The Runner review – Gal Gadot stumbles through derivative high-speed, low-rent thriller

We’re propelled on to an extremely familiar journey in Amazon’s quickie action thriller The Runner, both in reheated premise and strategic aim. The film is yet another example of a real-time assassination nightmare as an ordinary citizen is placed in an extraordinary situation, forced to do something terrible by someone terrible. Think Johnny Depp in Nick of Time, Rachel McAdams in Red Eye, Shia LaBeouf in Eagle Eye, or more recently, Taron Egerton in Carry-On and Meghann Fahy in Drop, with technology increasingly a key component. We’re also faced with what’s another strained attempt to turn Gal Gadot into a movie star, a mission that’s proved close to impossible after she broke out in Wonder Woman. Her streaming vehicles, like Red Notice and Heart of Stone, might have proved easy at-home hits (the latter was also surprisingly entertaining), but on the big screen, playing both a Disney villain and an Agatha Christie victim proved to be of little interest to audiences, who chose meme-ing her worst moments over turning up to see them.

An action-first film like The Runner, disposable and undemanding, might seem like the safest place for Gadot’s rather limited skill set, but even with a role that asks more of her physically than emotionally, it’s still a rather awkward stretch. Luckily, she’s paired with real on-the-ground London locations, from Kentish Town to Somerset House, the city proving to be a scene-stealing co-star. Gadot plays Maia, a single mother and lawyer, who says goodbye to her diabetic son at school and starts her run to work (surely her son’s diabetes will not become an important part of the plot, right?). But her day is soon interrupted by a nefarious “freelancer” working for a local crime boss, voiced by Damian Lewis. He has kidnapped her son and hacked his insulin dispenser, forcing him into a hypoglycemic coma, his life hanging in the balance until Maia agrees to murder a key witness she was supposed to be representing in court that morning. The film’s slight novelty is that Maia must run five miles to the hotel where he’s staying within an hour, no interruptions allowed. The slight 2026 update is that, in what’s increasingly becoming a lazy crutch for screenwriters, AI is an important weapon.