Movie stars who have been in the industry for years know all too well that sometimes movies are smash hits and sometimes they’re flops, and that’s just the way it goes. Even the most celebrated actors have often had their fair share of disappointments at the box office or streaming films that receive a wave of terrible reviews. However, every now and then there are movies that are such shockingly disastrous flops that they are genuinely jaw-dropping, and unfortunately, former DC star Gal Gadot’s brand-new movie The Runner has just made that list. Gadot famously played the DCEU’s Wonder Woman, leading two films (Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984), in addition to appearing in Justice League, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and several other DCEU projects.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Recently, Gadot even spoke about the talks she’d had for Wonder Woman 3, which was apparently very much on the table at one point, but with the exchanging of hands for DC Studios and the initiation of the DCU under James Gunn, myriad changes took place that ultimately meant Gadot’s time as Wonder Woman being over. In the time since, Gadot has appeared in various other projects, including the live-action remake of Snow White, in which she played the Evil Queen. Sadly, as is the case for many of Disney’s live-action remakes, that wasn’t ultimately a very popular movie either. In fact, over the last few years, Gadot’s In the Hand of Dante (2025), Snow White (2025), and Heart of Stone (2023) all received less than 40% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics—yet even those scores pale in comparison to Gal Gadot’s brand-new, record low movie The Runner.
What Is The Runner (& Why Are Its Reviews So Bad)?
The Runner, starring Gadot, is a Prime Video original that was released on the streaming platform today. Thus far, audience scores haven’t been displayed by Rotten Tomatoes, but the film’s critic score is currently a very bleak 9%. This single digit number is obviously indicative of a movie that went very wrong, and critics largely haven’t held back regarding why they think that is. The story centers on Gadot’s Maia, a mom and lawyer who is out for her morning run when she receives a phone call informing her that her son has been abducted and, in order to get him back, she must follow specific commands.
As it happens, this premise wasn’t itself what several critics took issue with, with one RT review written by Daniel Hart saying, “An embarrassing career low for Gal Gadot, The Runner is a flat, amateurish thriller that wastes a promising premise on cheap direction and zero suspense.” As harsh as that may sound, this critic certainly isn’t alone in that view. Another review, this one by Mark Keizer, reads, “Suspension of disbelief is always a prerequisite for enjoying movies of this type, but no matter how hard Gadot runs, she can’t outrun such mediocrity.” Granted, only 22 critic reviews are currently reflected in that score, so as more reviews are added, this number is likely to fluctuate; however, debuting with a 9% almost certainly means that, at least in terms of the critic score, this number will probably stay quite low.
