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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Off Track’ on Netflix, a Lightweight Dramedy Backdropped by Sweden’s Famous Vasaloppet Ski Race

Where to stream:.

• Off Track (2022)

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The backdrop to Swedish dramedy Off Track (now on Netflix) is Vasaloppet, an annual 90-kilometer (56-mile) cross-country ski race that takes place a little ways thattaway from Stockholm. The event draws 15,000 participants – if you’re an Americain like me and need a contextual marker, the Boston Marathon attracts 30,000 – who finish the trek in as few as four and as many as 12 hours. It began 100 years ago and leads all the way up to this story about a struggling divorcee and her struggling brother who partake in the Vasaloppet so it may function as a metaphor for their various and sundry struggles – you know, life is a marathon and not a sprint, stuff like that. Now let’s see if the conceit works enough to make us feel invested in their well-being.

OFF TRACK : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Daniel (Fredrik Hallgren) desperately needs more snow, so he steals a snowman head and smashes it on the pavement so he has a track to cross-country ski on. He must have piles of money, because his house is enormous and modern. He and his wife Klara (Rakel Warmlander) have been trying to get pregnant for years; they’re at an age where achieving parenthood is increasingly difficult, and they’re doing the in-vitro fertilization thing. But he’s so focused on working out and training for Vasaloppet, he almost misses the fertilization appointment. Actually, he totally misses it, but knows what has to be done, so he meanders from the ski path, finds a quiet spot behind a rock, deposits a fresh-brewed semen specimen in a cup, and pays a cab driver (Leif Andree) to deliver it to Klara at the doctor’s office. What kind of person does this make him? I’m afraid to judge.

Meanwhile, his sister Lisa (Katia Winter) hits rock-bottom. We meet her in the bar, totally plowed and getting tossed to the curb by security. She wakes up in jail – whoops – and now she’s late for her daughter’s Christmas recital. Before we get any further, we must note that the cop (Ulf Stenberg) who informs her that she was found asleep in a park is subject to a couple scenes establishing him as a character, perhaps one who Lisa might encounter later. Anyway, her life is cruddy, but not so cruddy that it can’t get worse: She’s been struggling with depression, she’s been unemployed for years, her ex and his new wife are getting fed up, social services is reconsidering her custody status and then her washing machine goes kaflooey, flooding her apartment. When it rains, it pours and fills up to the ceiling and tries to drown you, y’know?

So Lisa ends up moving in with Daniel and Klara for a while. She walks in and drops her boots on their pristine and glistening floor and announces that it could take three months for her place to be livable again. Deep sighs all around. She glugs down one of Klara’s $500 bottles of wine without realizing it’s a $500 bottle of wine. Daniel suggests she find something to do – like go skiing with him. First time she loses an edge and takes out a little girl on a slight slope, she’s ready to quit, but the desire to impress her daughter and Daniel’s urging prompts her to commit to Vasaloppet. Seems improbable, but who would discourage her from setting a goal and busting butt to reach it? Then we get a training montage – trying hard now? Trying hard now, definitely – and some scenes in which Daniel and Klara’s marital conflict comes to a head. Good thing Daniel and Lisa have a metaphor to tackle in the third act!

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: I dunno, what else has that middling winter-sports thing going for it? Mystery, Alaska ? Cool Runnings ? Eddie the Eagle ? Yes – Eddie the Eagle . Off Track reminds me of Eddie the Eagle .

Performance Worth Watching: Winter reminds me of Emily Blunt and Hallgren brings to mind, um, Rob Corddry? So Winter wins this one, giving her character a little more oomph and complexity than the rest of the cast.

Memorable Dialogue: The sperm-delivery cab driver returns to the plot to highlight, bold, underline and italicize the movie’s main idea: “Life isn’t a straight path. There are ups and downs. The whole nine yards. Just like the Vasaloppet!”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Off Track is nice! It’s nice. Nice! It’s tough to muster much more enthusiasm for this brand of lowish-stakes, occasionally funny, somewhat dramatic story, which touches on a few issues middle-aged adults face – parenthood or lack thereof, marital stress, mental health, lack of life direction – but doesn’t dive too deeply into them. Maybe up to the knee or mid-thigh. Too much deeper, and the film might lose its light-but-not-featherweight tone, and really truly actually be about things and stir up some poignancy and substantial emotion. It could be funnier, which would better justify its laid-back approach.

Which isn’t to say this is a waste of time. It’s pleasant and the characters are relatable, in the sense that they’re rendered bland so viewers might recognize a bit of themselves here and there, in a general sort of way – you know, hey, I’m about 40 and life can be tough sometimes. It throws in a little light romance and some spousal discord, but nobody’s going to mistake it for Casablanca or Bergman. It also sticks heavily to the Law of Economy of Characters, which states that movies don’t just drop characters into the plot willy-nilly, and that they must inevitably have a purpose – thus, the nice cop and the nice cab driver, who turn up in the third act to do nice things for the nice principal characters. Nice movie. Nice! And nothing more.

Our Call: Off Track is consistently fine, watchable and well-intentioned in a fairly noncommittal comedio-dramatic way. So STREAM IT, but keep your expectations in check.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com .

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Netflix’s Off Track: Is the Swedish Movie Based on Real People?

Netflix’s ‘Off Track,’ also known as ‘Ur Spår,’ is a Swedish comedy-drama film directed by Mårten Klingberg. It follows Lisa, a depressed and down-on-her-luck single mother who struggles to maintain her bond with her daughter. On the other hand, her elder brother, Daniel, a fitness addict, struggles to conceive a child. The siblings reunite to compete in the 90 km Vasaloppet (Vasa Race) ski race and obtain a new perspective to overcome the challenges in their lives. The film is grounded in the characters’ emotionally relatable conflicts and the ski race’s importance. Therefore, viewers must wonder if true events inspire the film. In that case, here is everything you need to know about the inspiration behind ‘Off Track.’

Off Track is a Fictional Story

‘Off Track’ is based on an original screenplay by writer Maria Karlsson. Director Mårten Klingberg developed the concept for the movie. In an interview, Klingberg opened up about the film’s ideation, which revolves around one of the most challenging ski races in Sweden. Klingberg explained that he was asked about making a film about Vasaloppet, a real-life annual long-distance cross-country ski race in Sweden.

The ski course is 90 km long and starts in Berga, a village south of Sälen in Dalarna, and ends in Mora, a town in Dalarna County. Vasaloppet was started in 1922 and has been active for over 100 years. It is one of the oldest cross-country ski races in the world and registers the highest number of participants. The race also attracts a large number of tourists.

