Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Overhaul’ on Netflix, A Brazilian Actioner Where A Big Rig Racer Runs Into Tractor Trailer-Sized Trouble

In Overhaul (Netflix), when a talented racer of cab over big rigs on Brazil’s Copa Truck circuit gets mixed up with some local gangsters, you can see where the Senna S at Interlagos will lead him. This guy’s got truck races to win, but he’s also got debts no honest man can pay. And so he enters into a lopsided deal with a Rio-based criminal organization to be their wheelman on a series of daylight cargo thefts. Can he quit this reluctant life of crime before the cops or his criminal rivals catch up? And can he finally get out of his head enough to put together a championship racing season? With some unlikely allies, he just might.     

OVERHAUL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

The Gist: Once upon a time in America, aka the late 1970s, there was sanctioned racing of big rigs on stock car-style oval tracks. (Cue up the opening sequence of Smokey and the Bandit II to see Burt Reynolds’ name splashed across Macks and Peterbilts choking and hauling their way around Atlanta International Raceway.) But while this large format strain of motorsport has gone by the wayside in the US, it still thrives in various forms throughout the world, and it’s at the center of the action in Overhaul. For Roger (Thiago Martins), driving his way out of the long shadow cast by his big rig race champion father is a tall order. He’s got natural instincts on the track, and a relentless drive to push to the finish. But in a race early on in Overhaul, he ignores the warnings of crew chief and best buddy Danilo (Raphael Logam) and ends up blowing the turbo on his truck with the checkered flag in sight.

His recklessness in the rig is just one of Roger’s problems. With the sudden passing of his dad, he’s saddled with a mountain of debt, and thugs are knocking on his door asking for their cash. So Roger goes to see Odilo (Evandro Mesquita), and the kindly but unscrupulous gangster arranges for his newest wheelman to join the heist crew of Smokey (Milhem Cortaz). Roger’s debts will be covered if he just does a few jobs for them – we’ve heard that one before – and with race sponsors dropping off, it’s really the driver’s only chance. Roger convinces Danilo to join him over the protests of the latter’s teenage daughter Bárbara (Vitória Valentin), and soon they’re applying their knack for driving and mechanical hacks to Fast and the Furious-style roadway heists of semis and cargo containers.

Their cut of the heist loot finances the racing on the Copa circuit, and things are looking up for Roger. But in typical fashion, he ignores the warnings from Danilo and fellow racer/potential love interest Débora (Sheron Menezzes) to realize his limits. “One last job” quickly downshifts into forced participation by Smokey, and when a federal policeman named Afonso (Paulo Vilhena) starts snooping around, Roger will have to use all of his wits as a driver and improviser to keep his criminal associates at bay while trying to save his own neck. And if his biggest play yet works out, he might even finally make it to that checkered flag.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Beyond an obvious and heavy debt owed to the Fast saga, Overhaul bears quite a bit of resemblance to the 2022 film Centauro, which features Àlex Monner of the steamy Spanish teen drama Elite as an independent superbike racer in Barcelona whose circumstances force him into that crime life. (Centauro itself was a straight remake of the 2017 French-Belgian action thriller Burn Out.) And if it’s semi-truck chases and gunfights at speed you’re looking for, take a moment to recall the hokey but earnest 1998 actioner Black Dog – nowadays it streams on Starz – with the legend Patrick Swayze in the “one last job” role, Meat Loaf as the heavy gaining in his side mirror, and Randy Travis as, well, a good-timin’ Randy Travis type named Earl.     

Performance Worth Watching: Overhaul doesn’t give Sheron Menezzes a lot of space to expand on her stock role as Débora, Roger’s main rival on the track and potential true love, if he’d just stop being so self-involved. But Menezzes definitely makes her appearances count. An origin story in the Overhaul expanded universe for feared Copa Truck racer Queen Débora and her hot pink Nomex suit when?    

Memorable Dialogue: “Odilon is an eccentric,” Roger’s father says early on. “He’s like a 1970’s mobster. When you’re fucked, Odilon’s the only way out.” And the description proves apt as the man’s personality quirks and seemingly genuine soft spot for Roger are revealed.

Sex and Skin: Nothing beyond a couple brief makeout sessions.

Our Take: “I think it’s time you started making some cash on the side, if you know what I mean…” The one last job trope isn’t the only cliche Overhaul oversteers into. And with what seems to have been a limited budget, it can’t match the scale of the Fast-style mobile heists it longs to emulate. (Indeed, even the oval and S-track big rig races occur largely before empty grandstands, as if the sequences were shot during qualifying rounds.) This reduction in scope, combined with a storyline that’s as visible as a cleared out straightaway, can often make Overhaul feel more like a spirited TV movie than a full-on feature film. 

Still, there are some good performances inside all of this obviousness. As Roger, Thiago Martins embodies a stalwart likeability – you want to see him succeed, even when he constantly messes up. Some of the tinkering and modding Roger and Danilo get up to as walk-ons in the criminal underworld are interesting – a magnetized hooking system bolted onto the back of a semi recalls the outlandish battering ram cars of the entertaining Lost Bullet films – and, as is typical for films like this, the actors playing the villains are given a lot of slack to inhabit their characters. We would have liked to see more of Evandro Mesquita as Odilon, whose vague air of menace, gaudy wardrobe, tinted glasses, and floppy hairdo suggest a South American Eric Roberts. Overhaul isn’t going to be mistaken for an entry in the neverending Fast franchise. But it’s got its share of little highlights. And where else are you going to see this much big rig racing up close?  

Our Call: Overhaul is a STREAM IT, because it makes the most of what it has, even if that means it can’t quite reach the scale it’s racing for.  

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges