Ever since Chris Hemsworth popped up as George Kirk in the first few minutes of 2009’s Star Trek and gave an emotional, dramatic performance that left viewers weeping, it was clear that he was going to be a gigantic movie star. Hemsworth is one of those charismatic talents that would have been successful no matter what, and it was only a matter of time before Marvel Studios took notice of his skills and transformed him into Thor. Over a decade since his debut as the God of Thunder, Hemsworth is still kicking around in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even after his co-stars Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, and Robert Downey Jr. have moved on. It’s a little bit strange to see someone as multi-talented as Hemsworth sticking with what’s familiar, because it’s definitely time for him to consider accepting his true calling and unleashing his inner B-movie action star.

To put it mildly, Phase Four of the MCU was a major disappointment for longtime fans, and it feels like Hemsworth has already done all that he was capable of with the character of Thor. He showed Thor coming to grips with his responsibility in the 2011 film, survived whatever the disastrous Thor: The Dark World was supposed to be, and then returned for a surprisingly uproarious take on the character in Thor: Ragnarok, which suggested Hemsworth was secretly just as funny as he was jacked. He even became “Fat Thor” in a performance that inspired dozens upon dozens of Internet memes. However, Thor: Love and Thunder simply felt like more of the same, and it seemed like Hemsworth might have run out of interesting things to do with the character.

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In fact, Hemsworth was pretty much the only thing worth watching in Love and Thunder, which is a trait that he shares with many of the B-movie action legends. Sure, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Sylvester Stallone, and Keanu Reeves made their fair share of generic action flicks, but their charisma often made those movies watchable regardless. Hemsworth has a larger-than-life personality that speaks for itself. Wouldn’t it be fun to see him revel in the glorious ridiculousness of action movies that don’t have the weight of the entire MCU on their shoulders?

Hemsworth Has Always Been an Action Star

Chris Hemsworth in A Perfect Getaway
Image via Universal Pictures

Those that think Star Trek single-handedly launched Hemsworth’s career are mistaken, because the same year he also co-starred in the underrated crime thriller A Perfect Getaway. It’s a lean, mean little thriller that packs a lot of twists and turns into 97 minutes, and Hemsworth’s winking acknowledgment of how inherently ridiculous the entire premise is is one of the movie's highlights. Hemsworth’s rugged yet vulnerable work is easily more memorable than anything that Steve Zahn or Timothy Olyphant are doing in the film, and that’s not an insult to either of them.

It quickly became evident that Hemsworth was a star capable of more than just wearing a cape thanks to his hilarious satirical role as a brainless hunk in The Cabin in the Woods and his awards-worthy performance as James Hunt in Rush. However, the action-centric roles outside of the MCU didn’t give Hemsworth the sort of enjoyable gnarly thrills that his physicality clearly signified that he was capable of. It was more than clear that he was out of his element in overblown blockbusters like Snow White and the Huntsman and the remake of Red Dawn where there wasn’t any charming B-movie tactility.

Hemsworth Succeeds When He Takes Chances

Chris Hemsworth in Blackhat
Image via Universal Pictures

Leave it to the great Michael Mann to take advantage of Hemsworth’s potential. Blackhat nearly feels like a parody of 1990s tech thrillers with its implausible premise surrounding the collapse of the world’s financial institutions, but Hemsworth holds the entire thing together. Blackhat may not work as an insightful study of cybersecurity, but it sure is a heck of an entertaining action movie. Are you really supposed to believe that Hemsworth is the world’s greatest hacker? Of course not! However, he sure does look great running around frantically, beating the pulp out of bad guys, and delivering self-serious lines on a cell phone.

It’s been many of these B-movies where Hemsworth has been allowed to be experimental. Consider Bad Times at the El Royale where he shows up to play a twisted version of Charles Manson, or Spiderhead where he gives a “go for broke” performance as a tech expert that’s somehow even weirder than Oscar Isaac’s iconic performance in Ex Machina. These are movies where Hemsworth shows up within an ensemble and takes over a movie; he’s clearly aching for a couple fun B-movies where he can make those sorts of odd acting decisions for the entire runtime.

'Extraction' Is The Type Of Movie He Should Be Doing

Chris Hemsworth in 'Extraction.'
Image via Netflix

Hemsworth’s most recognizable role since the MCU came in 2020 with Extraction, a Netflix original action film from veteran stuntman Sam Hargrave. Extraction is clearly a throwback to the pulpy Rambo rip-offs of the late 1980s with its disastrous, potentially xenophobic depiction of American intervention in an overseas conflict. However, it’s also a movie where Hemsworth plays a character named Tyler Rake, who does in fact does kill a bad guy with a literal rake. The story is so thin that Hemsworth doesn’t have to really do anything other than beat the pulp out of various hoards of terrorists and criminals. If that’s all viewers were looking for, they got their subscription’s worth.

Extraction was seemingly marketed on the basis of a 12-minute tracking shot action sequence that Netflix promoted all over its social media platforms. Few actors would be able to handle the intense physical stamina required to take on that sort of commitment, but Hemsworth is certainly one of them. Nearly every ridiculous element of Extraction requires a nearly superhuman level of physicality that Hemsworth was uniquely equipped to do, because who else would dive into a lake from a towering height just to relax and feel close to death? Even if you simply skim through Extraction on Netflix to watch highlights of the different action scenes, you’re unlikely to be disappointed.

Extraction wasn’t perfect, and hopefully Hemsworth will get a few more action films that don’t subscribe to the same “white savior” archetypes that he’s clearly better than. The fact that Extraction 2 seems to be ditching the attempts at political commentary that its predecessor did is a good sign, and it’s even more exciting to hear that he’s working alongside the legendary action maestro George Miller on Furiosa. This is hopefully where his career is headed; let’s let Tyler Rake incinerate any pitches for Thor 5.