Heart of Stone Review: Gal Gadot, Alia Bhatt, Jamie Dornan’s Citadel x Mission Improbable Works Solely On Heart
But is that enough?
2.5 / 5
In an avalanche of spy thrillers, one of which is headlined by the literal manifestation of destiny that is Tom Cruise, how do you make your’s stand out? Tom Harper’s Heart Of Stone on Netflix, about AI technology that has a God-like omniscience, could’ve been a novel premise in a pre-Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning world. And the idea of The Charter, a covert agency made up of the best international spies that inserts itself into ops other agencies cannot would’ve seemed fresh before Citadel. The Gal Gadot, Jamie Dornan and Alia Bhatt starrer spy flick has only a few cards to play then, such as a female lead fuelled by emotions, and a charming ensemble.
The question that the Heart needs to answer then is… is that enough? I’d say there’s a 50% probability.
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Heart Of Stone is written by Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder, and additionally stars Jing Lusi, Paul Ready, Matthias Schweighöfer, Sophie Okonedo, BD Wong, Mark Ivanir, Jon Kortajarena, and Glenn Close.
When an MI6 mission in the Alps gets complicated, their techie Rachel Stone is pulled into the field. Her team on tenterhooks is surprised by how well she handles herself, unaware that she’s actually one of the best spies, undercover. Stone is a member of The Charter, a covert agency with codenames taken from a deck of cards, powered by The Heart, an AI tech that gives intel, and helps them calculate odds and possible future courses of action. And it’s exactly what the bad guys, or rather, bad girl, a Pune-based hacker by the name of Keya Dhawan, is looking to steal. Stone, who goes by the codename Nine Of Hearts must find a way to protect her cover and her teams, stop Keya, and save the tech from getting into the wrong hands.
Also Read: Heart Of Stone Director Tom Harper Comments On Film’s Strong Female Lead, Calls Alia “An Impressive Talent”
Heart Of Stone, despite the knowledge of its basic premise, starts off promising, carried by the warmth emanating from Gal Gadot’s subdued but charming Rachel Stone. She actually looks like a spy, with none of that cocky flashiness or confident swagger that would make her seem like a movie star playing a spy. Her Stone looks vulnerable, blends in, and lets Jamie Dornan’s Parker and Jing Lusi’s Yang take the limelight. The easy workplace banter between the MI6 team, particularly Paul Ready’s cat parent Bailey and Gadot’s Stone, makes you care for these characters. In stark contrast of course is the no-nonsense, slick demeanour of the Charter, and Gadot makes the switch effortlessly, supported by her coworkers, a stern Sophie Okonedo as Nomad and Matthias Schweighöfer as Jack Of Hearts. The opening credits, set to ‘Quiet’ by Israeli alternative pop artist Noga Erez, look great.
The film’s first half, with a nice edge-of-the-seat action sequence in the Alps and a car chase sequence in Lisbon that ends in a fantastic twist, carries a mild sense of urgency and keeps you plugged into Heart Of Stone. But come second half, the subdued tone doesn’t exactly work in the film’s favour because the stakes don’t feel urgent or catastrophic enough, even with AI haunting our IRL dreams (Can we all just go analog?). And it doesn’t help that the threat from the bad guy never peaks, and is dismantled a tad easily.
Also Read: Heart Of Stone Star Alia Bhatt Praises Priyanka Chopra As A Global Icon: “I Cannot Do What She Has Done”
Alia Bhatt as hacker Keya Dhawan is like someone took her from Dear Zindagi and plonked her into Heart Of Stone. That’s not exactly a bad thing; her Keya has that casual Gen Z vibe that works for her character. Her baggy clothes and amateurish decisions driven purely by reckless emotion are a contrast to Stone’s seasoned spy who is fuelled by emotions but takes a beat to calculate how best to approach a problem. The scenes involving Gal Gadot and Alia Bhatt, with both wearing their hearts on their sleeve and light banter, work. Without spoiling it for you, watch out for Alia Bhatt’s hilarious dialogue (can we even call it that?) when she jumps off a plane. It’s so unexpectedly hilarious, and yet, she makes it fly!
The phoren doppelganger of Rahul Gandhi, Jamie Dornan as Parker does well with what he’s been given, but his character triggers perhaps my biggest peeve with the film. His character brings to light just how thinly sketched out these characters are, and how rudimentary their motivations seem. They demanded more complexity, more intensity that would finally lift this film from its unremarkable existence and give it the gravitas it needs to stand out in the big leagues. With Netflix backing it, and a cast headlined by Gal Gadot, there’s no reason for it to not dream big and execute boldly.
Also Read: Red, White & Royal Blue Review: Taylor Zakhar Perez, Nicholas Galitzine Give Us The Swooniest Romance In A Gush-Worthy Adaptation
Verdict
What do ya know? Heart Of Stone works only because of its protagonist leads with heart over The Heart. But putting all the weight of carrying the film on one hero’s shoulder, without support from good writing and action, won’t work.
Look, I am all in for a female-led Mission Impossible-esque franchise that doesn’t keep replacing its strong female characters after a few movies and doesn’t consider women’s emotions a weakness. And Heart Of Stone isn’t bad, but can good even cut it when up against the sheer volume of ‘content’ produced in the genre, some by Netflix itself (In From The Cold, The Old Guard)? Emotion can only get you thus far, and from the looks of it, the film could be a franchise with not just Rachel Stone’s story but the stories of other cards of The Charter deck to explore. The bottom line then would be to really amp up on every front—the story, the character development, and the action.
For now, if Heart Of Stone is at the table setting up a new game, I’ll buy in out of mild interest for a round or two.
Heart Of Stone is currently streaming on Netflix.
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