Gal Gadot’s Action Dud Cements Her Losing Streak
The Daily Beast • • entertainment
Key Points:
- "The Runner," starring Gal Gadot and directed by Kevin Macdonald, is criticized for its frantic and grating direction, failing to build the suspense typical of race-against-time thrillers despite a high-stakes kidnapping plot.
- Gadot plays Maia Marten, a lawyer whose son is kidnapped and placed in a hyper-glycemic coma, forcing her to follow the kidnapper's demands within an hour to save him, but the film's style undermines emotional engagement.
- The film employs intrusive visual effects, shaky camerawork, and an overwhelming soundscape dominated by digital noise, which creates a dissonant experience that distances viewers from the protagonist's plight.
- The plot includes clichéd elements such as Maia's traumatic past, her physical prowess, and a villain with a God complex, but the dialogue and character development are often seen as shallow and corny.
- Despite a brisk runtime under 80 minutes, "The Runner" is deemed inefficient and exhausting, with its relentless pace failing to deliver genuine thrills, leaving audiences likely to lose interest quickly.
