Gal Gadot’s Twisted 84-Minute Taken Replacement Conquers Streaming After Just 1 Day

Gal Gadot’s new action thriller, The Runner, is dominating the streaming charts around the world. Unfortunately for the flick, its success hasn’t come with glowing reviews.

Per FlixPatrol, The Runner is the #2 movie globally on Prime Video as of Sept. 3, just one day after its premiere. It managed to top the charts in 11 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, among others. In the movie, Gadot stars as prosecuting attorney Maia Martin, a mother whose world is shaken to its core when she receives a call that she must run through the streets of London in order to save her abducted son.

Critics Slam Gal Gadot’s Action Mystery Despite Streaming Success

“During her routine morning run, a single phone call shatters her world: her son has been taken. The instructions to get him back are simple and merciless — keep moving, follow every command, and tell no one. Stop, and he dies,” Amazon MGM Studios’ synopsis reads.

“Forced to sprint through the city and obey a series of sinister commands, Maia must confront an impossible question: how far will she go to bring her son home? Set against the backdrop of London’s hyper-connected streets, The Runner is a visceral, high-stakes race where every second counts, every choice carries a price, and a mother’s unstoppable love becomes the most dangerous weapon of all.”

In addition to Gadot as Maia, The Runner also stars Homeland‘s Damian Lewis as the caller who gives Maia the terrifying news, Harry Potter star Alfred Enoch as Maia’s colleague Ted, and Rory Wilmot as the abducted child. The logline for the film teases its ‘pulse-pounding’ thrills, while setting it up to be in a similar vein to Taken, but audiences haven’t quite agreed.

The Runner has a remarkable 7% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with several critics noting it to be a particular misstep for Gadot. Audience reception has also been leaning negative, with a 44% score from over 50 reviews. As the film continues to succeed on streaming, it’s likely more reviews will roll in, which could sway this number — but given the resounding negativity from critics, the needle probably won’t be moving too much.

The Runner was released directly on Prime Video and skipped out on a theatrical release, so it’s safe to say that the film will be relying on the streaming numbers to remain steady in the coming weeks. It remains to be seen if word of mouth or Gadot’s star power alone will be able to keep it afloat as more people share their thoughts online.

Gal Gadot Could Be Returning to Play Wonder Woman (With a Big Catch)

Gal Gadot in costume as Diana Prince in Wonder Woman

While The Runner doesn’t appear to be a new career renaissance for Gadot, she recently talked about the role that catapulted her to stardom: Wonder Woman. After it was revealed that James Gunn’s DCU would be recasting the role (like Henry Cavill’s Superman before her), Gadot spoke about a return to the Princess of Themyscira in an interview promoting the new Prime Video film.

“If Zack [Snyder] comes back to run DC, I’ll come back,” Gadot said succinctly. For now, that seems unlikely — but it did appear that DC had plans to keep her as Wonder Woman at some point in time.

“They were like, ‘We’re going to develop it with you,'” Gadot said of DC Studios’ James Gunn and Peter Safran. “But I saw the way everybody else was handled, right? The Henry situation was not handled elegantly, to say the least. Same with [director Patter Jenkins]… not handled elegantly.”

The Runner is now streaming on Prime Video.