Klingberg revealed that the query about Vasaloppet made him reflect on his own past as an elite athlete earlier in life and inspired him to craft the premise for the movie. Klingberg has been a long-distance running and triathlon athlete for over eight years. Thus, he drew inspiration from his own experiences and developed the character of Daniel.

Klingberg explained that his affinity for exercise and athletics inspired Daniel’s characterization and his preparation for Vasaloppet. The director also revealed that Daniel and his wife’s struggles to conceive a baby are also based on his and his ex-wife’s real experiences. Eventually, the couple had a daughter, Anna. However, Klingberg separated from his wife, Marie Robertsson, around 2018. The couple’s challenges in co-parenting their daughter are represented in the movie through Lisa and her connection with her daughter.

Klingberg stated that the thought behind the creation of Lisa was to add a polar opposite to Daniel’s character. As a result, a wide section of the audience can relate to the siblings and their struggles. The film uses the characters to address several challenges that viewers might face in their lives. As a result, Klingberg uses the Vasaloppet as a metaphor for life’s difficulties, ups, and downs. Hence, the film’s narrative is rooted in reality and allows viewers to form an emotional connection with the characters.

Ultimately, ‘Off Track’ is a fictional story with diverse characters and themes such as family, single parenting, infertility, pregnancy , and divorce, among others. The narrative is rooted in the personal experiences of the film’s director and heavily draws from reality to shape its characters. However, the characters are entirely fictional and highlight various relatable challenges that viewers face. It uses sports and athletics as metaphors for these challenges. Therefore, the film’s story and themes emotionally resonate with the viewers, giving it a semblance of reality.

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Home » Endings Explained

Off Track ending explained – which sibling finishes the Vasaloppet race?

We discuss the ending of the Netflix film Off Track, which will contain spoilers.

Off Track   is a Swedish sports dramedy directed by Mårten Klingberg about a pair of siblings from Stockholm who start training together to ski the 90 kilometers of the Vasaloppet , a world-renowned cross-country race. When the brother-sister duo is first introduced, they couldn’t be any more different. Lisa ( Katia Winter ) is divorced, has a drinking problem, and is at risk of losing custody of her daughter. To add insult to injury, her ex-husband ( Peter Perski ) is dating the perfect sugar-free woman ( Susanne Thorson ), who seems a bit too keen to take over Lisa’s motherly duties. Her older brother, Daniel ( Fredrik Hallgren ), is a devoted skier, financially secure, and appears to have the perfect marriage with Klara ( Rakel Wärmländer ). But not all is what it seems with Daniel, as he and Klara have been struggling with infertility for years, which has been putting a strain on their marriage. 

After a flooding incident leaves her home uninhabitable, Lisa moves in with her brother, to Klara’s dismay. Unlike her brother, Lisa is not exactly a sporty person. But a chance encounter with her daughter and rival leads to Lisa signing up for the Vasaloppet.

Off Track ending explained – which sibling finishes the Vasaloppet race?

In the final act, the race is fully on the way. The first to drop off are Lisa’s love interest and his elderly mother, who has a medical emergency. While Lisa is tempted to call it quits at the halfway point, seeing her social worker quitting convinces the woman to finish what she started.

Daniel is also having a hard time. The previous night, he was close to cheating on Klara with a young racer he’d been infatuated with for years because of her social media reputation. Yet the young influencer’s dedication to the race involved her going to the bathroom in her ski suit, and the suit was white, which may have given Daniel pause on his plans to leave his wife for her. To complicate things even further, Klara and the taxi driver were waiting at the finish line. When Daniel learns his wife was waiting for him, he panics, goes off track, and gets lost. Luckily, Klara finds him before she freezes to death and the two have a heartfelt reunion. During said heartfelt reunion they decide to separate. It doesn’t make much sense why Klara took a long taxi ride to find her husband only to say they should break up. 

Meanwhile, Lisa is about to finish the race, yet she’s unaware her daughter had run away to meet her at the finish line. When the woman finally crosses the finish line, it turns out she’s the final skier to do so. She crosses the finish line, the crowd is cheering and her daughter jumps in her arms. Two siblings started the Vasaloppet – one finished the race, while the other nearly froze to death. 

A few months later, Lisa’s apartment has been repaired, and her relationship with her daughter is better than ever. The social worker has closed her case, and she’s no longer at risk of losing custody. She may or may not have started dating the police officer. 

Daniel and Klara seem to have separated. However, the news that she’s finally pregnant brings the two back together. 

What did you think of the ending of the Netflix film Off Track? Comment below.

Article by Lori Meek

Lori Meek has been a Ready Steady Cut contributing writer since September 2022 and has had over 400 published articles since. She studied Film and Television at Southampton Solent University, where she gained most of her knowledge and passion for the entertainment industry. Lori’s work is also featured on platforms such as TBreak Media and ShowFaves.

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Off Track review: A snoozefest of a comedy drama

Off Track is a Swedish dramedy. The story revolves around an alcoholic mother, Lisa, who is trying to get her life back on track by preparing and participating in Vasaloppet. The movie is dubbed in English and is available on Netflix.

Lisa is a single mother, who hardly has enough grip over her own life. At the start of the movie, Lisa is perceived as someone who is irresponsible and lacks accountability.

Her alcohol problem and ill behaviour lead to her young daughter, Elvira, being sent to live with her former husband. Due to a water malfunction at home, Lisa goes to live with her brother, Daniel, and her sister-in-law, Klara.

During the course of her stay at his place, she gets motivated to participate in the Vasaloppet. Her participation in the skiing race helps her turn her life around.

There is another subplot that is brewing side by side with Lisa’s story. This subplot revolves around Daniel. He is very focused on the Vasaloppet and prioritizes it as well.

While the intense preparation for the race Daniel is seen to be trying to conceive with his wife. However, there is little enthusiasm for this, from his side.

This leaves the audience questioning what exactly Daniel wants.

Performances

Katia Winter, who portrays Lisa in the movie, is a very good actress. Her portrayal of a ‘messed up’ single mother, who may have an alcohol addiction, is thoroughly convincing.

Fredrik Hallgren plays the role of Daniel, Lisa’s brother. His acting seemed better than Winter’s in certain scenes. Even though both actors’ characters were quite complex in nature – Hallgren did a better job.

Other actors, such as Rakel Warmlander (who plays the role of Klara), and Ulf Stenberg (who plays Anders, the cop), have delivered great performances in this movie.

The cinematography is excellent. The wide-angle shots of the hills are blessings to the eyes. The monotone colour scheme of clothing that shifts with every scene of the film is a very clever takeaway from this movie.

One can easily detect the emotion of the character through simple observation. The storyline is quite encouraging.

