The Runner
It seemed cheap to me, quite poor in staging and very much like bargain-bin streaming content, although I admit that the ending is much better thought out than almost everything before it. I also went in conditioned by Gal Gadot, because her public image and positions weigh on me, and this time the film did not manage to make me forget her. I did not so much see a character trapped in a nightmare as a star placed inside a small thriller that does not know how to use her.
The premise is textbook: a mother goes out running, receives a call and discovers that her son has been kidnapped. From there she has to obey orders, move through London, improvise and try to buy time. It is a direct idea, almost an afternoon TV movie with apparently a bit more budget, and that is exactly why it could have worked if it had nerve, tension and more precise direction. But for much of the running time it feels like a cheap product.
It immediately reminded me of stories like Kidnap, with Halle Berry, because of that structure of a desperate mother moving from normal life to total pursuit. The difference is that there, with all its limitations, there was a more primal energy. Here everything feels too manufactured, too functional, as if the film were more concerned with reaching the next location than making you truly feel Maia's fear.
Gal Gadot has physical presence, that is obvious, and in a film based almost entirely on running, breathing hard, answering calls and looking everywhere, that helps a little. But dramatically she still seems very limited to me. There are scenes where she should convey terror, guilt, desperation or intelligence under pressure, and too often she remains stuck in tense gestures, fixed stares and movement. The film does not help her either, because even the shots of her seemed badly resolved to me.
That is what surprised me most negatively: if you have Gal Gadot as the big name on the poster, at least film Gal Gadot well. But many frames have a very obvious visual poverty. It is not only a matter of money; it is a matter of direction. There are small films that turn their limits into style. This one, instead, simply feels limited: few actors, spaces used flatly, cuts without elegance and an image close to modern TV-movie territory.
Damian Lewis works better as a voice than as a character. The idea of the man on the phone controlling the situation has a lot of potential, and it is impossible not to remember Phone Booth, with Colin Farrell trapped in the booth and Kiefer Sutherland dominating almost the whole film only with his voice. That comparison hurts, because there the limitation was a pressure cooker. Here, many times, the call feels like a device to keep moving a plot without enough personality.
Alfred Enoch also appears, and it is fun to recognize him from How to Get Away with Murder and Harry Potter. He has an agreeable presence, but the film does not give him memorable material either. Like almost all the supporting characters, he enters to fulfill a specific function inside the mechanism. Nobody seems to have much life beyond what the chase needs at each moment.
The pace, at least, does not completely collapse. The film moves quickly, starts early with the kidnapping of the child and is short, so it never becomes endless. That saves it a little. But moving fast is not the same as having tension. Many scenes pass one after another without leaving much trace, and the feeling of real danger appears only now and then, not consistently. It can be watched, but with the feeling that you are watching something very minor.
The best thing, without a doubt, is the ending. The way they manage to turn the situation around and catch the kidnapper is quite well thought out. There you can feel a more worked-out script idea: it is not just running until someone arrives on time, but preparing a trap, using information and turning apparent weakness into an advantage. That ending has merit and leaves a better taste than the film had been earning.
But a good resolution does not fix everything before it. For too long the thriller is predictable, visually poor and dramatically weak. It did not bother me to the point of hating it, but it also did not seem like a film that justifies much interest. It has a functional opening, some movement, Damian Lewis on the phone, Alfred Enoch in support and a better-than-expected ending. Little more.
In the end, it remains for me a weak, cheap and quite forgettable film, partially saved by its closing stretch. It is not an absolute disaster because it can be watched, is short and at least ends with a decent idea. But as a kidnapping, chase and urban-tension thriller it falls far short of what it could have been. A small production can be concentrated and intelligent; this one almost always just seems cheap.
The premise is textbook: a mother goes out running, receives a call and discovers that her son has been kidnapped. From there she has to obey orders, move through London, improvise and try to buy time. It is a direct idea, almost an afternoon TV movie with apparently a bit more budget, and that is exactly why it could have worked if it had nerve, tension and more precise direction. But for much of the running time it feels like a cheap product.
It immediately reminded me of stories like Kidnap, with Halle Berry, because of that structure of a desperate mother moving from normal life to total pursuit. The difference is that there, with all its limitations, there was a more primal energy. Here everything feels too manufactured, too functional, as if the film were more concerned with reaching the next location than making you truly feel Maia's fear.
Gal Gadot has physical presence, that is obvious, and in a film based almost entirely on running, breathing hard, answering calls and looking everywhere, that helps a little. But dramatically she still seems very limited to me. There are scenes where she should convey terror, guilt, desperation or intelligence under pressure, and too often she remains stuck in tense gestures, fixed stares and movement. The film does not help her either, because even the shots of her seemed badly resolved to me.
That is what surprised me most negatively: if you have Gal Gadot as the big name on the poster, at least film Gal Gadot well. But many frames have a very obvious visual poverty. It is not only a matter of money; it is a matter of direction. There are small films that turn their limits into style. This one, instead, simply feels limited: few actors, spaces used flatly, cuts without elegance and an image close to modern TV-movie territory.
Damian Lewis works better as a voice than as a character. The idea of the man on the phone controlling the situation has a lot of potential, and it is impossible not to remember Phone Booth, with Colin Farrell trapped in the booth and Kiefer Sutherland dominating almost the whole film only with his voice. That comparison hurts, because there the limitation was a pressure cooker. Here, many times, the call feels like a device to keep moving a plot without enough personality.
Alfred Enoch also appears, and it is fun to recognize him from How to Get Away with Murder and Harry Potter. He has an agreeable presence, but the film does not give him memorable material either. Like almost all the supporting characters, he enters to fulfill a specific function inside the mechanism. Nobody seems to have much life beyond what the chase needs at each moment.
The pace, at least, does not completely collapse. The film moves quickly, starts early with the kidnapping of the child and is short, so it never becomes endless. That saves it a little. But moving fast is not the same as having tension. Many scenes pass one after another without leaving much trace, and the feeling of real danger appears only now and then, not consistently. It can be watched, but with the feeling that you are watching something very minor.
The best thing, without a doubt, is the ending. The way they manage to turn the situation around and catch the kidnapper is quite well thought out. There you can feel a more worked-out script idea: it is not just running until someone arrives on time, but preparing a trap, using information and turning apparent weakness into an advantage. That ending has merit and leaves a better taste than the film had been earning.
But a good resolution does not fix everything before it. For too long the thriller is predictable, visually poor and dramatically weak. It did not bother me to the point of hating it, but it also did not seem like a film that justifies much interest. It has a functional opening, some movement, Damian Lewis on the phone, Alfred Enoch in support and a better-than-expected ending. Little more.
In the end, it remains for me a weak, cheap and quite forgettable film, partially saved by its closing stretch. It is not an absolute disaster because it can be watched, is short and at least ends with a decent idea. But as a kidnapping, chase and urban-tension thriller it falls far short of what it could have been. A small production can be concentrated and intelligent; this one almost always just seems cheap.
Mini Review: It seemed cheap to me, quite poor in staging and very much like bargain-bin streaming content, although I admit that the ending is much better thought out than almost everything before it. I also went in conditioned by Gal Gadot, because her public image and positions weigh on me, and this time the film did not manage to make me forget her. I did not so much see a character trapped in a nightmare as a star placed inside a small thriller that...
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