Becoming The Muse

Heart of Stone is a 2023 American spy action thriller film directed by Tom Harper from a screenplay by Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder. The movie starring Gal Gadot was released by Netflix on 11 August 2023.

The premise of the story follows operatives of a shadowy intelligence organisation, trying to stop their quantum computing technology, capable of hacking into anything anywhere, from falling into the wrong hands.

The Good

Heart of Stone is an interesting watch for the spy thriller aficionado… secret agents, double agents, shadowy intelligence agencies, next gen tech that resembles magic… hey did I just describe Citadel?… Heart Of Stone felt like its what the TV series Citadel thought it was.

Gal Gadot as Rachel Stone is a strong action lead, imagine Wonder Woman without the bullet deflecting Bracelet of Submission or The Lasso of Truth but still kicking butt and taking names. The movie also has several female lead cast who hold it down.

The cinematography is visually stunning, filmed on location across various exotic places, opening up in the snowy slopes of the Italian Alps followed by globetrotting adventures from Lisbon Portugal to mid air adventures and dizzying skydives into the Sahara Desert, Morocco and a showdown in Reykjavíkn Iceland.

The set piece action sequences are exquisite, snow chases, sky diving, car chases and everything one expects from a spy thriller.

Heart of Stone introduces Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt to the world in an English speaking movie. Alia is a leading actress in the Indian Film Industry whose impress catalogue includes 3 Super hits and 5 hits spread across a ten year acting career. I first saw Alia in a cameo but important role in the breakout Indian movie RRR.

The Bad

The premise of a quantum computer that can access anything is a tad outlandish and not an entirely original concept. In fact the entire movie is a blend of elements from the Mission Impossible, James Bond  movies and other spy thrillers…. not surprising that it is after all from the executive producers of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.

Gal Gadot is great on the action scenes, but not so good at delivering some of the throway one liners that just pop up and fall flat.

Its those kind of movies where you shouldn’t think too much about what you being asked to believe… just watch and don’t question the marvels of quantum computing.

Alia Bhatt’s character  Keya didn’t get enough screen time to properly make her mark in her debut English-speaking movie appearance. Her character was under-utilised but despite those limitations she easily stole Wonder Woman’s thunder.

The Ugly

While the film tries to raise some important questions on using computers or AI to predict the best courses of action and the consequences of leaving such decisions to computers and how it can blind us and our morals… the plot rushes along without fully exploring this angle which is particularly relevant in today’s world as we out source more and more tasks to AI.

I didn’t quite feel the villain’s motives…. I want a bit more than a villain whose motivation to destroy the world is simply because they have the power  to.

Final Thoughts

Its not a great movie but its not a bad one… The are worse ways one can spend 2 hours… If you are fan of Gal Gadot or espionage movies in general then you might even be in for a treat.

Heart of Stone has all the makings of being a serialised production so we might see more of Alia Bhatt showcasing her range.

The movie may have some mixed reviews but its currently at the top of Netflix watchlist…

Have you watched House of Stone is it something you would watch?