Directed By Tom Harper

Starring – Gal Gadot, Matthias Schweighofer, Jamie Dornan

The Plot – An intelligence operative (Gadot) for a shadowy global peacekeeping agency race to stop a mysterious hacker from stealing its most valuable and dangerous weapon.

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, and some adult language

(5) Heart of Stone | Gal Gadot | Official Trailer | Netflix – YouTube

POSITIVES

Despite the arduous uphill climb that this film continuously faces, there are a few elements that work tremendously in its favor to help Netflix further bridge the gap of production value between at home streaming and the silver screen. For starters, the scope and scale here are remarkably impressive, sifting through a globe-trotting espionage thriller with no shortage of stimulating scenery to spend its budget accordingly. Because the film and its corresponding macguffin pertain to bringing the financial world quite literally to its knees, it’s Harper’s job to illustrate that depth as far and stretching as he can possibly conjure, and with the help of cinematographer George Steel commanding an expansively reaching scope towards that sentiment, the film never feels like it’s limited in the magnitude of imagery that it it continuously brandishing. Besides this, the action sequences themselves offer a rich versatility of concepts and corresponding situations that help to override the elements of artificiality that periodically distract. For my money, the third act climax atop a crumbling zeppelin is easily the best, as it inscribes no shortage of tense vulnerability to those enveloped in the conflict, but even with the rest of the sequences, there’s something ruthlessly urgent in the integrity of what Harper is conjuring here, feeling like a series of combustible elements that are made all the more abrasive with an intense sound scheme frequently rattling the monumental devastation in its wake.

NEGATIVES

For every “Mission Impossible”, there are twenty immitators who fail to understand why that property has been praised, even after eight films and nearly thirty years inside of public adoration. I use that film as an ironic comparison because “Heart of Stone” at times feels like it is blatantly ripping off the material and even imagery of that movie, made all the more apparent by dropping in the same Summer as the latest “Mission Impossible” installment, with the parallels fresh on our minds. Aside from the various thrill-seeking fearlessness that Gadot’s Rachel exudes casually throughout the film’s many ambitious conquests, the film features a Macguffin known as the Heart, which basically hands control of the world over to whoever holds it. Sound familiar? It should because “Dead Reckoning Part One” had the exact same thing as its primary conflict, but here doesn’t even remotely allow the actions of the device to speak for itself, so instead we’re left caring about a conflict that the script can’t spend time on. Another thing the script can’t spend time on is the characters themselves, who are written thinner than movie canines, while spouting the kind of awfully manufactured one-dimensional dialogue that spoon-feeds everything about the intention that even a person asleep could accurately interpret. We learn nothing about these characters or their backstories, except their time under intelligence, and this not only makes it difficult to invest or even feel for their many predicaments, but also dramatically underscores the stakes in a movie that should feel ripe with the urgency of a world-takeover conflict, but instead matches consistency with the aspects of the overall storytelling that condemn this two hour sit to boredom. The easy answer is that this film is too long, but if you dig deeper, the actual problem is the frenetic abrasiveness of the pacing, which rushes away arcs and development so rapidly that it creates a disorienting reality towards the three act structure, in turn making the film feel twice as long as it has any right to be, based entirely on its refusal to soak for even a few minutes in the acknowledgement of events that even recently transpired. This can be felt especially with an early second act twist that materializes too soon, as well is detecably predictable from as early as the opening scenes of the engagement. Some blame for this certainly goes to Harper’s direction, which makes one character and their actions stand out like a sore thumb, but so much more lends itself to the familiarity in structure that, once more, mirrors so many predecessors that came before “Heart of Stone”, and downright did it better. The film is also burdened with horrific looking special effects in the form of compromising C.G backdrops and explosions that robs action sequences of the kind of kinetic intensity needed to immerse audiences. The glaring essence of green-screen textures and improperly unnatural lighting constantly broke my concentration towards the integrity of the scenes they’re accommodating, leaving nothing feel effectively believable in the same way Tom Cruise driving a motorcycle off of a cliff could properly muster. Lastly, while the film is blessed with a solidly stacked ensemble in Gadot, Schweighofer, Dornan, and a few cleverly placed cameos throughout, the sum of their collective efforts doesn’t muster an effectively redeeming performance between them, especially in Gadot, who does little to silence the commotion about her lack of emotionality in films. As an action star, Gadot certainly commands the part, with impeccable physicality that prove she’s always giving her all, but as a layered actress, her deliveries here feel too lukewarm and even a bit stalled, leaving the interactions a bit too cold, even during scenes where her facial registries are depended on to illustrate the internal disconnect of her character.

OVERALL
“Heart of Stone” skips a beat of relevance with frenetic storytelling, flat performances, and a derivative structure, which will constantly remind you that better films of the genre have even been released already this year. It’s another underwhelming Netflix action effort whose only purpose is to fill content, and one which will inevitably be forgotten just as quickly as the next one arrives.

My Grade: 3/10 or F+