My Review of The Runner (2026)

 

Written by Mark Gibson

Directed by Kevin Macdonald 

Maia: "Who is this? Why do you have my son's phone?"

Caller: "Because I have your son."

The way everyone has been talking about this latest movie release from Amazon Prime, you'd swear it was the future villain entry at the Academy Awards. Is this the worst movie of 2026? Im not sure to be honest.

I can't pretend it's a good movie either but the ire towards it's lead Gal Gadot has certainly reached fever pitch. Last year, she undeniably gave one of the worst performances as the Evil Queen in Snow White (2025). What she did here was nowhere near as bad as her rendition of All Is Fair.

Set in London, Gadot's a prosecutor named Maia Marten and she's a mum to a diabetic boy named Noah (Rory Wilmot). Maia's day was about to go from mundane to stressful when she answered a mystery caller (Damian Lewis). 

The caller in question wanted her to kill a witness for a court case that was about to start in an hour. Of course Noah was used as leverage in order to get Maia to cooperate. The poor kid was even put into a diabetic coma just so Maia would realise the caller wasn't messing about.

Most of this film was Maia making a mad dash around London, getting injured, stealing phones, having her own phone stolen and attracting police attentiion at the same time. I guess it was a way to make Maia seem relatable while revealing that she killed her abusive father.

Of course Maia would make it to the hotel in time to kill the witness and save her son. The twist was expected in regards to the identity of the caller and Maia's deception in order to get him to slip. It's rather neatly resolved.

- Maia had a love interest named Ted (Alfred Enoch) but he's given very little screen time and only appeared at the end.

- Noah hated football and Maia called him "monkey". Maia's mother also went to prison for her.

- Standout music: Blondie's Heart Of Glass.

- Chronology: Present day London and set during the course of an hour.

The Runner (2026) at worst would be a rather mediocre and slightly inept thriller of sorts. It's also unintentionally funny because it's rather inept. I'm not gonna praise Gal Gadot's performance but I can't demonise it too much. It's a bad movie but there's worse out there.

Rating: 5 out of 10