Is the wife just a completely innocent party? Is the husband really going to go into politics and move on from the loss? There's tension, and spurts of action, as the show teases us with swift resolutions and special forces infiltrations, but this is misdirection, with Boal's characters more than just walking cliches - the main trio, by episode 4, a long way away from where they were when it all began. as much interested in observing all the minute elements that pool together to forge a child into a man, as it is in telling any kind of conventional narrative Clearly playing the long game, Boal's intent on crafting a story that weaves in a palpable political backdrop, with layers of spy complexity peeling back as you slowly realise that this isn't going to be a done-and-dusted rescue come the end of episode 3. Those expecting a run-and-gun action-fest from the get-go will possibly be sorely disappointed in the military-flavoured Echo 3, which has a great deal more in common with slow-burning political kidnap dramas like Russell Crowe's underrated Proof of Life or spy thrillers like Tony Scott's outstanding Spy Game, had that not been shot and edited at a breakneck pace. Shot on location in Colombia, it certainly looks the part, with lived-in villages juxtaposed with the clinical settings back home.

Echo 3 comes to the UK on Apple TV+ with all their now-universal trappings - 4K Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos as standard - and it looks and sounds unsurprisingly excellent, maintaining the streaming service's reputation as the frontrunner for streaming AV.

Apple echo3