priest gifted Anthony a Bible for his new him, and Tom stayed in the memory of the robbery,
hoping Anthony would show up there sooner or later. Two weeks later, when Anthony is
in his cell reading the Bible, he thinks about this memory and finally gets to see Tom again.
However, having this strange man in his memory freaks him out, so Anthony finishes the memory
instead of answering Tom's questions. A moment later, once he's calmed down, Anthony thinks of
that memory again and appears there, willing to talk. Tom explains he's been trapped there for
four years but still remembers his wife's phone number, so he wants Anthony to call her and
tell her what happened. When she gets a call from Anthony, Abbey thinks it's a prank and immediately
hangs up on him. Anthony calls again and beings telling her about the day her father died and the
words Tom used to comfort her, which Tom had told him about so he could convince Abbey this is real.
Abbey accepts to come see Anthony the next day, so Tom asks Anthony for his help explaining what went
wrong with the machine. Anthony accepts because he doesn't want Tom in his head. When Abbey comes to
prison to visit Anthony and hears him say Tom can see and hear everything Anthony does, she
brings over Donna so her father can finally meet her. She still has doubts about the whole thing,
though so as final proof, she asks Anthony what is the nickname Tom would call her in private.
After some moments of searching that almost cause Abbey to leave, Anthony tells her the
nickname was Birdie, finally earning her trust. After the visit is over, Anthony and Tom meet
again in Anthony's mind. Tom says he could live forever in the memory of meeting his daughter,
but for now, they need to get ready for the next part of the plan. He makes Anthony write down
the whole explanation of what happened: the microchip is still inside his body, and the
reader couldn't find it because they were using new microchips made from different materials.
They didn't get to reprogram the reader because of the rushed presentation. This explanation is
also what Abbey is telling Gary, who is willing to use the machine to save Tom. Abbey has already
gotten approval from the hospital to move the body and now she only needs access to Anthony, but for
that, she'll have to talk to Arthur, who Richard couldn't convince. Abbey goes to see him in
person, and after lots of yelling from her, Arthur accepts to move a prisoner under one condition: he
gets the machine in return. Abby doesn't like this idea very much but accepts anyway. Back in prison,
Anthony tells Tom that he helps him feel less lonely, but he's also tired of the robbery memory,
so he offers a less sad alternative: a memory of Anthony and Adrienne by a swimming pool,
where they can chill and chat. Some days later, Anthony calls his dad to let him know he'll be
transferred to another prison after he goes through the procedure to help Tom, since he's
trying to do a good thing. Martino finds the idea laughable since it was Anthony's idea to use that
machine months ago in the first place and all for nothing. It was Martino that picked him up
that night after getting his call, and he even lied to the police for his son, not telling them
where he had thrown the gun. He says he doesn't believe Anthony is capable of doing good things,
that he's done with him, and if he truly thinks he's innocent, then he should prove it.
Moments later, the transfer begins. Anthony will stay overnight at a shed where they will do the
procedure, and the following day he'll be taken to the new prison. When they get there, Gary examines
him with an updated reader and finds out Tom is right, the chip is still inside Anthony. So he
just needs to program the machine to find this new chip frequency and lock on the memory Tom
is in to take him out. However, Anthony speaks up and tells them that since he's collaborating,
he wants something in return. He's sure something else happened the night of the murder and he wants
Tom to find out what before he leaves his mind. Tom freaks out when he hears this, feeling like
he's being used, but he has no choice but to accept if he wants to go back to his own brain.
While Richard calls Abbey, who is waiting at home with Tom's body, to tell her there's been a delay,
Tom guides Anthony through his old memories. Anthony and Adrienne had met two years ago.
She came from an abusive household and go addicted to the harder stuff when she met Anthony.
When she became everything to him, he tried to get her clean, but no matter what he did,
there was no saving her. Then one day, out of nowhere, she just broke up with him and never
picked up his calls again, which sent Anthony in a downward spiral. The night of the murder,
he remembers waking up in the tub after hearing the crash of glass shattering, so he went out to
investigate and a mysterious shadow knocked him out. Tom makes Minnie send him to that memory,
but Anthony doesn't remember the details so the room is filled with placeholders: magazines and
pictures have big Xs on them and the attacker has Gary's face. Tom thinks they can do nothing with
such a lack of details, but when he double-checks the bathroom, he notices the magazine in the tub
does have a small picture on it. He decides to use memory triggers to help Anthony recover the full
memory. Tom begins walking through the house, telling Anthony key words of their surroundings
and letting him fill the gaps as his mind begins making the associations: soon all
magazines and frames regain their pictures, and the products of the house get back their color.
