Exterritorial review (2025) – action packed mystery
Exterritorial might not hold up to a prolonged logic check, but its action scenes more than make up for any questionable plot holes.
Sara Wulf (Jeanne Goursaud) is still dealing with significant PTSD following a deadly military operation in Afghanistan that left her entire unit dead.
Losing her fellow soldiers would have been devastating enough, but one of the squad members included the father of her unborn son. Fast forward a few years and Sara and young Josh (Rickson Guy da Silva) are spending an increasingly longer day at the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt. Sara has a new job offer and is applying for a work visa.
With Josh starting to rambunctious and fidgety, Sara brings him over to the consulate children’s play area and lets him unwind while she gets a moment’s peace to herself. When her number is finally called for processing, Sara is shocked to find that Josh is no longer in the play area. Understandably frantic, Sara asks to speak to supervisors who can help unlock some doors in hopes of finding her son.
Regional Security Officer Erik Kynch (Dougray Scott, Batwoman) and Sgt. Donovan (Kayode Akinyemi) respond to the call and look through the waiting area lobby and side rooms to no avail. After checking surveillance footage, Kynch said that Sara was alone even producing video footage that shows she was by herself.
With enough gotcha(!) films with a child hanging with their parent who in reality was actually dead, director/screenwriter Christian Zübert has enough plausible cause for audiences to question Sara’s sanity. When her mother questions if Sara took her PTSD medication, there is enough doubt that maybe Josh could have been a figment of her imagination.
Goursaud does a good job of conveying Sara’s confusion and increasing outrage as these very calm dudes are telling her that her son doesn’t exist. After she’s placed in a room for her safety, Sara escapes and tries to find Josh on her own. Zübert quickly shows that Sara is not a superhero as she falls attempting to scale to another exterior building. That provides some welcome realism into Exterritorial as it clearly outlines that if Sara is going to find Josh it won’t be easy.
Sara’s mishap leads her to another room where she encounters Irina (Lera Abova), a woman who’s been in custody in the consulate for months. Irina agrees to help Sara find Josh in exchange for getting her out of the consulate. That plan gets derailed when they get ambushed in the room sparking an intense action sequence.
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Zübert doesn’t hold back on the violence as Sara battles two guys in one of the strongest sequences in Exterritorial. The fight scene is brutal, but very well-staged showing a realistic way for Sara could beat both guys while taking some heavy damage along the way.
Consul General Deborah Allen (Annabelle Mandeng) is getting concerned over the idea of a former Special Forces solider running around in the consulate and tells Kynch to handle the situation. Exterritorial has a bit of a mystery playing out as Zübert lays out the case for various suspects screwing around with Sara’s sanity.
He does lighten up the intensity somewhat with Sara and Irina’s interaction. Exterritorial doesn’t shift to two warrior women beating the system as Irina is far more tech support who helps where she’s able while Sara does the heavy lifting and fighting. Zübert’s biggest challenge is maintaining the intensity throughout Exterritorial.
Pacing becomes more of an issue by the midway points with extended scenes that aren’t necessarily long on their own but would benefit from shaving down a few minutes or two of character contemplation or repetitive conversations.
Goursaud is a force displaying easy credibility in both the dramatic and action scenes. The latter may be more impressive as she moves in a manner that makes her very believable in the action hero role. has some impressive tracking shot action sequences and Goursaud truly comes off like an action star.
The final act is less about pummeling fists or shootouts, but a battle of wits between Sara and the guilty party, resulting in a satisfying conclusion. Exterritorial delivers solidly on its action mystery premise with some thrilling action scenes and a competent enough mystery. It just needed a little tighter editing to truly shine.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Photo Credit: Netflix
After watching Exterritorial, check out another of Christian Zübert’s films with Tour De Force on DVD at Amazon.
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