The Runner Review: Gal Gadot switches Wonder Woman armour with trainers in Kevin Macdonald film

There's nothing complicated about the narrative, or even remotely convoluted, except for the protagonist Maia (Gal Gadot), whose life is upturned when an unknown caller (Damian Lewis) turns her regular run into a sprint across London with a set of cryptic clues.

A mom’s race to save her son

Maia, a high-powered attorney and single mother, is informed that her son has been abducted and that to save him, she needs to kill the very person she is representing in court. An unreasonable demand made even more unreasonable by the fact that she is given an hour to get the job done.

So, through the 84-minute run, we see Maia sprinting across London, zipping past people on their phones, not minding the gap on the Underground, never once breaking speed even as she is bruised, hurt and caught in a vicious electronic network.

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Shot in cinéma vérité style (a kind of realistic filmmaking that shows people in everyday situations and their natural actions), Macdonald uses long lenses and hidden and handheld cameras to capture the race against time. A masterstroke is the ample use of cutaways of shocked passersby and their expressions as they see ‘Wonder Woman’ (the character Gadot is best known for playing) running across the roads. It is a deliberate move to show how people, so wrapped up in their own worlds and oblivious to their surroundings, suddenly look up and observe the world around them — in this case, an actor known for her superhero character, being just one of them.

Kevin Macdonald brings his signature to a much-tried-and-tested genre, giving it a credibility that often gets lost in the contrived setting of race-against-time scenarios. The city of London plays a crucial and pivotal role as one of the key characters in this three-member-driven narrative. Shot on real streets, the city's restless and kinetic energy is palpable. There are times, however, when the audience finds itself trying to place even familiar landmarks.

Chills and thrills

What elevates The Runner beyond its high-concept premise is the unease Macdonald folds into the background — every phone camera, every CCTV lens, every stranger glancing up from a screen becomes a potential extension of the caller's reach. It is the same instinct that powered his documentaries: an eye for how ordinary surveillance, the kind we've all made peace with, can curdle into something menacing the moment it's turned against you.

Damian Lewis unleashes the thrills and chills, clearly enjoying playing the tormentor.

As the caller, Lewis never once appears on screen for more than a beat, yet his voice — clipped, patient, faintly amused at Maia's panic — does the heavy lifting. It's a performance built entirely on control and it makes the film's few in-person confrontations land harder for how sparingly they're used.

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Gal Gadot, often criticised for her unidimensional acting and awkward dialogue delivery, manages to get the ferocity of a mother pushed to her limits. The dynamic between the two adds to the momentum just when all the running gets tiresome.

Though illogical at times, after her little over an hour marathon, we get an awaited yet unexpected moment that blindsides us.

All in all, The Runner is an untaxing and entertaining watch.

It's a slight film built on a familiar chassis, but Macdonald's control of pace and Gadot's committed physicality keep it from ever feeling like a retread.