Netflix clearly is determined to play the major-studio game of big, star-driven action franchises. Extraction, its current sequel The Gray Man (with the promise of more), Red Notice and many others represent big-screen-type entertainment designed ultimately for people to watch on their couches at home.

This kind of stuff, while skillfully and expensively executed, still works best at Imax rather than your living room, but the streamer is convinced that it will goose subscriptions, so expect more of movies like Heart of Stone, a convoluted spy thriller loaded with James Bond-style action set pieces but with a wonder woman in the name of Gal Gadot in the center of it all. Taking a cue from Charlize Theron’s Netflix franchise The Old Guard, this is a female-driven enterprise where the men, namely Jamie Dornan’s complicated bad guy, take a back seat for the most part. In fact, this is a Gadot vehicle all the way.

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Right from the start we feel we are in Jane Bond territory with a 20 minute pre-credits action sequence set at a luxurious ski resort location in the Italian Alps (the Glacier Hotel Grawand, at the highest point in Europe). There, after pulling off some bait-and-switch moves in the casino, MI6 tech expert Rachel Stone (Gadot) gets things flying with a thrill-a-second chase up and down the icy mountains in a scene clearly inspired by the 007 films. You half-expect Billie Eilish to turn up with a theme song at any moment.

The heart of the story, however, comes soon in Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder’s exposition-laden script as we learn that Rachel is working with lead agent Parker (Dornan) and their associates Yang (Jing Lusi) and Bailey (Paul Ready) to thwart an ambitious hacker, Keya Dhawan (Indian star Alia Bhatt), who has invaded their space with her own plans. But things get a whole lot more complex when it is revealed that Rachel has been keeping secrets from her own spy team and is in fact a key operative and charter member of The Charter, a peace-driven uber-underground organization that takes missions to a level well beyond the scope of MI6. It is heavily involved in the latest technology, centered in a headquarters that seemingly can dial up computer images of absolutely anything and anyone at any given time. It is run by grizzled veteran Nomad (Sophie Okonedo), a no-nonsense boss, and relies on data by lead tech nerd Jack of Hearts (Matthias Schweighöfer), who is totally immersed in his work to the point that no one even knows his real name.

They are all determined to capture and protect an AI device known as The Heart, something that in the wrong hands can destroy the world. This becomes the goal for all these disparate characters and interests. Things turn nasty when plot twists rear their ugly head and Dornan’s MI6 agent clearly has his own agenda, a familiar story trope in this kind of thing. The plot considerably thickens even more with a couple of star cameos critics have been asked not to reveal. We won’t, but one of them has been nominated for a bunch of Oscars and won’t be for this.

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Director Tom Harper, who guided the terrific Amazon period balloon adventure The Aeronauts, shows he is up to the task of leading a global thriller like this one, which jumps from the highest points in Italy to Portugal to the UK to Iceland to the Sahara Desert outside Morocco. The money is on the screen, no doubt. This movie is big. It is also helped by the presence of Gadot, who proves to again be a capable lead here, Dornan who knows how to switch gears effectively on a dime, and an international supporting cast that all get their turn to shine, particularly Bhatt who eventually teams with Gadot’s Stone to sort things out. Everyone has their own game in this thing, although I wish the delightful Schweighöfer, so great in Netflix’s crowd pleasing Vegas-set zombie flick Army of Thieves, got more dimension than sitting at the controls of a tech wonderland.

In what is looking like a fairly thin August for big Hollywood movies like this one, it might have been well suited for a significant box office run, especially considering the international appeal of its diverse cast, but as a streaming attraction a lot of the keenly designed and expertly developed stunts and action pieces, including a dazzling skydive in the midst of an exploding Hindenberg-like vehicle, just won’t have the same effect even as it offers some eye-popping late-summer fun. I reviewed it in a theater, and that is what it belongs, but no question Gadot’s presence will mean something here. She brings a level of humanity that lifts the material.

Producers of the Skydance production are David Ellision, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Jaron Varsand, Godot, Bonnie Curtis and Julie Lynn. Netflix begins streaming it Friday.

Title: Heart of Stone
Distributor: Netflix
Release Date: August 11, 2023 (Streaming)
Director: Tom Harper
Screenplay: Greg Rucka, Allison Schroeder
Cast: Gal Gadot, Jamie Dornan, Alia Bhatt, Sophie Okonedo, Matthias Schweighöfer, Paul Ready, Jing Lusi
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hrs, 2 mins

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