An exciting premise, colourful shots, and an all-local cast, The Way Back boasts of glory but stumbles on the very first hurdle, the misguided and messy Maltese mini-series needing a lot more time in the oven.

Every young filmmaker dreams of making a movie. It doesn’t matter how many adverts they shoot, or short films they create, producing and directing a feature film is the scary boss battle that is waiting at the end of the hallway, a feat that Maria Grech has accomplished in her directorial debut The Way Back. Told through the increasingly popular medium of a mini-series (but if you squint hard enough, it’s a film), Grech and co-creator Dylan Odom have described their latest production as “Malta’s first blockbuster series”, a tall order that sets the bar extremely high for their first visit to the silver screen. Maybe a little too high.

Set in the present day, siblings Eve (Kay Dimech) and Peter (Sean Azzopardi) are taking their yearly trip to their family’s not-so-scary cabin in the woods along with their friends. After quickly discovering that his mum has disappeared, Peter and company begin to realise that not everything is as it seems: a carefully planned conspiracy is right around the corner, and they are at its centre. Time travel, shotgun-wielding strangers, and yellow hazmat suits, The Way Back starts off with a simple premise but quickly turns into convoluted sci-fi, the first misstep of many.

After an out of context and explosive opening, we begin with an expositional dialogue dump: the cast’s introduction. Crammed in a car on their way to the cabin, we get our first glimpse of the gang’s dynamic. It is clear what Grech is going for; conversational dialogue that draws in an audience, staking each character’s claim to their respective stereotypical roles in the group. Unfortunately, it is immediately clear that none of the cast are up to the challenge.

Rather than realistic pacing, there is a constant rigidity to every line, every movement. When the self-promoted comedian of the group Dennis (Adriel Camilleri) jokes around, he acts as if he is on stage, booming out each line, projecting to an audience that isn’t there. The same can be said for the entire cast, each of them pacing themselves in an overtly staged way; unsurprising considering that most of their backgrounds lie in theatre.

This creates an almost immediate struggle, the unlifelike performances refusing to corporate with an already tedious script. The hardest performance to believe is Azzopardi’s Peter, yet it is unjust to say that it is the young actor’s fault. Peter is the lead, the Fred to the rest of the Scooby gang. The spotlight shines the brightest on him, highlighting every over-acted movement he makes, yet he is no worse than the rest of his cohorts, each of them clearly uncomfortable in their own skin as they forcibly read out lines in their jarringly unnatural accents.

The Way Back never ceases to feel alien. No matter how unwelcoming and staged the performances feel, or how dragging the wordy plot becomes, it is the visual barrage of saturated colours that are the final nail in the coffin. Each shot is blunt and bombastic, shoving neon lights and over-exposed lens flares into every frame to elicit some form of edgy drama, but it fails. There is no careful colour coordination, no restraint when it comes to the overloading visuals, the surrealistically disengaging cinematography burning into my retinas as it attempts to enhance the non-existent excitement.

This isn’t a production without vision, rather a film without expertise

There is a lack of direction, but not passion. Grech’s intentions are still clear, each decision is rooted in creative choices, purposefully setting out to be stylistic but ending up as disorganised; uncoordinated. Technical issues invade nearly every scene: music drowning out dialogue, sound effects not matching the action or not existing – footsteps are jarringly loud while two people grapple around in the gravel silently. Even visually there are many glaring issues, the worst being a long shot that was completed in two takes and then morphed together, ruining both the effect and my engagement.

While it is certainly easier to ignore the smaller issues (for instance, calling the MacGuffin of the show a ‘stopwatch’ when they are clearly referring to a timer), it is the lack of focus that brings everything crashing down. As the kids are preparing for the finale, there is a heist-planning sequence that features the cast putting on ludicrous accents and a jammed-in dance montage, all while they are spouting an incredible amount of information in a short time. I understand the want to include an homage to Ocean’s Eleven, but there is a time and place for it. This was not it.

A blend between Euphoria’s rich neon colours, Back to the Future’s time-travelling shenanigans, and Stranger Things’ teen-focused drama/thriller, The Way Back bites off more than it can chew. This isn’t a production without vision, rather a film without expertise. Instead of a passion project that has taken years to make, this has been rushed, sprinting to the finish line with an unfinished product whilst boasting of its excellence. Every young filmmaker wants to make a feature film, but sometimes we need to learn to crawl before we can run.