- Director: Kevin Macdonald
- Screenplay: Mark Gibson
- Producer: David Kosse
- Cast: Gal Gadot, Damian Lewis
- Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle
- Editing: Sam Rice-Edwards
- Score: Tom Hodge
- Genre: Action thriller
- Runtime: 84 minutes
When her son is kidnapped, Maia (Gal Gadot), a prosecutor, has just 60 minutes to run five miles through the heart of England’s capital to ensure his release. Before she can get him back safely, she’s instructed by a mysterious caller (Damian Lewis) to kill a key witness in an upcoming trial. To raise the stakes even higher, her son is diabetic and the threat of putting him into a hypoglycemic coma is dangled in front of her.
It’s fortunate that Maia is one of those people who jogs for fun. She’s jogging around Hampstead Heath when she gets the dreaded call. She’s dressed for the occasion for sure. I can barely manage running down a single street to catch my bus before I get a stitch and feel like I’m on the brink of collapse. I don’t know how she does it.
There’s going for a light jog and there’s this. Maia spends nearly the entire duration on foot, ending up a sweaty mess by the conclusion. She somehow has all the stamina in the world and not once decelerates. She’s almost hit by a bike, collides with pedestrians, falls flat on her face and is knocked off her feet by a car at one point and, nevertheless, staggers off after coming to in an ambulance. There’s some realism in the commotion of rush hour traffic, both in bipedal and vehicle forms, but that’s where the actuality ends. Maia should’ve been struck by more cars than that. The effects of adrenaline would’ve worn off halfway through. It’s theoretically possible yet there’d be far too many rude civilians on streets that would block her path.
Suspend your disbelief. ‘The Runner‘ is a tight, high-octane thriller which refuses to pause for a rest. Put simply, it’s a film about Gal Gadot running around, if that’s your kind of thing. As time runs out, we have to listen to the stiff dialogue between the caller and Maia as she races to her destination. Lewis is a menacing presence, lurking in the shadows, while Gadot never runs out of breath. Her acting is alright too.
My rating: 6 / 10
