Gal Gadot’s Panned New Thriller ‘The Runner’ Just Became Prime Video’s Biggest Movie In The World

Gal Gadot has spent the past decade proving that streaming numbers don’t always follow the same rules as critical consensus. From her days playing Wonder Woman to her more recent run of streaming-exclusive projects, the actress has built a reputation for headlining movies that audiences devour even when reviewers can’t stand them.

Her latest project fits that pattern almost perfectly. ‘The Runner,’ an 84-minute real-time thriller directed by Kevin Macdonald, dropped on Prime Video on September 2 and cast Gadot as Maia Marten, a London prosecutor forced to sprint across the city carrying out a mysterious caller’s demands after her son is kidnapped.

Despite scoring in the single digits on Rotten Tomatoes, one of the worst reviewed films of Gadot’s career, ‘The Runner’ has now become Prime Video’s number one movie worldwide. According to FlixPatrol tracking, the film reached the top spot in 38 countries by September 4, just two days after its release, and has continued trending in more than 50 territories since.

The critical reception has been about as harsh as it gets. Out of roughly 35 reviews logged on Rotten Tomatoes, only three landed positive, leaving the film hovering around an 8% to 10% critics’ score depending on when the count is checked, making it the lowest-rated project of Gadot’s career.

Critics have taken particular issue with the film’s plot logic and pacing, with reviewers describing the kidnapping premise as falling apart under scrutiny. Even the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, while noticeably higher than the critics’ number, has stayed in negative territory, meaning this isn’t a case of viewers and critics simply disagreeing over quality.

Gadot’s streaming track record helps explain why ‘The Runner’ found an audience despite the reviews. Her earlier Netflix film ‘Red Notice’ drew a similarly rough 36% critics’ score back in 2021 yet went on to become the platform’s most-viewed original film for four years, while ‘Heart of Stone’ was also panned by critics but still pulled close to 110,000,000 views.

That pattern of audiences and critics keeping separate scorecards has followed Gadot for roughly a decade now, and ‘The Runner’ appears to be continuing it. The film’s simple, high-concept premise and tight runtime seem to be working in its favor, giving viewers an easy, low-commitment watch regardless of what critics thought of the finished product.

‘The Runner’ also arrived with a notable amount of behind-the-scenes turbulence. Filming took place in London through the spring of 2025, and production was repeatedly disrupted by protesters on set, with eight individuals reportedly arrested across April and May of that year during the shoot.

That turbulence didn’t appear to slow the film’s path to release, and if anything, the surrounding attention may have added to the curiosity driving people to watch it once it hit streaming. Whatever the reason, ‘The Runner’ has managed to separate its box office and streaming fortunes almost entirely from its critical standing.

With ‘The Runner’ now sitting atop Prime Video’s global charts, Gadot has once again demonstrated that her name alone can drive massive viewership numbers, regardless of how a film is reviewed. It’s a dynamic that has defined much of her post-‘Wonder Woman’ career, and one that studios clearly continue to bet on.

Whether ‘The Runner’ holds its position at the top of the charts in the coming weeks remains to be seen, but for now, it stands as yet another example of Gadot’s unusual ability to turn poorly reviewed projects into legitimate streaming phenomena.

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