by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
MI6 agent Rachel Stone (Gal Gadot) works as an IT consultant, monitoring missions from a van. However, she secretly works as a field agent for a group called Charter, which uses an incredibly advanced computer system they refer to as “The Heart.” Unbeknownst to this group, there is a plot to utilize this system as a weapon, meaning Rachel and the two groups she works for must figure out a way to stop it.
Heart of Stone comes from Netflix, and appears to be their attempt to jump into the secret agent game, with Gadot assuming the role of a female Ethan Hunt or James Bond. Looking at it as a general experience in terms of visuals and story, it appears to be just a basic version of those kinds of franchises. All the money is on screen in the form of visual effects and exotic locations with lots of wide-angle shots. Meanwhile, the story has all the typical twists, character betrayals, and gradual plot thickening, building to a climax. Whenever filmmakers decide to do what has already been proven in the past to work, I always ask the same question: What new things can you bring to this concept?
Well, there are a couple of attempts at new things here. Namely, the main character lives a double life, like many superhero stories, and it features futuristic computer technology similar to that seen in many sci-fi stories. So while they are new ideas for a secret agent story, they have been seen in other genres. Nevertheless, there’s always the potential to keep these ideas interesting if they’re used differently. Unfortunately, Rachel’s double life as an agent of Charter becomes less relevant to the story after the first act, and how she came to be working undercover at MI6 is never explained. The use of the Heart, a quantum computer, by Rachel’s guide Jack of Hearts (Matthias Schweighöfer) as he talks her through the mission makes for some exciting visuals, but it all feels somewhat redundant. Jack doesn’t tell Rachel much that’s helpful, she often responds by saying he’s not helping, and there is one time he warns her far too late about something. The Heart calculating the chances of success doesn’t seem to help the situation, and it’s never explained how it does its calculations.
Charter is another idea that has the potential to be exciting, as an undercover organization that feeds information to MI6 and aids them in their missions without their knowledge. However, most of the showcasing of them as an organization seems gimmicky, with the members all having playing card code names, Rachel’s being Nine of Hearts, resulting in a few puns and shots of symbolism that felt very forced. Meanwhile, the Charter computer displays are massive holograms around the whole room, which makes for a few good visuals, but not much else.
On the topic of visuals, the on-location filming makes for the types of stunning shots and action sequences you’d expect. However, many of these sequences take place at night, negating the visuals of the location, and making it difficult at times to know what’s happening. The viewable action sequences are a decent spectacle, though a little on the clichéd side. The way they shoot these sequences is also quite dull, and I almost forgot where they were from time to time because the visuals don’t showcase anything interesting.
Another prominent aspect of the story is the hacking technology which enables characters to access any camera and manipulate any device. It’s similar to a gameplay mechanic in the Watchdogs games, but I don’t remember seeing it in an action film. It makes for a few tense sequences where you didn’t know what the bad guys will do. However, I don’t think this factor is used enough during the story, and ultimately its only significant role is just the threat of what this technology could do, as opposed to anything it genuinely does.
There are some interesting character arcs in the film, though, with people on both sides questioning loyalty due to past events, making for an excellent change of pace with internal conflicts, and questions as to if what they were doing was right. The problem is with the characters themselves — they are primarily dull and have very little chemistry with one another. The camaraderie with Rachel’s team at MI6 is fun to watch initially, but certain events in the story stop that. The climax feels more like a fight from the midpoint of an action story, as it doesn’t showcase any significant effects or elaborate sets. They stop the bad guy, and that’s it. The ending does the usual: it alludes to a sequel or even, as Netflix probably hopes, a franchise. But once again, nothing showcases anything interesting about a potential sequel — we see what the basic setup will be, and it’s left there.
The performances are nothing to write home about either. Gadot, in particular, disappointed me; while she is pretty compelling in the lighter scenes with a bit more humor to play off, she sounds bored in many of the more intense, action-focused scenes, which occasionally took me out of the experience. The standout performance is Alia Bhatt as hacker Keya Dhawan. She’s mainly an actress in Hindi films, but she impressed me on occasions of high emotion, and excels in critical moments of character growth. The rest of the cast does an adequate job, though they don’t have much to work with. Although, Jamie Dornan has an impressive on-screen presence.
Overall Heart of Stone hits all the basic beats of what you would want from a secret agent action piece, but doesn’t do anything more than the bare minimum. The action sequences, locations, and effects are bland and unoriginal when you can even see them. The solitary original thing is the Heart, which is only visually attractive, and even that is flaunted for the first half alone. Too many characters are either dull as dishwater or not fleshed out enough. More focus on the lead or the two main antagonists might have made this a more compelling watch.
This film may be a low-risk foot in the door for Netflix to show they can do this type of story. But it’s not like they weren’t spending money on this; it was clearly on the screen in many scenes. If Netflix plans to make this a franchise, my advice would be more Keya, as Bhatt is charismatic.
Rating: Didn’t Like It
Heart of Stone is currently streaming on Netflix
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