THE RUNNER (AMAZON PRIME) (2026)

SYNOPSIS: Threatened by an anonymous source who has kidnapped her son, MAIA, a lawyer, must travel on foot throughout London to kill a client she represents to save her son.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Gal Gadot has recently said goodbye to her iconic portrayal of Wonder Woman, even though fans will likely agree that she is still the best person for the role. Yet, this has not stopped the Israeli actress from taking on more physically demanding characters, as she does in her latest psychological thriller, The Runner.

Written by Nick Gibson (The Wild, Snow Dogs), who returns to Hollywood after taking a long hiatus, The Runner is a thriller that is purely inspired by movies that deliver a race-against-time scenario. Remember Johnny Depp’s Nick of Time (1995) or Colin Farrell’s Phone Booth (2002)?

Gadot plays Maia Marten, a high-powered lawyer whose son is kidnapped while she is out on a morning run. The instructions are simple — she has to keep moving, follow every command, tell no one, and if she stops, her son, who has a medical condition, dies. Think Speed (1994) without the bus or Keanu Reeves. Obviously, the kidnapping has something to do with a case she is involved in. She has to kill a witness before he can testify against a criminal kingpin.

The Runner is very much a disposable streaming flick. The plotting is simplistic and the production values here are atrocious. For the most part, it really feels like a made-for-TV feature. At the very least, you get to watch Gadot running like mad across the busy streets of London in broad daylight instead of being confined to a studio setup.

We are kind of surprised that the movie is directed by Kevin Macdonald, the man who helmed State of Play, The Last King of Scotland and How I Live Now. The Runner represents none of the level of artistry and intricacy he brought to his previous movies. Macdonald tries his best to instil a sense of urgency into Gadot’s character and maintain the mystery surrounding the kidnapper, who never really shows his face until the ending. But we are pretty sure you already know who he is. However, much of the fuss comes across as perfunctory and never particularly convincing.

The ending delivers a twist to show how Gadot’s Maia manages to outwit the mysterious kidnapper. That, however, turns out to be such a superficial plan that even the Almighty probably wouldn’t be able to pull it off in real life. There are Hollywood action fantasies out there, and then there’s The Runner.

There are critics out there who have complained about Gadot’s constant wooden performance, but we are going to digress. The biggest problem with a movie like The Runner is its inability to allow audiences to invest in it. The plotting is too cartoonish and amateurish to achieve the level of urgency needed for the story. For the most part, it feels like an extended, empty advertisement for Decathlon.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee