Gal Gadot's New Thriller 'The Runner' Suffers Harsh Reviews

The British action thriller 'The Runner,' starring Israeli actress Gal Gadot, premiered on Amazon Prime Video on Wednesday to a wave of overwhelmingly negative reviews. The 84-minute film received particularly low scores on major review aggregators, with only 9% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, a score of 31 out of 100 from critics on Metacritic (alongside a user average of 3.8), and a lukewarm 4.6 on IMDb.

Critics largely panned the production, focusing their criticism on a shallow, unoriginal script and a weak, unintelligent plot. Benjamin Lee of The Guardian noted that while intelligence isn't a prerequisite for such a film, "it's hard to forgive it for not being exciting." William Bibbiani of The Wrap sarcastically suggested the film was "not exactly a thriller. It's also not exactly a movie," adding it would be better suited as a comedic segment on the game show 'Taskmaster.'

Despite the widespread criticism, some reviewers found minor positive aspects. Several critics praised the fast-paced action, decent cinematography, and Gadot's performance. Alex Miedei of JoBlo commended Gadot's "obvious physical effort," though he stated the film itself "isn't strong enough." Similarly, Scott Collura of IGN wrote that Gadot "does her best to keep the movie moving," but concluded that beyond a few key scenes, the film ultimately fails to deliver.