Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Centauro’ on Netflix, Where A Motorcycle Rider Is Forced To Become A High-Risk Drug Courier

Centauro (Netflix) is a faithful remake of a 2017 French-Belgian action thriller called Burn Out, so while the action moves to Barcelona, the setup is the same. When a budding superbike racer’s ex is threatened by a gang of Colombian drug-runners, he becomes a high-speed courier to pay off her debt. Centauro stars Alex Monner as the would-be superbiker in over his head; Monner plays Felipe on Netflix’s racy Spanish teen thriller Elite.

CENTAURO: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: When we first meet Rafa (Alex Monner), he’s walking determinedly through the pits at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, past the berths of well-funded superbike teams to his lone, self-maintained Kawasaki Ninja. He’s an independent, and that determines his hunger on the track. When his bike blows a gasket with two laps to go, Rafa’s ready to chalk it up to bad luck and move on. But team owner Regina (Patricia Vico) notices his tenacity, and offers him a tryout. This could be the break that allows Rafa to quit his job as a cargo loader down at the Barcelona port, and finally prove to his ex Natalia (Begoña Vargas) that he’s worthy of a relationship with her and their young son Mateo (Abraham Perez). Sure, at his domicile, the kitchen and bedroom share space with his superbike and unruly piles of tools and solvent barrels. But Regina’s offering him a real future on the track.

Trouble throws a torque wrench into Rafa’s hopes when Natalia is leaned on by a crew of cartel-affiliated dealers working in Barcelona. The drugs she was stashing for them were stolen, and if she doesn’t pay back the difference…well, Rafa pledges to confront Carlos (Edgar Vittorino) and Boro (Carlos Bardem) and reach a compromise, even if his buddy Cortes (Dollar Semouni), himself a low-level drug dealer, warns him off. “They’re sketchy, brother. Latinos. Colombian.” Rafa won’t be dissuaded, and just like that he’s in the back of Boro’s van on the way to Marseille, where he’ll pick up a packet of product and race back to Barcelona with the drug interdiction highway cops hot on his tail. If Rafa works for Carlos and Boro for two months, Natalia’s debt is paid and he’s free to go. Yeah, right.

He’s burning the candle at both ends and in the middle, running courier routes all night, working at the port all day, and popping pills to stay frosty enough that he doesn’t crash and burn during one of Regina’s tryout runs. Rafa still wants to make her superbike team. And he still wants to get back to full-time with Natalia and Mateo. But the more he risks with the cartel guys and the encircling law, the more Rafa’s wager in all of this becomes his very life.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Centauro is a more-or-less straight remake of the 2017 French-Belgian thriller Burn Out, which also appears on Netflix. And while Rafa falls backwards into running drugs when it’s the only way to protect his loved ones, in the Spanish thriller Sky High, Miguel Herran of Elite uses his burgeoning life of crime to fuel an exciting new romance. Consider also Lost Bullet (2020), an entertaining French actioner where a savvy street driver joins forces with the highway patrol to chase down drug-running fast movers.

Performance Worth Watching: Begoña Vargas is a highlight here as Natalia, who would love to raise Mateo together with Rafa if he’d just slow down and respect her for a second. And Vargas is in the middle of a win streak on Netflix, with the period crime film Outlaws and a main cast berth on Welcome to Eden.

Memorable Dialogue: “Not many riders are born to race,” Regina tells Rafa down at the practice track for her superbike team. “Most improve their technique, but they lack that spark. My dad used to say you’re like centaurs. But instead of hooves, you have wheels. That’s why you’re magical, why you fly.”

Sex and Skin: There is a scene of intimacy between Rafa and Natalia as they rekindle their relationship.

Our Take: From its ripping opening sequence on the superbike circuit track, to Rafa’s wee hours, high-speed rambles through two countries and across miles of highway, with cops giving chase in high performance vehicles or on motorcycles of their own, Centauro is most comfortable when it’s in motion. Even later, as Carlos pursues an elusive Rafa through the heavy industry and freight warehouses of Barcelona’s Zona Franca, the film remains enamored of its first love, speed. It’s economical, too, clocking in at a tidy one hour and thirty minutes. But all of that zipping around in such a tight run time doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for development, and Centauro gets stuck in neutral when it tries to sketch out Rafa and Natalia’s history together, or the infighting between Carlos and Boro. It’s a film built for speed, not drama. And that’s just fine for what it ultimately is.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Centauro joins a wealth of recent action thrillers to come out of Europe featuring speed fetishes and noble aims in the face of doing crimes.

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