Echo 3

Proof that modern series often prioritize quantity and length over quality. Echo 3 is a perfect example of a storyline that would have worked better as a film. The protagonist's wife gets kidnapped, leading to a high-octane rescue mission — period. But instead, we’re dragged through ten episodes of filler, with only three episodes truly delivering. Episode five with Franka Potente, and episodes nine and ten with the first real action. The rest? Just mediocre. (17.01.2024)

I probably won't say that this is some kind of groundbreaking innovation in the genre or an above average breathtaking special ops series. It isn't. But it's certainly not a bad thing either, as Echo 3 is a perfectly fine action series benefiting from the excellent lead duo of Luke Evans - Michiel Huisman, who are on set almost every single minute, so the quality is taken care of. Two soldiers go to Colombia to rescue the wife of one of them, who is also the sister of the other, who has been kidnapped by local rebels. And classically, they would do anything for her, so here at eight hours we get a solid introduction, a nice bonding with the characters, the kidnapping and subsequent skirmishes, fights and escapes, through which we get to the absolute climax of the whole series in the penultimate episode, where we are served up the famous stealth action of the SWAT team trying to get the woman out of the prison camp. And she's got some balls. The gunfights are well shot, the chemistry between the two leads is great, the plot has a few twists and turns so it doesn't stall in place, and the whole thing actually flows well. I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't stick with it and we don't get any close-combat, fights or knife fights and rather rely on shootings, also that the enemy is not very interesting (a bunch of "teen" rebels with no training…), and also that the last episode kills the pace of the penultimate one a bit and rather just shows the ending of the series without much suspense. But despite all this, it's a solid show that doesn't get boring. Fans of the genre can give it a try, it’s on par; casual viewers can skip it and not miss anything crucial. It's a happy medium, but fun to watch in places. (20.11.2023)