‘The Runner’ movie review: Gal Gadot runs flat out to save this generic thriller

At the end of 84 minutes of this spare thriller from Kevin Macdonald, the audience is as exhausted as Gal Gadot’s Maia Marten. Gadot plays a busy prosecutor who is bringing a crime boss down for the murder of two young women. After dropping her diabetic son, Noah (Rory Wilmot) to school, Maia goes on her daily run.

Tafa (Phoenix Di Sebastiani) is going to be moved to witness protection once he testifies against the crime boss. Maia gets a call from an unknown number saying she has to kill Tafa within an hour or Noah will die. There follows a race against time through London to save him.

Through the film, we learn something about Maia’s past including the death by gunshot of her abusive father, who was also responsible for all the medals Maia won for athletics. He was her coach and pushed her far beyond what she thought she was capable of. Maia’s mother takes the blame for his death though Maia is convinced her mother is innocent.

The Caller (Damian Lewis) hacks into Maia’s phone and learns about her relationship with fellow lawyer, Ted (Alfred Enoch). Having access to Maia’s phone means The Caller will also know of any attempt by Maia to let the world know about her predicament.

Gal Gadot in ‘The Runner’
| Photo Credit:
Prime Video

The Runner is reminiscent of movies such as Phone Booth, where the antagonist makes the lead character jump through hoops over the phone, for sins of omission or commission, or just because they can. The film benefits greatly from Gadot’s committed performance. The actor apparently had stress fractures in her feet and completed filming on crutches.

Macdonald who helmed the legal drama, The Mauritanian (2021) has directed this efficient and often predictable thriller, with its ticking-clock and child-in-danger beats. Some of the visuals are striking including the one shot of the blood mixing with the milk spilled from a carton on the floor, and some top shots of London as Maia runs through parks and crowded streets.

The movie works as a love letter to London. From the opening montage where everyone is on their phones and we get snatches of different lives, to Maia’s desperate dash through Somerset House, the underground, (she races and catches up with the tube) Blackfriars Bridge, Waterloo Bridge, and the HMS Belfast to her final destination of Excelsus Hotel, the city makes for a vivid, vital character.    

The ending is just that bit too pat with everything tied up in a neat bow, but it is mercifully short and thanks to Gadot’s dedication, The Runner proves to be a fun way to get your steps in while staring blankly at the telly.

The Runner is currently streaming on Prime Video