Some people run for fun with their friends, while others train tirelessly for their next marathon. Which category Maia (Gal Gadot) falls into remains to be seen, but in The Runner, she faces her ultimate race. Crossing London during rush hour is no small feat, but she must also race against time to save her son from a violent kidnapper, pushing herself to the limit along the way. Unlike the lead herself, Kevin Macdonald’s (The Mauritanian) latest movie doesn’t get off to a flying start. It stumbles through its first hour before finally finding its footing and picking up the pace in the final act.
It’s crystal clear from the beginning that this film demands much more from Gadot (Heart Of Stone) physically than emotionally. Yes, there’s the immediate establishment of Maia’s close relationship with her son Noah (Rory Wilmot), especially since she’s a single mother and lawyer while he’s a shy young boy with diabetes (yes, as expected, this will be a crucial part of the plot) who doesn’t want to leave her side for even a second. However, during that first ‘let’s get ready for school’ opening scene, it also becomes extremely evident that it will be tricky for the audience to truly empathise with and feel for this dedicated mother throughout the movie.
That is because Gadot doesn’t put enough emotion into her otherwise lifeless dialogue. While her physical performance is undoubtedly top-notch throughout the movie, her overall acting is sadly held back by overly rigid line delivery. Whether it’s during those first few scenes or later, when she learns about her son’s critical condition and the stakes rise even higher, the emotion often feels forced and lacks the warmth. Maia’s dedication to and love for her son never feel 100% present, despite everything that unfolds over the course of the film’s 84-minute runtime.
Once her seemingly ordinary day — first the school drop-off and then the run to work — is interrupted by a call from a so-called “freelancer” (Damian Lewis), she has to sprint like hell. The unnamed caller works for a nefarious crime boss and has kidnapped her son while hacking his insulin dispenser, resulting in a hypoglycemic coma. For the majority of the movie, we only hear Lewis’ sinister voice. While he, much like the film itself, follows an entirely predictable script, he’s still intriguingly menacing as the cold and calculating caller who controls Maia’s every move and puts her in the most terrifying position of her life.
With her son’s life hanging in the balance, Maia will do anything in her power to save him. But does that even include killing a key witness (Phoenix Di Sebastiani) she’s representing in court that morning, whose testimony could put the caller’s boss behind bars? It seems so, as she ties her laces even tighter, takes one final deep breath and begins the one-hour countdown to run five miles to the hotel where he’s staying.
From then on, the movie picks up the pace in every sense of the word, as our heroine needs to cross from the north side of London all the way to the other side of the river. As someone who can call this dynamic city home, it’s always great to see its different neighbourhoods, side streets, little spots you’ve walked past countless times and, of course, its famous tourist landmarks on the big screen. The city offers plenty of opportunities, as it definitely adds energy and personality to Maia’s increasingly frantic race and an action-first film like this. From Kentish Town to King’s Cross and from Somerset House to almost Tower Bridge, the city is much more than just the caller’s playground. While some familiar spots seem to have miraculously moved around the map (yes, Canary Wharf, I’m looking at you), London ultimately becomes a co-star in its own right.
And Gadot can definitely use a great co-star because, after a while, even the running becomes slightly repetitive. While our lead is still going at full speed, you keep waiting for something more. Still, once she crosses a certain bridge — both metaphorically and literally speaking — that’s when the movie shows glimpses of why it could have been on the same level as more recent cat-and-mouse games with technology (ab)use at their heart. From wielding a firearm right in front of innocent tourists to having to jump onto HMS Belfast with neither time nor room to spare, when both the script and Maia show more grit, dare and dedication, the director proves that there’s some life in his movie after all. It might simply be too little, too late, given the uninspired start.
What Netflix’s Carry-On did so well sadly doesn’t work for Amazon with its latest Prime Video addition. Instead of refreshing the action-thriller formula like Jaume Collet-Serra’s movie, this feature feels like an uninspired copy-and-paste job of what came before. There’s the lead with a hidden personal trauma, the supposedly creepy one-liners (“There’s more blood in the human body than you can fathom!”) and, of course, an illness that puts even more pressure on the main character. And we can’t forget the interruptions that make her chase even more difficult, from slow-moving tourists and phone thieves to gridlocked traffic.
Yes, Macdonald certainly knows how to use London in all its glory. All the familiar elements of a predictable action thriller are there. If that’s what you’re after on a film Friday or a lazy Sunday afternoon, then The Runner is definitely one to watch. Otherwise, you might want to sit this race out.
The Runner is out now on Prime Video
All the familiar elements of a predictable action thriller are there. If that’s what you’re after on a film Friday or a lazy Sunday afternoon, then The Runner is definitely one to watch. Otherwise, you might want to sit this race out.
-
GVN Rating
Freelancer by day. Film journalist by night.
