Gal Gadot's latest streaming vehicle, The Runner, is a derivative, low-rent thriller that fails to deliver excitement, despite the backdrop of real London locations and a premise that has been recycled many times before. The film, now available on Amazon Prime Video, follows an ordinary citizen forced into an extraordinary situation by a sinister voice on the phone, a trope seen in films like Nick of Time, Red Eye, Eagle Eye, and more recently Carry-On and Drop.
A Familiar Premise with a 2026 Twist
Gadot plays Maia, a single mother and lawyer who says goodbye to her diabetic son at school and starts her run to work. Her day is interrupted by a nefarious “freelancer” working for a local crime boss, voiced by Damian Lewis. The villain has kidnapped her son and hacked his insulin dispenser, forcing him into a hypoglycemic coma. Maia must agree 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 the villain is staying within an hour, with no interruptions allowed. The 2026 update is that AI is an important weapon, a device that is increasingly becoming a lazy crutch for screenwriters.
Direction and Performances Fall Flat
Directed by Kevin Macdonald, the Oscar-winning documentarian behind Touching the Void, whose narrative films include State of Play and Black Sea, the film tries to be frenetic and involving. However, the dated flourishes, including a misjudged slow shutter speed effect, take viewers back to the 2000s rather than immersing them in the chaos of London. The action is cheap and unexciting, and Gadot's performance is athletically impressive but emotionally stiff.
Mark Gibson's script is far too plain, the rules of the game are far too inconsistent, and the dynamic between hero and villain is far too generic. An attempt at a smug switcheroo ending is too clunky to prove as smart as those involved seem to think it is. While intelligence might not be expected in B-movie territory, the lack of excitement is hard to forgive.