It is a general theme of one getting their life back together. However, the Vasaloppet race seems to be a unique twist to the tale.

The actors in Off Track have done a very good job. Even if one is not familiarised with Swedish actors’ work – this movie would be great to follow.

The highlight of the movie would definitely be how Lisa did not win the Vasaloppet, but since she did complete it there was quite a celebration, lending the film the feel-good factor.

Off Track switches from a slow pace at the start to a rapid one later on. It feels like there was a need to wrap up the movie in less than 2 hours.

Another problem is that there seems to be more depth to Daniel’s storyline than Lisa’s. Her backstory is not very clear. There is a point in the movie, where her story feels like the subplot to Daniel’s main storyline.

Off Track suffers from an inconsistent pace with the comedy bits that more often than not, don’t quite work. With a hearty climax, the film is an overall mildly entertaining affair.

Director: Mårten Klingberg

Date Created: 2022-11-16 12:30

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Directed by Mårten Klingberg

A mid-age hipster in Stockholm is a training freak and trains for the 90 km ski race Vasaloppet. His sister is the opposite, no job, drinks but has a daughter. Suddenly secrets reveals and promises are made.

Fredrik Hallgren Katia Winter Torkel Petersson Mårten Klingberg Rakel Wärmländer Susanne Thorson Leif Andrée Anders Brink Madsen Matilda Källström Sofia Zouagui Christian Wennberg Ulf Stenberg Kalle Moraeus Tuva Børgedotter Larsen Kelly Flogell Anna Hallgren Martin Hendrikse Chatarina Larsson Lisa Lexfors Helena Lissmatz Anders Mårtensson Peter Perski Irma Schultz Maria Sid Tove Vahlne Adrian Öjvindsson Jonathan Sand

Director Director

Mårten Klingberg

Producers Producers

Emma Nyberg Cecilia Forsberg Becker

Writer Writer

Maria Karlsson

Editor Editor

Sofia Lindgren

Cinematography Cinematography

Calle Persson

Production Design Production Design

Johanna Comella

Composer Composer

Andreas Tengblad

Sound Sound

Christoffer Demby Nils Vennberg

Costume Design Costume Design

Camilla Olai Lindblom

Makeup Makeup

Mikael Andersson

SF Studios Jarowskij SVT Filmpool Nord Success Express Svenska Filminstitutet Yellow Bird Film i Dalarna

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

Danish Swedish

Releases by Date

28 jan 2022, 16 nov 2022, 16 feb 2023, releases by country.

• Digital 12 Netflix
• Digital K12 Netflix
• Digital 16 Netflix
• Digital Netflix
• Theatrical Btl
• Digital 15 Netflix

109 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★½

Look, here’s the thing. I can sit and give you all an insightful review about this Swedish Hallmark-esque Christmas movie.

I can tell you this is a Swedish Hallmark-esque Christmas movie where the lead masturbates out in public behind a trash can and then ask a taxi driver to send the semen to his wife at a fertility center. And there’s a very competitive chick that will rather crap her pants (and she does) before stopping and going to the bathroom. Also what’s up with German company DHL plaguing the movie with their advertising everywhere? Is DHL that big on Sweden? I had to double check to see if they were a Swedish company or what.

All in all, a raucous yet adorable Christmas film that had me asking why Sweden doesn't enter the Hallmark race.

Review by joshrowley ★

Review by Dead Moon Night ★★½

Ur Spår started out pretty promising, for a swedish feel-good movie, but about half way through it spårade ur.

Review by Jimbo without the Jet-Set ★★★ 2

Likeable/believable characters and a sweet feel-good story.

Review by ikeachair69 ★

i watched this 1 minute ago and i have forgotten everything

Review by Helen ★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Att vinna tillbaka sitt barn från Soc genom att åka Vasaloppet är ändå ett äkta power-move.

Review by DungeonSkramz ★★ 3

Serviceable enough if you're a boomer just looking for another predictable feel-good underdog story, but dear god, talk about soulless pandering and overreliance on secondhand embarrassment to qualify as humor.

Review by Forever Watching ★★★

That rat bastard Daniel did not deserve a redemptive arc. Klara deserved better.

Review by Hendrix Media ★★½

While some subplots are severely underdeveloped and it looks so bland, most of the performances were strong enough and the plot with Daniel and Klaus was really effective for me and made the film as watchable as it is. Not much else of note though.

Review by Val 1

I’m sorry this movie was a bit shite but there was one singular joke in here that my parents and I are still laughing uncontrollably about 20 minutes after having finished the movie and that’s enough for me, what can I say

Review by Ian Overton ★★★½

This is basically a Hallmark done the Swedish way and it's a lot better for it. There were some very funny moments in the film and I actually gave shit about the characters as they weren't irritatingly wholesome like in the Hallmark films.

Review by brittskyr ★★★½ 3

red alert!!! the swedes are outdoing the americans at their own game!!! (hallmark movies)

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‘Off Track’ Ending, Explained: Why Do Lisa And Daniel Participate In The Race? Does Lisa Finish The Race?

We have believed for a while now that Netflix needs a new content writer. The summary of “Off Track” led us to believe that it was the story of Lisa alone, but it turned out to be so much more than that. It essentially revolves around the Vasa Race, which is a 90-kilometer skiing race, and what it means to the people who participate in it. We had our doubts about this movie since it is not an entirely original plot: a mother trying to get back on her feet uses a near-impossible feat to prove that she is better than everyone believes. Considering that “Off Track” was released on a Wednesday, we had serious misgivings about tuning into it after a long day at work. Turns out, we were about 70% right. (This is an approximate estimate; please don’t ask us to explain it). Let us see why we feel that way and what could have been done differently to prove us wrong.

Spoilers Ahead

Why Do Lisa And Daniel Participate In The Race?

Lisa is a down-on-her-luck single mother who ends up way too drunk and in a jail cell one particular day. She is released the next day, and she asks her brother Daniel to come to pick her up so that she can be in time for her daughter’s recital. She gets there, but after the performance, her husband tells her that he knows about her night in jail and that it might be better if Elvira spends the day with him. Lisa does not like the insinuation that she is careless and takes her daughter home. But he turns out to be right, as Lisa’s carelessness makes the washer overflow, and her house is flooded. Her husband takes Elvira away. He advises Lisa to get herself together if she wants Elvira to continue being a part of her life.

