Netflix's new addition, ‘Heart Of Stone’, a film by Tom Harper starring Wonder Woman: Gal Gadot, Jamie Dornan, Alia Bhatt and several big actors of recent times; was released on 12th August. The film has been long awaited and is the debut film of Alia Bhatt's Hollywood career. Termed as an “Adrenaline Rush” by the makers and the platform, this film sufficiently keeps you on your toes. It may not be the best spy film but it’ll keep you hooked. “Lots of good and fire & missed” should’ve been the title of it. Listed below are five aspects of the film that worked and five that didn't.
5 things that worked in the film
Gal Gadot and Her Charm: Gal Gadot single-handedly shouldered the film on her. If it weren’t for her charm and acting skills the film would have tanked in a rush. Gal Gadot gave the film a refreshing take on the spy mentality as a feminine icon. Though she couldn’t escape the “going rogue and not following orders” recipe of spy films, she added that human grace to the character. She showed emotions that are usually overridden by bams, explosions, shooting and running clock in most spy action films.
Gal Gadot brought freshness to the scene with her charismatic performance and her not depending upon her undeniable beauty which is what spy movies have used women for. She’s not the lovely wife of the detective at home or the hot secretary of the bad villain, She’s shown as the human embodiment of the mixture of courage and emotional intelligence with a certain splash of determination to bring change. Real Change.
The Escapes and Action Scenes: the best thing after Gal Gadot in the film, is Gal Gadot’s escapes. The escapes and fight scenes of the film blow life back into it. The basic storyline is oh-so elevated with the use of AI as a tool for escape. There are multiple times through the film, that you’ll feel as if you’re in a video game and Gal’s your character making an exit from a mission and you’re just pushing buttons at this point, except, you’re not!
The film had mountain escapes, sky escapes, water escapes and whatnot. And every action sequence was properly promoted and wasn’t just thrown for thrills. The final showdown was very impressive and Gal Gadot made sure to take your breath away in all those fights.
The AI Angle: The power of AI is shown in both positive and negative light. The projection of it is so immaculate and impactful that it’s almost scary. The horrors of data collection and privacy of life, and the use of trillions of data sets through machines to create and predict the future has been highlighted in a very magnificent aura. AI though considered the future is also put it’s place by the end of the film, supporting it as a tool and the power of the actual human instinct begins way more strong.
The artificial intelligence technique shown in the film is very different from all other spy movies made in either Hollywood or Bollywood. Though the Voot Series “Asur” might beat the heart of Stone in the matter.
Keeping the romantic angle on the side: The film is an unorthodox breather from the films with romances between the protagonists or the main character falling for the morally compromised. You can see little for friendships and a lot of trust-building throughout the film. It's about being a decent, kind, brave, generous and determined human being rather than a guy or girl being a secret agent and then out of nowhere having a steamy romance scene. There was a little hope with this film that now the projection of lives will be shown in more versatile lights. A film where no one is bound to a romance to add some other emotion to the film and other emotions might work well, as well.
Fresh ending: The film ended on a fresh note rather than all men dying or all men surviving, some died and some lived to see a new tomorrow. The film showed forgiveness, acceptance, different people’s reaction to trauma and a constant reminder that artificial intelligence is just another tool created to cater to humans' needs. The film not only subjects itself to a fresher emotion-driven end but also breaks the norms about spy films being a total murder fest. In most spy films you see by the end the protagonist kills all the villains or gets some arrested and then there is a happy ending of the mission accomplished but nobody really talks about the lives of people affected into becoming the villains that they are, this film throws light on that as well.
5 things that didn’t work for the film
No beginning middle and end defined: now we shall discuss all the problems with the film. the main loophole with the film was that it had no defined beginning middle or end. The film kind of always felt closer to the climax. Even though was 2 hours in 5 minutes long it felt like a very long stretched-out climax. The villains were revealed pretty soon and the build of the big reveal felt a very overused stratagem. The film lacked the panache of a good spy film with all its nerve-curling twists. Any spy film needs some element of story build-up and a body of scenes that lead to an end, but this film didn’t reach the mark.
The basic storyline with a predictable climax: The main storyline was very basic and overused. There was a spy who went rogue, worked for one firm turns out to work for another secretly. Some villains interrupt a mission, and the spy is intrigued, follows the villains against the secret firm's orders, and ends up saving all of them. The same recipe for every single spy film. The climax was clear too. Everyone knew that Gal Gadot shall save the day. And Spoiler Alert!!! She did.
All Alia Bhatt hype for not much of a powerful role: In the series of overhyped basic things about the film is Alia Bhatt’s role in the film. The most awaited “Heart of Stone” is Alia Bhatt’s debut film in Hollywood. And fans have gone gaga over the trailer and teaser for days now. But as opposed to the trailer Alia Bhatt isn’t the big bad villain at all. She unlike her hacking skills in the film had a very weak form. She didn’t work well as a villain and was more like a lost child manipulated by a rogue man on a mission. This made the trailer a misleading one. The film could have had a really badass role for her if written well. But man! The writers just threw this character’s potential away.
Less impactful villains: None of the shown or anticipated villains could scare us into believing that a big problem is awaiting. There were just random shootings of important people in the film to show that the villain cared about any of it. The film threw a lot of potential in terms of striking fear in the watchers. It was just a boring film at some point where everyone including the villains sat and saw Gal Gadot do her thing. The impact was embarrassingly low, even after so many deaths and kills.
A little superficial thrill: The film had scenes with AI-generated information being put to use in a mountain escape, a car chase and all other action scenes. All these scenes had us in awe but multiple times crossed into a superficial territory. As we’ve seen in a lot of Tollywood and even Bollywood films, the protagonist is running through bullets and none of them even touch the main guy or girl. The same is the case with this film. There were impossible life saves of Gal Gadot, that will put physics and Salman Khan films to shame. Just none of it felt real, the whole film turned into a game.
The film even though had a lot of promising things turned out to be a below-average affair. The film is on the “nay” side of the spectrum. Can be seen once to watch a new spy film if that’s your pick. Otherwise maybe just read the summary somewhere and play a video game.