ECHO 8 Review: A Lean, Inspiring DIY Psych Action Drama With A Beating Heart

Echo 8 is currently circulating festivals and will screen this Spring as part of the “Badlands” series at The Art Gallery of New South Wales. Click here for more info, and ollow the movie on Facebook for future updates.

I’ve been writing about Maria Tran for about as long as I’ve been… well… writing. Her 2013 action comedy short with Adrian Castro, Hit Girls, was a fine catch at the time and provided ample introduction for me to the kind of artist and performer Tran is, further highlighting her caliber as a film creative with a number of short film projects, and often collaborating with fellow independent film cohort Castro in the process, along with select television projects and a few feature film appearances to top off her resumè nicely in the meantime. Such credits include working with the likes of legendary producer Roger Corman on Antony Szeto’s Fist Of The Dragon, and garnering a villain role opposite actress Troung Ngoc Anh for Cuong Ngo’s Tracer to name a few.

One project I hoped would see the light of day was a kung fu drama from co-helmers Robert Chen and Nathan Colquhoun called The Challenge Letter, until the production fizzled about seven years ago. Nonetheless, the gap left by this project hasn’t hindered Tran in the least, having tipped the scales in her favor in the years thereafter by way of other productions currently brewing under her shared Phoenix Eye Productions banner, which has already helped garner the team a spotlight for boosting the efforts of their local artistic community in Western Sydney. To that extent, this also included the production of the continent’s first Asian-Australian psychological action drama, Echo 8.

Shepherded by a crew of mostly women and written by Elizabeth H. Vu, the scribe behind the upcoming horror thriller, Wake, Echo 8 entrenches you into the world of our titular protagonist (Tran) – a hired killer who works for a clandestine organization called Zodiac, paired up with Delta 1 (David Vuong) for every job under the guidance of Agent 5 (Takashi Hara), who gets his orders remotely from the organization’s senior official, Z12 (Mike Leeder). Such is the chain of command that is enforced when Z12 orders Agent 5 the beleaguering assignment of taking out a community activist named Hanh (Gabrielle Chan), who is working to get a local politician elected. At this point, Echo 8 is already troubled by a series of fragmented, albeit recurring images in her head – something she also notices with Delta 1 and the nightmares he’s been having of late. With Agent 5’s erratic behavior stirring cause for concern among his operatives, it’s only a matter of time before his secrets are revealed, resurfacing a forgotten past that will soon determine Echo 8’s future.

Echo 8 was shot in fourteen non-consecutive days following the start of principal photography a month before COVID-19 restrictions were set in back in 2020. Take this into consideration when you notice the discernibly quiet streets and sidewalks, particularly in the evening which otherwise contributes to the film’s bleak and suitably dark atmosphere at times. Barring the first eight or nine minutes of the film which serve as a footnote for future reference, the real substance kicks in as we acquaint ourselves with the rest of the story and the internal struggles and torment that Echo 8 quietly faces away from her peers. Tran’s performance treads carefully throughout the film’s exposition and midway development with a nimble and balanced approach that allows you to work in sync with her thought process. Some of the more reminiscent moments may feel a bit ambiguous in context if you slip and miss a step or try to overthink what’s happening. In those instances, it helps usually to put yourself in the present and absorb what you see, allowing the rest of the chips to fall into place.

Vuong first came on my radar back in 2016 when Sam Gosper was revving up his Circle Of Ninja project, which when I last checked was still in development. After that and a raft of other shorts, it’s with Echo 8 that he finally gets to shell out his performance caliber beyond his action and screen-fighting credentials, bouncing off nicely with Tran in their screentime together. There’s a goofy charm to Delta 1 aside from his shared levity and camaraderie with Echo 8, and similarly, there’s a sprinkle of stoicism and solemnity that compliments him, removing any notion there is that he’s solely there for ancillary comedy relief, which I appreciated. The same goes for Hara’s portrayal of Agent 5 who is as cold as he is calculating – traits that only begin to add up when we learn the full breadth of the tragedy that consumes his own past.

A team effort for the film’s fight scene design between Tran, Hara, Vuong and Castro delivers plentiful in the packaging of action and fisticuffs. There’s about seven in total, two in which Tran and Vuong get to cut loose as a two-handed force to be reckoned with in their respective roles, as is Hara who has previously showcased his action caliber with Tran in their shortfilm work. There are some scene where Tran and Vuong have to take out goons and thugs by the numbers – there’s one extra in a key sequence whose “tough guy” walk looks nearly removes any seriousness from the scene, although the good news is that the action sells. This sort of thing invariably speaks to the film in whole, for its minor imperfections and rough-around-the-edges assembly at times in certain areas, while still accomplishing most of its goals for a story doused in dark, brooding noir with lucid mystique, poignant character development and resolution, and hard-hitting action to boot.

At the end of the day, Echo 8 hands you a lean, cerebral action drama that is well-acted, tenaciously crafted, and thrusts you into psychological intrigue and mystique, with twists and reveals that are played out in a fashion timely enough to enrich the viewer’s experience, without stifling its ambitions. It’s the type of progressive indie film artistry that I love and wholly respect between the artist and the vision, and with Tran front and center as another action star well on her way to the fruition that she deserves.

Cast: Maria Tran, David Vuong, Takashi Hara, Gabrielle Chan, Eliza Nguyen, Mike Leeder

Written by: Elizabeth H. Vu (story consultant: Takeru Miyazaki)

Produced by: Takashi Hara, Elizabeth H. Vu

Executive Produced by: Maria Tran

Lee B. Golden III

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Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!