Mikes Film Talk

The 2024 action thriller Echo 8 is another film from down under. It may meander a little and you may have to really pay attention, but it is good. This incredibly low budget movie, at an estimated 10k, impresses. There are not many movie makers who can make something this good on such a shoestring budget. There are things that jar, but heck, it still entertains.

Echo 8 Story

Echo 8 and Delta 1 have been given a kill list. Top of that list is a politician’s wife who needs to be eliminated. They are in the middle of doing just that when things go off the rails. Their assassination bureau is hiding something from its agents.

The Cast

Maria Tran is Echo 8.

Takashi Hara is Agent 5.

Gabrielle Chan is Hanh.

David Vuong is Delta 1.

Tran is convincing as the deadly Echo 8 and Gabrielle Chan is spot on as the mother.

Let’s Talk

Husband and wife team Tran and Hara direct this one from a screenplay written by Elizabeth H. Vu. They also share the spotlight as “protagonists.” The entire enterprise is a little confusing. I will admit to being lost for a good portion of the film.

At the start, Echo 8 is going to kill a woman. As she zeroes in on her victim, she is tased. This knocks her out and the confusion begins.

Bewilderment issues aside, the film moves well. The stunts, for the most part, look great and apart from a couple of problems, looks good.

“It does what is says on the tin.” In other words, it has plenty of action, it is a thriller and it has legs. The pace is okay and there are laughs where they are needed.

A couple of Problems

The taser reaction is all wrong. Having been on the business end of those things, I can tell you. When that electrical charge hits? You do not lay there shuddering. You cannot move. At all. Some folks can fight the thing, but there is no spasmodic jerking involved. A taser also does not render you unconscious, unless you have an underlying heath problem.

And.

Real weapons do not have a pointed thing in the barrel. I get it. Safety issues, especially after the Rust deaths on set, are important. It takes you right out of the moment when the heroine wracks that pistol and it is clearly a prop. A blank gun that cannot fire a real round.

Australia has some of the, if not the, strictest gun control laws in the world. So it may be pretty hard to get prop weapons for a low budget film.

But come on guys and dolls. You took me right out of the moment. Twice.

The Verdict

Echo 8 is pretty solid entertainment for such a low/no budget feature. Despite the confusion factor, something that could have been down to me, it works. I can easily give it a good 3.5 stars here. It is streaming on Tubi and Fawesome for free. Head over and check it. out. See what you think.

*The trailer, by the way, rocks.*

The Trailer