Elsewhere, Daniel and his wife are facing their own struggles. They have been trying to have kids for years but without any results. Lisa moves in with them for a while. Daniel is somewhat supportive of her, and he takes her skiing one day, where she fails miserably. Dejected, she goes to a bar, where she runs into Philippa and Elvira. Seeing them bonding and watching Philippa be such a good role model to Elvira, Lisa gets insecure and tells her that she will be participating in the Vasa Race as well. Lisa started training with her brother, and she seemed determined to do so. An investigation has been opened by Child Protection Services after they were informed by Lisa’s ex that Elvira used to miss school a lot or be late constantly due to her mother. She had also complained of stomach irritations. Lisa is shocked at these but is forced to consider what her erratic behavior could mean for her child. She tells the officer that she is participating in the Vasa Race.

Meanwhile, Daniel and Klara’s struggles continue. Daniel is unable to make it to one of their IVF treatments and hence, sends his sample through a taxi driver. Unfortunately, the clinic has rules that the person must come themselves so that they may verify the authenticity of it. Daniel arrives just in time, and through their combined samples, they manage to get one embryo. But we also come to know that Daniel does not like talking about this with other people, and that is a constant problem between the two of them. Either way, the two of them continue with their lives, and the three months until the race pass fast enough. Just sometime before the race, the couple comes to know that their embryo did not survive the thawing. They are both extremely heartbroken and take solace in each other. Later, they have a big fight because Klara doesn’t want to go to the race anymore, but Daniel does, and she ends up blaming him for their situation. She refuses to come for the race, so Daniel and Lisa end up going alone. Their bad luck continues when Klara accidentally cancels the reservation, and they have to spend the night in a school with the other participants. There is a sort of celebration that evening where Daniel meets Naomi, a pro skier, and Lisa meets Andres, the police officer she had run into when she had spent the night in a cell. Daniel is very taken in by Naomi, and he follows her to her house in the woods. He is impressed by her life and the freedom that she has chosen for herself. Looking at Daniel here, we come to understand that this is probably what he has wanted for a long time. He was an uptight perfectionist who cared a lot about his image. Maybe he wasn’t able to handle the fact that they couldn’t have children because of him, and that is why he seemed so distant from his wife’s efforts. It is also possible that he did not want children at all and was just going through the motions for his wife. We are inclined to believe the second possibility.

Meanwhile, Lisa is having a good time with Andres, and she follows him back to his house when it looks like her brother won’t be returning to the school. One thing that becomes clear is that Andres is the misfit in his family, and he and Lisa are compatible like two peas in a pod. She confesses to him that she was on sick leave for her depression and has since been unemployed. Andres understands her when she says that she can’t be in a relationship with him and tells her that he will be racing with her. On the day of the race, Daniel confesses to Lisa that he wants to divorce Klara and start over. Lisa just chalks it up to nerves. Elvira makes her way to the finish line alone to meet her mother after her dad tells her that they can’t go to meet her. Emotions are getting messier, and race seems to be the solution for them all.

‘Off Track’ Ending Explained: Does Lisa Finish The Race?

When the race starts, it means a lot of things to everyone. Daniel realizes that Naomi is not the person he thought she was, especially when she tells him to relieve himself in his pants and skis away with yellow streaks in her own pants. But Naomi being out of consideration is still not enough for the confusion in his mind to clear. Andres and Lisa ski together for a while before he has to leave as his mother falls sick on the track. Daniel goes off-track to avoid meeting Klara, who takes a taxi from Stockholm to meet him at the finish line. Elvira’s father and Philippa are desperately looking for her, as she has set off alone to meet her mother. It is mayhem and madness. Lisa still has 40 km to go to finish the race, and she is about to give up when she decides not to. With great difficulty, she ended up finishing the whole 90 km of the race. She is injured and has coughed up blood, but neither factor has stopped her. That ends with her being declared the true heroine of the entire event.

Meanwhile, Daniel is lost in the woods, but Klara manages to track him down on a sled. Both of them reconcile and decide that they have stuff to sort out between themselves. They all meet at the finish line, with Elvira, Lisa, and Daniel, and it is a true, if not the only, really emotional moment of the movie. Days after the race, Klara tells Daniel that she is pregnant, and with that news, the couple reconciles. It would be an understatement to say that we were not fond of this ending for the couple. We were happy when, at the race, they talked about sorting out their issues instead of taking the cliche route of declaring their love for each other. That had made them feel more real. Their getting back together just feels like an empty thing to write for the movie. But on another note, Lisa has pulled her life together and started her practice again. She is also seeing Andres, indicating that good times are in store for her. To be honest, we did not like her character arc either. She was obviously an irresponsible person. Let us say that she “learned” responsibility through her efforts for the race. But we did not see her character growth at all, which makes us feel that the ending of “Off Track” is very hollow. It lacks an emotional core because it tries to do too much. The makers should have stuck to one character and done that well instead of biting off more than they could chew.

Final Thoughts: What Doesn’t Work For ‘Off Track’?

The biggest problem with “Off Track” is that the story did not have a proper storyteller. We first felt this due to the obvious lack of screen time during Lisa and Daniel’s training for the race. That was supposed to be the transformative period for them—the time that builds the character and not just the race, which is just the pretty ribbon at the end. It is absolutely sad that the makers failed to give it its due importance. Daniel’s character needed to be defined better, and Naomi was a completely unnecessary character who added nothing to the story other than making Daniel even more unlikeable. We did like Andres, and in the little screen time he had, he was charming. “Off Track” wasn’t even mildly enjoyable. It was just something that played on the screen while we checked our phones and went through our chores. Do tune into it if that is what you are looking for, or there are always “Friends” or “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” for that kind of repeated viewing.

“Off Track” is a 2022 Drama Comedy film directed by Marten Klingberg.

• Comedy Drama
• Romantic Drama
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Off Track ( Ur spår ) is a new Swedish comedy movie released on Netflix. Directed by Marten Klingberg, the movie is about the life of two siblings with polar opposite personalities and lives. The story is about how they get through their difficult phase of life.

The cast of the movie includes Katia Winter, Fredrik Hallgren, Matilda Källström, Rakel Wärmländer, Sofia Leon, Kelly Flogell, Martin Hendrikse, David Gunnarsson, Mårten Klingberg, Anders Brink Madsen, Kalle Moraeus, Leif Andrée, Kalle Moraeus, Torkel Petersson and more.

Netflix synopsis of the movie:

In a fit of desperation, a down-and-out single mother suits up and attempts to ski Vasaloppet with her (not-so-perfect) perfectionist brother.

– Off Track Review Does Not Contain Spoilers-

The movie starts with Lisa getting drunk in a bar and getting thrown out for her disruptive behaviour, and she ends up in jail. Right off the bat, we get an overview of her personality and how she is also a potential alcoholic. She also has a daughter with her ex-husband, who worries about the child’s well-being because of Lisa’s unpredictable behaviour. Soon things start to go downhill when the child social services get involved.

