A frantic journey across London on foot provides a lot of exercise for Gal Gadot, but not much reward for viewers, in “The Runner.” Hardly the first thriller centering on an exceptionally action-ready parent surmounting various obstacles to rescue an imperiled child from some diabolical abductor, and surely not the last, this Prime Original has energy — but lacks the strong suspense or novelty necessary to elevate an overfamiliar concept. It premieres on the platform September 2.
An opening montage finds the historic metropolis full of people lost in their own individual worlds, digitally connected yet oblivious to the offscreen reality around them. This visual motif is so pervasive throughout, you might wonder if the filmmakers somehow think it’s a startling insight — rather than one more way in which the movie fails to find any fresh ideas, or revivify old ones.
Maia Marten (Gadot) is an emigre single mother packing her approximately eight-year-old son Noah (Rory Wilmot, also in the forthcoming “Harry Potter” HBO series) off to school before her own big day. A lawyer with a top firm, she’s on the team prosecuting a notorious crime boss for the murder of two women, and today is the day their heavily guarded star witness (Phoenix Di Sebastiani) will testify.
