'Heart Of Stone' Review: Gal Gadot Stars In Solid Action Thriller
In the Netflix action film Heart of Stone, Gal Gadot stars as undercover agent Rachel Stone, who is rumored to be a member of MI6 but is actually an undercover agent for an international crime-fighting conglomerate called The Charter.
The Charter is one of those bodies of world order that we often see in movies like this - it's a less expensive cousin to Mission Impossible Force. He achieves his goal by controlling a controller called "Heart", which has the ability to see and control everything, everywhere, at once.
Add in compelling performances and you know what comes next: a power-hungry villain all to himself. Enter Parker (Jamie Dornan) with Keya (Alia Bhatt) to disrupt surveillance.
Oscar-nominated Sophie Okonedo plays the title role, and the film features several scenes from a true acting legend, whose surprising performance we don't need to spoil here. Directed by Tom Harper ("Peaky Blinders"), from a script by Greg Rucka ("The Old Guard") and Allison Schroeder ("Hidden Figures").
MY WORD : This movie sounds like the elevator pitch suggested by the Netflix algorithm. It's a Mission: Impossible binge, featuring action stars, updated AI-era MacGuffins, flight action, car chases, world tours from Senegal to Iceland to London and beyond, and everything in between. Wait
The box is checked, I am given a score, T is ticked, and on the way to forget something strange happens: this film offers up some damn good timing.
Because Harper and her team know that nothing should be taken for granted. This is not a film about the dangers of the proliferation of artificial intelligence or the risks of surveillance equipment going out of control.
The lack of misrepresentation, the attempt to make "Heart of Stone" about something other than its surface, puts the focus where it belongs.
It's about the big fight scenes, Gadot's tenacious determination and believable fighting skills, and the beautiful shenanigans of Dornan, who is a better actor than in the movies. "Fifty Shades of Grey".
The less time you spend occupying properties, the better, especially considering this powerful and versatile device is based on the equivalent of a thumb drive.
Simplicity is not to be confused with a lack of cinematic flair; Harper knows how to build tension and build a lineup with layers. He doesn't work on the same canvas with the same tools as, say, Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie, but it's a pretty good guess.
When the “Stoneheart” star dives into a giant plane-like structure, then fights off baddies while balancing on the ground while dodging debris, it has little to do with the main idea of the story.
SIGNED That's a brilliant move, even if it doesn't offer anything we haven't seen a million times.
