‘The Runner’ Review: Gal Gadot’s Thrilling Run in London Lacks Momentum

Gal Gadot makes her return to genre filmmaking in ‘The Runner’, a real-time thriller that thrusts her into the streets of London as a hostage negotiator’s worst nightmare. She portrays Maia Marten, a high-powered attorney and single mother whose morning jog spirals into chaos when a mysterious voice on the phone reveals that her son has been taken.

The film draws heavily from the voice-on-the-phone subgenre, which has captivated audiences for decades, placing an everyday individual against an unseen foe who issues commands under the threat of violence. Directed by Kevin Macdonald and scripted by Mark Gibson, the film unfolds against a backdrop of a ticking clock, compelling Maia to complete a series of tasks across the city before time runs out. It debuts on Prime Video with a glossy marketing push, indicating Amazon’s intention for it to become must-watch content for Wednesday nights.

However, once the jogging begins, the film settles into a rhythm that fails to escalate as expected. Gadot tackles the physical demands of her role with the same dedication she exhibited in her action heroine days, and there’s a certain amusing absurdity in watching her dash past double-decker buses while issuing commands through a wireless earpiece. The issue lies in the emotional stakes, which never quite rise to the occasion, making her declarations of maternal desperation feel as flat as a grocery list.

Damian Lewis, voicing the enigmatic caller manipulating Maia’s actions, seems to be having a blast, fully embracing the theatrical menace of his role. He relishes every threat and taunt with a gleeful malice that the rest of the film could have benefitted from. Whenever he appears on the soundtrack, the movie momentarily comes alive, only to revert to autopilot as Maia resumes her run.

Visually, the film boasts a slick, saturated aesthetic, featuring drone shots of the Thames and music choices that feel more suited to a perfume commercial than a thriller about a kidnapped child. This style-over-substance approach might have worked if the plot had any surprises, but the twists come exactly when anticipated, and the resolution plays it safe. There’s a moment midway where the film hints at allowing Maia to make a genuinely uncomfortable moral choice, but its refusal to explore that thread reveals a lack of ambition.

The supporting cast, including Rory Wilmot as Maia’s son and Alfred Enoch in a smaller role, deliver adequate performances with underdeveloped material. However, this is fundamentally a two-hander between Gadot and Lewis, and only one of them seems to grasp the film’s tone. At a brisk runtime, the film never overstays its welcome, yet it also fails to build the tension that would make the sprint worthwhile.

There exists a version of ‘The Runner’ that fully embraces its absurdity, transforming into a gloriously trashy guilty pleasure, and another that plays it straight as a tense survival thriller. This film awkwardly straddles those two identities, never silly enough to be a guilty pleasure and not sharp enough to be genuinely gripping. My experience with it was pleasant enough as background noise, primarily due to Lewis’s engaging performance, but I never found myself on the edge of my seat.

Considering everything from the committed physicality of its lead to the squandered potential of its central gimmick, I’m settling on 5.5 out of 10 for ‘The Runner’. It’s glossy, forgettable streaming fare that can occupy an evening without demanding much, only to be forgotten by the next morning.

Did ‘The Runner’ get your heart racing, or did you find yourself checking your watch? Share your thoughts in the comments below.