The plot of the movie is rather straightforward, without many complications. It mainly focuses on the relationships among the main characters and with the people around them. Both the siblings having opposite personas is one of the main factors of the plot. They go through major turmoil in their personal lives, which leaves them desperate and confused.

The development of both characters has been done gradually at their own pace. While they both try to get along with each other, they are also seen mending their relationships with their loved ones. Lisa is trying to develop a better relationship with her daughter, and Daniel is giving his all to make the marriage work.

Both bother-sister join a 90-kilometre-long skiing race called the Vasa Race. As they are training together, it is seen how both of them get closer to each other. But problems start to grow with Daniel and his wife as their plans for life are not going the way they wanted them to.

Also Read: The Lost Lotteries Review: Absurdly Hilarious Thai Comedy

At times the movie felt superficial when the characters moved on from a situation too soon. The seriousness behind such major problems was swiped under the rug quite easily. The audience was left with questions and wondering about it the whole time. It was unrealistic when every situation started improving without much work and mending relationships by doing the bare minimum.

The main actors in the movie gave incredible performances. They did their job as the plot demanded. Katia Winter stole the show. Her dialogue delivery and reactions helped elevate the movie’s story further. Fredrik Hallgren also did a commendable job.

The movie’s locations are also noticeably exquisite, which adds to the story-telling process. The breathtaking visuals shown during the race are worth mentioning. The background score of the movie is also good. It complements the movie’s tone and keeps the viewer engaged throughout the movie.

The major takeaway from  Off Track  is never to give up on life or themselves. To keep pushing through the difficulties and emerge victorious. Similarly, with relationships, to not give up on them as easily and work on them rather than pushing our loved ones away.

Off Track Final Thoughts

A fun, light-hearted movie about life and relationships that will relate to the audience across demographic. The movie’s plot is fresh and will keep the viewer hooked. The movie is worth spending one’s precious time on.

Off Track is now streaming on Netflix. Did you watch Off Track ? Let us know in the comments below!

Also Read : In Her Hands Review: The Fall Of Kabul Through Zarifa Ghafari’s Eyes

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I’m not coming out and accusing the writers of “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” of using A.I., a touchy subject in Hollywood these days. But if a computer had written this blockbuster sequel, it wouldn’t turn out much different. 

Serving as a more direct sequel to 2020’s “ Bad Boys for Life ” than people might expect, “Ride or Die” checks all the boxes of a movie like this in a way that feels depressingly half-hearted, afraid to do anything new or creative. It admittedly comes to life in spurts primarily through its hyperkinetic photography and editing. Still, it lacks enough spontaneity or ingenuity, completely content to go through the motions by taking as few risks as possible. It turns out that there was a third option: Ride, Die, or Tread Water.

Almost everything in “Ride or Die” aggressively mirrors something in the last film, from the nausea-inducing drive through Miami that opens each installment to a close encounter with the Grim Reaper for one of the beloved characters. The previous film saw Mike Lowery ( Will Smith ) getting shot on South Beach, while this one gets going with Marcus Miles ( Martin Lawrence ) having a heart attack at Mike’s wedding to Christine ( Melanie Liburd ). While the attempted murder in the third film started a narrative about friendship and making the most of another chance at life, this one is used for a bit goofier purpose as Marcus believes he’s now basically immortal. After all, while he was near death, the ghost of Captain Conrad Howard ( Joe Pantoliano ) told him that it wasn’t his time—so now he can run through traffic, even though his wife and work life partner won’t let him eat Skittles anymore.

Whereas “For Life” had immediacy with the attempt on Mike’s life launching the plot, this one meanders for too long before getting down to business. While Marcus was clinging to life, Conrad-Wan Kenobi told him that “a storm is coming,” which turns out to be in the form of a cartel enforcer named McGrath (a truly dull and uninspired Eric Dane ), who is basically just a plot function for action. One of the most poorly defined and generally incompetent villains in a blockbuster in years is introduced, framing Howard for corruption by wiring drug money into the deceased captain’s account. As the system seems to be burning Howard’s legacy, Marcus and Mike know that they have to clear his name at whatever cost, a mission that requires some insider cartel knowledge courtesy of the incarcerated Armando (the charismatic Jacob Scipio ), Mike’s son from the last film.

It's not a “Bad Boys” movie if the heroes aren’t pushing back against the system, which includes in this film a potential future Miami mayor named Lockwood ( Ioan Gruffudd ), who is romantic partners with Mike’s ex and the new Captain, Rita Secada (Paola Nunez). It also turns out that Captain Howard’s daughter Judy ( Rhea Seehorn ) is a US Marshall, and her daughter Callie (Quinn Hemphill) joins the action largely to be another eventual damsel-in-distress. A cast that’s way too big also includes Tasha Smith as Marcus’s wife Theresa (a recasting from Theresa Randle ), the return of Vanessa Hudgens & Alexander Ludwig , and a bunch of random cameos, some of which are inspired, some of which are again echoes of things done better in previous films.

Of course, a Bad Boys movie is about the leads—the chemistry between Smith and Lawrence has always been at the heart of why people love these movies. Much of the charm of the 2020 flick was seeing how they hadn’t lost a step in that department despite 17 years between flicks. Bluntly, it’s just not as tight here, with a lot of jokes in the first half falling flat and so much of the material that’s supposed to read as dramatic feeling shallow and overly familiar, making for a film that's shorter than the last one but feels notably longer because of its clunky flow. Sure, no one comes to a Bad Boys for depth, but writers Chris Bremner and Will Beall can't find the right voice. This crops up most notably in the way they keep peppering in more complex ideas like rampant corruption and even their villain's radicalization through torture, only to do precisely nothing with it. If you’re gonna be goofy and dumb, lean into it—don’t casually bring up how 9/11 changed the world.

To be fair, directors Adil & Bilall know how to deliver in a few action set-pieces wherein their obsession with drone photography gets to be the film's real star. Every shootout features a circling drone camera view of the action, spinning around the room in a manner that gives the movie most of its momentum. Sure, some of it may be designed to hide that Smith and Lawrence can’t exactly pull off John Wick-esque choreography at this point, but there’s a chaotic fluidity to the action that’s the film’s greatest strength. It’s flashy and stylish and keeps the viewer’s eye bouncing around the frame to take it all in. A helicopter sequence and a final shootout at a gator farm are truly enjoyable—even as the plot and the motivations of the cogs within them make less and less sense as the movie goes on (never mind the physics that give Marcus the strength of the Hulk in that copter)—and Scipio deserves some credit for the way he carries action scenes with an intensity that the rest of the film often lacks. He could easily carry his own 'Bad Boys Jr.'

