The Runner review – Gal Gadot stumbles through derivative high-speed, low-rent thriller

A string of London locations can’t save Amazon’s overly familiar B-movie dragged down by another ineffective performance by the Wonder Woman starWe’re propelled on to an extremely familiar journey in Amazon’s quickie action thriller The Runner, both in reheated premise and strategic aim. The film is yet another example of a real-time assassination nightmare as an ordinary citizen is placed in an extraordinary situation, forced to do something terrible by someone terrible. Think Johnny Depp in Nick of Time, Rachel McAdams in Red Eye, Shia LaBeouf in Eagle Eye, or more recently, Taron Egerton in Carry-On and Meghann Fahy in Drop, with technology increasingly a key component. We’re also faced with what’s another strained attempt to turn Gal Gadot into a movie star, a mission that’s proved close to impossible after she broke out in Wonder Woman. Her streaming vehicles, like Red Notice and Heart of Stone, might have proved easy at-home hits (the latter was also surprisingly entertaining), but on the big screen, playing both a Disney villain and an Agatha Christie victim proved to be of little interest to audiences, who chose meme-ing her worst moments over turning up to see them.An act…

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