MOVIE NEWS – Gal Gadot’s new 84-minute action thriller, The Runner, follows a desperate mother’s real-time race across the city as she fights to save her kidnapped son. While the Prime Video release has earned some praise for its pace and premise, its Rotten Tomatoes scores suggest that neither critics nor most viewers believe the movie lives up to its potential.

In her pulse-pounding new chase thriller, Gal Gadot throws herself into the action with the kind of intensity and athletic physicality associated with stars such as Tom Cruise and Jason Statham. After cementing her place on Hollywood’s A-list through commercially successful performances in the DCEU and Fast & Furious franchises, she has taken several more adventurous swings in recent years with Snow White, Heart of Stone and In the Hand of Dante. Her latest project pushes her a little further beyond her familiar screen persona, and the audience response now offers a clear indication of whether that gamble has paid off.

Gadot races against the clock in The Runner, a tense 84-minute action thriller that borrows recognizable ingredients from Phone Booth and Run Lola Run. She stars as Maia Marten, an experienced prosecutor forced into a frantic real-time sprint across the city and ordered to sabotage a high-profile trial, with every step dictated by the ruthless extortionist who has kidnapped her son. The movie promises a short, accessible burst of thriller entertainment, but many critics argue that it misses that target by a considerable margin. Audiences have been somewhat more forgiving, although they too largely agree that the film fails to make full use of its premise.

The Runner currently holds a dismal 9% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 30 critic reviews, while its audience score sits at an equally sobering 31%. Reactions are sharply divided between viewers who appreciate the premise and rapid pacing and those who regard the movie as a complete waste of time. Gadot’s performance has attracted similarly mixed feedback, with more favorable responses arguing that she is convincing as a mother willing to do anything to save her son, while harsher comments directly criticize her acting ability.

On paper, the movie certainly has considerable talent behind the camera. Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald previously made One Day in September, Touching the Void and The Last King of Scotland, while accomplished cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle has worked on films including 127 Hours, 28 Years Later and Slumdog Millionaire. Both filmmakers help communicate the escalating stakes and the urgency of Maia’s predicament, but according to the critical consensus, their work is ultimately undermined by an underwhelming screenplay and weak storytelling.

Source: MovieWeb