“Bad Boys for Life” had the element of surprise, a much-delayed sequel that blended nostalgia and modern action filmmaking techniques to satisfy viewers just before the pandemic. It’s understandable why the team behind “Ride or Die” chose to run it back again instead of taking risks and building on what worked about that comeback with something new. Financially understandable doesn't make it good. Even A.I. can tell you that.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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‘The Watchers’ Review: The Shyamalan Dynasty Gets Off To A Slow Start

Ishana night shyamalan's debut film is a twisty, high-concept mystery/dark fairy tale. it's also a pale imitation of her father’s patented style..

It’s become a cliche to goof on that 2003 Newsweek cover that declared M. Night Shyamalan “The Next Spielberg,” just in time for his critical hot streak to cool off and plunge him into a decade-long drought. Instead, let’s start goofing on the way Night is becoming the next Coppola, hiring his close family as cast and crew in his occasionally self-financed productions in the effort to build a dynasty. Though they’ve been involved in M. Night’s projects for the past few years, 2024 marks the Summer of the Shyamalan Sisters, with both Saleka (age 27) and Ishana (age 24) stepping into the spotlight in front of and behind the camera, respectively. Saleka, a singer and songwriter, plays a massively successful pop star in M. Night’s latest feature, Trap , out this August. Ishana, an NYU Tisch graduate who has cut her teeth as a writer and director on her father’s Apple TV+ series Servant , has just made her feature directorial debut with The Watchers .

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Even as someone who frequently whines about nepo babies, I feel a little crappy opening a review of a filmmaker’s first feature by writing about her father. I actually have way more respect for the way Ishana and Night have clung together on the press tour , never obscuring the nepotism at play, than I do for the countless young actors or directors whose deeply entrenched Hollywood legacies you have to dig around for on Wikipedia. Like any kind of privilege, nepotism doesn’t sting just because someone gets opportunities that others don’t, but because those who benefit get so defensive when it’s suggested that favorable conditions contributed to their success. Wear that name! Own that privilege! Be a good sport for the jokes, then prove the doubters wrong. Make us believe you’d have made it if you’d been just another kid from Philly.

But since I’ve gotten to this point in the review and have yet to go into any details about the film, you’ve likely guessed that The Watchers did not convince me of much. Worse, it is precisely what I’m sure the young director hoped it wouldn’t be—a pale imitation of her father’s patented style. The Watchers checks almost every box you’d expect from an M. Night film. It’s a twisty, high-concept mystery/dark fairy tale that follows a small cast across relatively few locations as they uncover each other’s secrets while spouting dialogue that sounds like it was written by a space alien. But The Watchers is missing the secret ingredient that transforms M. Night’s movies from weird, forgettable, self-indulgent fantasies into mesmerizing cinema: the mastery of blocking and camera movement that earned him the “next Spielberg” moniker in the first place.

The Watchers is based upon a novel by A.M. Shine with a premise that already sounds like a Shyamalan movie. A young pet shop employee with a dark past (Elle Fanning) is captured by strange, unseen beings who keep humans in a display cage and watch their behavior every night. But are she and the other three captives simply pets, or is there a more nefarious purpose behind it all? Like Signs , The Village , or Old (a movie I quite like, actually), it has the makings of a solid 30-minute Twilight Zone episode that overextends itself via a string of twists that each make the story less interesting. Like any good thriller, information is strategically withheld to build intrigue, but then it’s simply dropped in the audience’s lap with no impact at all. The characters are paper-thin, each reduced to essentially one trait that is explained by one underwhelming secret.

There is, however, a single shot that shook me awake and had me performing the “Pointing Rick Dalton” meme in the theater. Fanning and another captive (Olwen Fouéré) are hiding in the roots of a rotting tree as one of the monsters passes above them. The camera begins on the two women, tilts quickly up to catch a glimpse of the skittering monster, and then slowly returns to its initial position, where Fouéré’s character now has a hand clasped over Fanning’s mouth, stifling a scream. “There it is!” I nearly exclaimed aloud for the two other filmgoers at my screening. “There’s that good Shyamalan shit!” I was not stirred from my slumber a second time.

It is, of course, deeply unfair to expect cinematic mastery from a 24-year-old first-time director. People forget that before exploding onto the scene with The Sixth Sense , M. Night Shyamalan directed two other features that practically no one saw, even after he became Hollywood’s next big thing. Ishana Night Shyamalan ’s first feature, released wide by Warner subsidiary New Line Pictures, is going to be critiqued more harshly by more outlets than most filmmakers’ work ever will be. That sucks, but that’s the other side of nepotism. The good news is that, as the offspring of a successful movie producer, Ishana Shyamalan is going to get another crack at directing a feature film if she wants it, regardless of whether or not the critical or box office response warrants it. You could call that deeply unfair, too, and she might very well agree with you. Fairness is not the issue here. The movie is bad. Her next one might be great. More artists should get the chance to try and fail like this, not just the ones with famous dads.

• SEE ALSO : Will Keen On Playing Vladimir Putin On Broadway in ‘Patriots’

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‘Summer Camp’ Review: Star-Studded Comedy Preaches Fun, but Forgets to Cut Loose Itself

Despite Kathy Bates, Diane Keaton and Alfre Woodard in leading roles, this increasingly tiresome flick has neither the modest charms of 'Book Club,' nor the timeless joys of 'Now and Then.'

By Tomris Laffly

Tomris Laffly

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It happens to many of us above a certain age. You wake up one day, and realize that your life involves neither your childhood besties, nor the carefree bliss you once took for granted. With that in mind, Castille Landon’s wearisome comedy “ Summer Camp ” ponders, what if there was a way to awaken our inner child and reestablish our priorities later in life through some fun and play? It’s surely a worthy enough premise for a good time, but one “Summer Camp” squanders through dull jokes, an uninspiring story without any real stakes and an overall phony feeling that the film can’t shake.

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Perhaps more troublingly, “Summer Camp” doesn’t bother with any sort of character development for the mature Ginny, Mary and Nora that feels real. In that, their chats about marriage vs. independence, and jokes about sex (and remote-control vibrators) just fall flat. It’s almost as if Landon has worked out of a checklist of topics these women would hypothetically discuss, rather than thought through what any of these conversations might emotionally mean for a later-in-life coming-of-age tale. One effort to give one of the women — namely Nora — some character arc through a makeover session looks especially comical, even confusing. Imagine Diane Keaton already wearing the most Diane Keaton-y of costumes — crisp high-neck shirts, tailored blazers, thick belts and Annie Hall hats — and only ending up in another signature Keaton look after the makeover.

