Heart of Stone, 2023.
Directed by Tom Harper.
Starring Gal Gadot, Jamie Dornan, Alia Bhatt, Matthias Schweighöfer, Sophie Okonedo, Archie Madekwe, Jing Lusi, Paul Ready, Jónas Alfreð Birkisson, Jon Kortajarena, Enzo Cilenti, Joe Reisig, Luca Fiamenghi, Ruth Keeling, Neran Persaud, Lanre Malaoulu, Uriel Emil, Allan Hyde, Diana Yekinni, Ndoye Bigue, Anna Andresen, BD Wong, Mark Ivanir, and Glenn Close.
SYNOPSIS:
An intelligence operative for a shadowy global peacekeeping agency races to stop a hacker from stealing its most valuable and dangerous weapon.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, Heart of Stone wouldn’t exist.
When all governments fail, there is the Heart. Tom Harper’s international espionage thriller Heart of Stone features this titular advanced AI program that Charter mission handlers (a covert global peacekeeping agency where rankings are handed out through card suits) interact with from a remote location (typically a bunker, but the device itself is stored in a blimp dubbed the Locker), touching, zooming in, and expanding various points of the hologram touchscreen while being fed an overwhelming amount of data related to completing the objective, all the way down to detailed routes that can be shared to an agent by rendering CGI GPS waypoints, similar to navigating the world map of a video game. It’s essentially a digital walkthrough to ensure a mission’s success.
Then there is the other half of the title’s equation, Rachel Stone (Gal Gadot), a double agent for the Charter undercover working with MI6 to bring down a notorious arms dealer (Enzo Cilenti) who has finally come out of hiding. More interesting than the specifics of her mission is her attitude towards fieldwork, following whatever orders her superiors from the Charter (Matthias Schweighöfer’s Jack of Hearts and Sophie Okonedo’s Nomad) pass on to her from the Heart, all while posing as an inexperienced hacker alongside her MI6 teammates, which include Jamie Dornan’s Parker, Jing Lusi’s Yang, and Paul Ready’s Bailey.
There is a relevant timeliness to Heart of Stone in that someone who is already a no-nonsense, mission-focused field agent, such as Rachel, is already suppressing her emotions, which is only accentuated when one of the most advanced AI algorithms put the screen is dictating every step she makes on the job, which is also kept a secret from her teammates. During a surprise ambush in one of their safehouses, the Heart behaves like one expects a computer program would, giving Rachel the best coordinates and route to escape and save her own life, insisting that there is no realistic probability that she will be able to save her partners.
Being the action hero of this narrative, Rachel naturally defies these orders. And while I don’t want to pretend Heart of Stone is an intelligent and profound piece of work (this is still a screenplay that hands its major characters numerous corny one-liners during action sequences related to card suits and more), that concept right there in a movie being released at this point in time is practically enough to generate investment and maintain it the entire way through. Of course, it also helps that there is full-throttle, white-knuckle action from beginning to end, rarely giving viewers a chance to take a moment to breathe and analyze how deeply silly these proceedings are.
Along the way, Rachel has to contend with a mysterious party crasher hacker working for an unknown group in Alia Bhatt’s Keya Dhawan, who wants access to the Heart for revenge-related matters. It also shouldn’t be a surprise that the aforementioned arms dealer is also seeking the algorithm for his own nefarious purposes. As for Rachel’s teammates, their bond is mostly explored through enjoying music (there are certainly unexpected choices for licensed music here) meant to remind her that human lives are at stake doing her missions. Although Parker has ulterior motives and an ax to grind against someone, allowing Jamie Dornan to revel in giving a borderline psychopathic performance.
Again, there is nothing special about the story besides its timeliness. Everyone, from the heroes to the villains, is given tragic backstories that don’t register beyond standard character motivation. However, Heart of Stone offers a breakneck-paced stream of varied set pieces benefiting both from a committed physical performance from Gal Gadot (still leaving something to be desired regarding emotional acting, but still able to sell the story) and globetrotting across locales taking advantage of the environments for visual splendor, allowing the action to blend into the backgrounds rather than forcing them into the chaos.
The hand-to-hand fights are brutal and more satisfying than green-screen heavy sequences (such as one that sees Tom Harper revisiting the skies from his previous biographical drama The Aeronauts), and the script from Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder has the right amount of silliness to offset how implausible and dumb some of this is. Without giving away where the story ends, it also arrives at a reasonable conclusion for what this algorithm and general technology should be used for and how. Taken strictly as an action flick, Heart of Stone certainly doesn’t sink, often flying by with excitement, impressive stunt work, and a solid performance from Gal Gadot emphasizing violence and heart.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