Now that Anthony has a much clearer vision of the memory, Tom resets it, and both of them finally
get a good look at the attacker's face: it's Eric. Meanwhile, in reality, the guard goes out to
take a leak, and Gary lights up a cigarette while waiting for Tom to be done with the memory search.
Anthony asks him for a cigarette then pretends to drop it, so when Gary comes to pick it up,
he knocks him out and takes the handcuffs keys from his pocket. Now freed, he also knocks out
the guard when he comes back and takes his gun, which he uses to make Richard hand him
the keys to his car. Anthony drives all the way to Eric's apartment and shoots him on the foot as
he demands answers. Eric tells him he didn't kill Adrienne, she was already dead when he got there.
When he heard footsteps, he hid behind the door, and when he saw Anthony enter the room with a gun,
he panicked and hit him. Then he ran away, and the cops never came after him so he didn't say
anything. He was in the house that night because he was having an affair with Adrienne - it was her
way to pay him for the drugs. That's the reason why she broke up with Tom, she felt too guilty.
She even tried to quit, but she couldn't because Eric threatened with killing her if she did. Eric
thinks that Anthony killed her because Adrienne must've finally given up and told him everything,
which would explain Anthony's memory of her apologizing. At that moment, they're interrupted
by Eric's roommate, who also has gun, so Anthony has no choice but to give his to Eric, who doesn't
hesitate to shoot him on the stomach. As night suddenly falls around Tom at the pool memory,
Anthony takes advantage of Eric monologuing and kicks him off him, managing to grab back his gun
and shooting the roommate before going after Eric, who is now running away. Because Anthony is on the
verge of death, Minnie is malfunctioning. Eric manages to hide behind a building,
but Anthony is starting to bleed heavily, and when feels the weight of the Bible in his pocket, he
knows what he must do. He begins driving to Tom's house while talking to Abbey on the phone, passing
on the instructions Tom tells him to reconfigure the old prototype machine he still has at home.
As soon as he gets there, Abbey connects him and Tom's body to the machine, but Anthony's mind is
unstable because of his current condition. Tom is accidentally taken out of the pool memory and into
the robbery one, so thinking he won't make it out, he asks Minnie to take him to one last memory.
Anthony can't find him at the usual spot, but when he sees Donna, he remembers Tom said there's one
memory he could live forever in. Anthony begins remembering the day they met Donna in prison and
as soon as Tom appears there, he gives Abbey the ok to begin the extraction. Anthony dies as his
mind returns to the pool memory, seeing Adrienne one last time, and Tom wakes up in bed with his
family sometime later, finally properly alive again. Tom begins spending a lot of time with
his daughter, but he also visits Martino, so they can talk about their memories of Anthony together.
When he shows him a picture of their pet, he mentions it was a show dog, which Tom can't
believe because he saw how badly he behaved around the house. Martino explains it isn't true, that's
what he told Anthony as an excuse when he got rid of the dog, but actually, the dog was a saint and
he sold it because he got a very good offer. This doesn't make sense because the memories Tom saw
were real, but now he starts to realize the power suggestion can have: Martino himself said that if
you tell someone something enough times, they'll believe it. The final proof comes when Tom sees
Martino's handwriting on one of the pictures and realizes he had been the anonymous tip.
When questioned, Martino admits it's true and tells him what happened that night.
Anthony went to see Adrienne, but she was so overwhelmed by guilt that she killed herself.
Having lost the love of his life, Anthony went to the bathroom to take those pills to OD himself on
purpose, but he also called his dad, who picked him up and didn't believe the story coming from
the lips of an addict. The next morning, Anthony didn't remember anything, so Martino took the
chance to set him up - that way he would end up in jail, where he could clean up his act.
Some days later, Tom is at a bar, seeing Arthur on tv announcing he'll be testing a new machine soon.
This upsets Tom greatly, but he's at that bar for a reason:
the bartender is Minnie, who lends him an ear, and Tom can find comfort on her familiar voice.