Among the three, only Mary’s story hits some deep notes and Woodard is memorable when “Summer Camp” gives her the space to explore her dilemmas as a woman who gave up on her career goals only to be stuck in a loveless marriage with a selfish man. But any potential good that might come out of that thread rapidly gets overpowered by bad running gags (scenes with Betsy Sodaro’s Vick as an unhinged camp operative especially feels repetitive), tiresome camp hijinks and a half-hearted twist about the self-assured Ginny.

From the star-studded cast to the crew, those involved in the “Summer Camp” production probably had an amazing time hanging out at the working summer camp in Hendersonville, North Carolina, the idyllic location where the film was shot. But somehow, we’re never let in on the fun. 

Reviewed online, New York, May 28, 2024. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 96 MIN.

• Production: A Roadside Attractions release of a Saks Picture Company production, in association with Project Infinity. Producers: Alex Saks, Dori A. Rath, Tyler W. Konney, Diane Keaton, Stephanie Heaton-Harris. Executive producers: Grant S. Johnson.
• Crew: Director, writer: Castille Landon. Camera: Karsten Gopinath. Editor: Morgan Halsey. Music: Tom Howe.
• With: Kathy Bates, Diane Keaton, Alfre Woodard, Betsy Sodaro, Eugene Levy, Dennis Haysbert, Josh Peck, Beverly D’Angelo.

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You Can Definitely Tell M. Night Shyamalan’s Daughter Made ‘The Watchers’

Whether the pileup of all-in-the-family auteurist tropes is derivative or daring is very much in the eye of the beholder

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It would be easy enough to inventory all the ways Ishana Night Shyamalan’s debut feature evokes the films of her father; in fact, it’s harder to identify anything in The Watchers that doesn’t seem at least partially borrowed from M. Night’s formidable oeuvre. Adapted by Ishana from a novel by the Irish writer A.M. Shine, The Watchers is a thriller set in a secluded and gorgeously overgrown forest ( The Village ) that’s potentially populated by mythic creatures ( Lady in the Water ); its protagonist bears the literal and figurative scars of childhood trauma ( Split ) and occasionally sees dead people ( The Sixth Sense ); it features recurring cutaways to menacing, swaying foliage ( The Happening ) and a subplot about scientific experimentation gone awry ( Old ). Certain characters are not quite who they seem at a glance ( The Visit ), and there’s even a cabin, suitable for knocking .

Whether this pileup of all-in-the-family auteurist tropes is derivative or daring is very much in the eye of the beholder; either way, with Dad moonlighting as a producer, it was inevitable that matters of lineage would make The Watchers a conversation piece, especially during a summer in which Ishana’s older sister, Saleka, is set to costar in M. Night’s new thriller, Trap. Nepo-baby discourse is in, and in a recent story in The New York Times , Ishana met the topic head-on, acknowledging her heritage and what she sees as her responsibilities as a filmmaker whose surname opens doors at the upper levels of Hollywood. “It’s really about meeting that privilege and honoring that with as hard a work ethic as we can,” said the 24-year-old filmmaker, who apprenticed as a second unit director on Old and Knock at the Cabin . “[We’re] holding ourselves to the highest standard possible.”

As a piece of direction, The Watchers is about on par with Ishana’s work on the underrated Apple TV+ original series Servant (which her father was the showrunner for); she likes shooting at odd angles and mixing in lots of predatory, overhead perspectives, and she knows how to pressurize a set piece. Atmosphere is everything in a movie like this, and working in tandem with the gifted music video cinematographer Eli Arenson—who also shot the gorgeous 2021 Scandinavian folk horror movie Lamb —the director succeeds in creating an environment that’s palpably haunted around the edges, once the exposition is out of the way, at least. Dakota Fanning stars as Mina, an aspiring artist and pet store employee in scenic Galway who punctuates her workaday boredom by donning a brown bob wig and picking up local lads while cosplaying as a glamorous ballerina—a bit of character detail that at first seems like a non sequitur but actually hints slyly at the themes of identity that figure into the main story line.

Mina, it seems, is uncomfortable in her own skin, owing to long-simmering guilt over some distant transgression; a terse phone call with her sister, Lucy, confirms a measure of familial dysfunction. At this point, long-buried trauma is as much of a horror cliché as cursed artifacts or filleted teenagers; where a movie like The Empty Man satirizes such conventions, The Watchers uses them as a crutch—a telltale sign of a fledgling screenwriter. Hoping to distract herself and in need of extra cash, Mina accepts an errand chauffeuring an exotic (and expensive) parrot across the countryside to Belfast (which is surely the first time that this precise narrative setup has been used). After driving pretty much into the middle of nowhere, her car breaks down, leaving our heroine to wander through the rapidly darkening woods with the caged bird in tow.

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The scenes of Mina cowering in the forest are evocative enough that the movie could actually use more of them; one of the script’s flaws is that it rushes headlong into its first big reveal when slow-playing would have been preferable. Mina, as it turns out, isn’t alone; she’s approached by an older woman, Madeline (Olwen Fouéré)—wild-eyed and wiry, with a mane of long, silver hair—who offers cryptic but dire warnings of the come-with-me-if-you-want-to-live variety and spirits her back to a strange, oblong structure with a massive glass partition in the front. Inside, Mina meets two more people—20-something Ciara (Georgina Campbell) and teenaged Daniel (Oliver Finnegan)—who attempt to quickly acclimatize the newcomer to what has become, for them, a nightly ritual. Their task: to spend the night on display through the aforementioned window—actually a two-way mirror—for an audience of unseen (but easily heard) creatures who apparently take thrill in their mundane exploits.

The sheer convolution of this premise has a make-or-break quality to it; suffice it to say that The Watchers unfolds very much like a movie written by somebody who used to get tucked in while listening to a vestigial version of Lady in the Water. The eternal contradiction in the case of Shyamalan the elder is the tension between his enduring eloquence as a visual storyteller and the stiltedness of his dramaturgy, and on this front, his daughter proves to be a chip off the old block—for better and for worse. As a piece of set design, the “coop” (as Madeline calls it) is striking and memorable, like a kind of surrealist terrarium; it’s fun to look at but ridiculous to contemplate. That ridiculousness goes double for the elaborate “rules” that Madeline runs through for Mina’s (and our) benefit. The arcana here is grueling stuff; like the saga of Narfs and Scrunts in Lady in the Water , it suggests less some kind of solemn, ancient doctrine than a fairy tale that’s being made up as it goes along.

