Heart of Stone

Apparently, Gal Gadot has been cross-training between Wonder Woman sequels, as evidenced by Heart of Stone, which enables her to showcase a broader array of action-heroine credentials.

During the intense opening sequence of this globetrotting spy thriller, set at a snowy Alpine chalet, she manages to engage in some nighttime base jumping and ski parachuting before slaloming down a slope on a motorcycle.

It’s enough to get the adrenaline pumping, yet the slick and stylish film is more generic between its kinetic set pieces, leaving Gadot’s compelling character in search of a better movie.

She plays Rachel Stone, an agent for a mysterious peacekeeping group known as the Charter, operating outside of any bureaucratic jurisdiction. While embedded with a small British intelligence convoy alongside the shadowy Parker (Jamie Dornan) and others, Rachel has her own targets.

“When governments fail, all that’s left is the Charter,” explains her boss (Sophie Okonedo), who oversees an interconnected network called the Hearts. Their mission involves stopping a ruthless hacker from dismantling the organization and stealing a weapon that could threaten the entire world in the wrong hands.

Realizing that she’s not the only one withholding secrets, Rachel must delicately navigate a cutthroat landscape in which motives and loyalties are constantly shifting, nobody can be trusted, and everybody can be sacrificed for a cause.

As directed by Tom Harper (The Aeronauts), the film provides plenty of visual flourishes out of the Mission Impossible playbook, incorporating seamless effects, stellar stunt work, cool high-tech gadgets, and exotic locales. One highlight involves Rachel battling an adversary midair while skydiving amid falling debris.

Meanwhile, the screenplay unspools some clever twists as it builds toward an obligatory climactic showdown with the future of humanity at stake. But it struggles to raise the emotional stakes while only hinting at deeper sociopolitical complexity or international intrigue. It becomes clear who the heroes and villains are, although a more substantial rooting interest remains elusive.

The star vehicle is clearly meant to launch another franchise for Gadot, who has the charisma and physical dexterity to handle such an assignment.

However, with its muddled MacGuffin and thinly sketched periphery characters, Heart of Stone feels too transparent in those efforts to serve an appetizer rather than a full meal.

Rated PG-13, 122 minutes.