If your idea of a good time at the movies — or, in this case, a good time at the streaming services — is to spend 80 minutes watching Gal Gadot sprinting around central London in spandex, then The Runner is clearly for you. Otherwise, this watchable if disposable high-concept thriller mostly feels like an exercise in CrossFit filmmaking, hitting the ground jogging and then dashing ahead from location to location, rarely letting up to justify its crazy logic or overcooked characters.
Directed by Kevin MacDonald, who has a solid, um, track record helming suspensers of all varieties, from the somewhat basic (Black Sea, The Eagle) to the more sophisticated (State of Play, The Mauritanian), The Runner is surely his most streamlined and dumbed-down effort thus far, eschewing narrative complexity for pure adrenaline. Using a ticking-clock scenario that starts after the very first scene, the film, which was written by Mark Gibson (Snow Dogs), brings to mind Larry Cohen-penned flicks like Cellular or Phone Booth in which the main character has to do lots of daring, impossible things while staying on the line with a certified psychopath.
The Runner
The Bottom Line
Run Gal Run.