Such messiness is not necessarily a problem in and of itself, and it helps that for every outlandish narrative detail, there’s a resonant image, often involving the coop’s window, which is mirrored on the inside so that the characters become their own private audience even as they’re performing for their captors. The film’s gravitas, meanwhile, resides largely with Fanning; her hilarious extended cameo in Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood notwithstanding, it’s been a while since the actor has had a high-profile lead, and she makes the most of the opportunity. The emotional transparency Fanning cultivated as a child star has been replaced by an ardent, nervy quality that’s perfect for a character who’s looking for a way out (that same quality was on display in Night Moves ); she’s particularly well-matched with Fouéré, an acclaimed veteran stage actor, who’s got just the right angular physicality and otherworldly look for a story steeped in all kinds of Celtic lore (standing stock-still among the gnarled tree branches, she looks like a medieval woodcut). As for Campbell and Finnegan, they’re both suitably intense but hamstrung by clichéd screenwriting; even within the stripped-down conception of the story, they feel extraneous, bordering on expendable.

Any further discussion of what happens in the film—and to whom—would undermine its main selling point, which is the enigma of the title characters and their ultimate motivations. Without treading too far into spoiler territory, it’s worth noting (and admiring) that Shyamalan is coloring inside the lines of genre here; any fears that the film will dispense with supernatural high jinks and reveal itself as a high-handed metaphor for our voyeuristic, spectacle-obsessed society dissipate pretty quickly (notwithstanding a couple of dated jabs at reality TV). Which is not to say that The Watchers is without gimmicks (or self-reflexive pretensions), or even that its mash-up of Twilight Zone paranoia and creature-feature scares ends up feeling coherent—just that it basically plays fair by setting up a surreal scenario and seeing it through, as opposed to the sleight of hand in, say, The Village , with its phony, jerry-rigged creatures and Rod Serling–ish message that the real monster is (drumroll, please) the American way of life.

That movie was a proverbial film of ideas, and it was also in some ways M. Night’s Waterloo—the one where his reputation for storytelling trickery caught up with him. The Watchers is not nearly as cerebral; it’s less a political (or showbiz) allegory than a fable about our shared capacity for change. It’s a theme that’s ultimately addressed so plangently that it has the opposite effect and borders on goofiness. That’s where the family resemblance comes in once more. M. Night’s most distinguishing characteristic has always been his earnestness, which he uses as a shield against irony on-screen and off; with The Watchers , Ishana wields the same secret weapon with an endearing mix of awkwardness and pride.

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Logan and Raja discuss how the Boston Celtics blew out the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the NBA Finals

Can the Mavs Fix the Game 1 Problems, Dan Hurley’s Fit With the Lakers, and Raja Bell Talks Guarding Luka, Kyrie, and Tatum

Raja Bell joins to discuss why Dallas’s offense looked so difficult, which star he would rather guard, and the public’s overreactions to Game 1s

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Den of Geek

Echo Season 1 Review: Messy Marvel TV Is Back

2024 is off to a rough start for Marvel with Echo, the first MCU show designed for mature audiences.

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This review contains major spoilers for all five episodes of Echo .

In 2021, Marvel Studios introduced the character of Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) in Hawkeye . Lopez was the complex and violent right hand of New York crime lord Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), but towards the end of that miniseries she came to realize that Fisk was behind the murder of her father, so she cornered him in a back street and shot him in the head.

After so decisively confronting Kingpin and freeing herself from his grip, you might wonder why both Cox and D’Onofrio are back in the five-episode spinoff series, Echo . The answer is that Maya apparently needed to confront Kingpin again and free herself from his grip, but this time in a more unsatisfying way than before. Marvel, I’m losing my mind.

Set a meal or two after the events of Hawkeye , Echo finds Maya returning to her hometown in Oklahoma, where she must deal with some estranged family drama and reconnect with her Choctaw roots to finally deal with Kingpin (again), who is of course very much not dead from being shot point blank in the head, because Kingpin . The first of the show’s five episodes, “Chafa”, proves to be the most messy, with footage from Hawkeye spliced between jarring flashbacks, a brawl with Daredevil (also a flashback), and scenes of Maya in the present arriving on her motorcycle to find that not much has changed since she first skipped town for New York with her dad (Zahn McClarnon, currently leading the vastly superior Dark Winds on AMC).

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Maya doesn’t really have a solid or interesting plan when she returns home, and neither does the series. The next two episodes coast by as Echo resists mending broken fences with her family and tries to disrupt Fisk’s criminal operation while we wait for him to eventually show up with a sore eye and a grudge. When the meandering story eventually does put the terrific Cox and D’Onofrio back together, you finally get the electricity you’d want from the characters, but try as they might neither of them are able to sell the poorly-written dialogue they have to work with, even in these key scenes. I lost count of the amount of times Fisk started a new plea to his beloved protégée with “Maya, you and I…” but it was enough to make me realize I’d started clenching my jaw.

It’s a mess, but as the series stumbled along I hoped that it might ultimately succeed by letting Echo be Echo. Maya Lopez is, after all, a genuinely great Marvel character, and she served to be one of the standout introductions in the MCU’s wildly uneven Phase 4. Commanding, brutal, and in control, Echo shines when she gets to show off her street-level combat skills and unique cunning, much like Marvel’s other gritty East Coast heroes and antiheroes. But after the show serves up a couple of brief-but-impressive fight scenes, the biggest misfire of the series arguably arrives with the way Maya is finally able to escape Kingpin’s wrath.

Perhaps unsurprisingly if this isn’t your first Marvel rodeo, it’s all down to her wielding some newly-imbued “special glowy powers”, but since “special glowy powers” aren’t at the heart of what made Echo get her own spinoff show in the first place, their sudden implementation feels somewhat misguided here in what was promised to be a more grounded MCU story. These powers may tap into her fascinating heritage and give Echo a new spin, but they also file off the natural, razor-sharp edge that the character gained spring-boarding from her powerhouse appearance in Hawkeye , and it all makes for a fluffy, listless ending – when the combined disruption of spiritual healing and a monster truck that comes out of nowhere are your thrilling conclusion, it’s hard not to feel underwhelmed.

To see a gritty series about Echo flounder this badly kinda sucks. The series did cast some great actors to orbit Cox, including Tantoo Cardinal, Graham Greene, and Chaske Spencer, but even with a strong cast and an admirable desire to tell a Choctaw tale in the MCU, there’s not enough here to flesh out five episodes. This final version of Echo , rumored to have undergone major reshoots, is a TV movie at best. Perhaps trimmed down to that length it might have turned out alright. As it stands, the MCU’s first foray into the darker, more Netflix-y vibe of Marvel street-level storytelling is a swing and a miss.

Kirsten Howard | @emotionalpedant

Kirsten Howard has paid their dues. Yes sir, the check is in the mail.

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