Worst Movie of the Year Just Dropped

Overview

This is a strongly negative review arguing that “The Runner” (Amazon Prime, starring Gal Gadot) is likely the worst movie of the year and is fundamentally broken as a thriller.

Overall Verdict / Main Critique

• The presenter calls the film “simply terrible,” insisting there’s nothing that can save it.
• It’s described as boring for almost the entire runtime.
• For roughly 80 minutes, the movie largely becomes watching Gadot jog/run while talking to a hacker, rather than delivering tension or coherent scenes.

“Chamber Film” Failure

• The review compares the movie to a classic “chamber film” such as “Phone Booth.”
• However, it claims “The Runner” fails because:
  • The script/conversation is weak, drops details, and never revisits them.
  • The film feels more like an endless jogging montage than a genuine psychological or strategic confrontation.

Editing and Filming Style Criticized

• The presenter repeatedly faults the movie’s chaotic, shaky, anime-like editing.
• The criticism is that the camera movement and heightened intensity feel unjustified given the basic action: calm running and phone dialogue.

Performance Critique (Center of the Blame)

The review places major responsibility on Gal Gadot’s performance:

• Her reactions are described as flat or nonsensical (including repeatedly simplistic “What?” moments).
• The presenter claims there are lip-sync/voice-tone mismatches, implying dialogue may have been rewritten and/or re-recorded after filming.

Plot Logic and Contrivances Attacked

The story is summarized as a chain of events engineered mainly to force the protagonist to run:

• She’s tricked into believing her son has been kidnapped via a hacker/AI voice.
• The hacker demands she retrieve a gun nearby and run ~5 miles within an hour to kill a key witness handler.
• The reviewer argues the “rules” for why she must run (instead of transport) are illogical and exist mainly to keep her moving and isolated.

Additional claims include:

• An implied accomplice is mentioned but never delivered.
• Key evidence/clues are conveniently available.
• The film repeatedly forgets/ignores setup it introduced earlier.

Thriller vs. “Run-as-Content”

• The presenter emphasizes that instead of a suspense thriller, the audience mainly gets:
  • running
  • silence
  • intense music/montage
• Dialogue appears only occasionally—and the reviewer says it lacks meaningful payoff.

Convenient Twist Ending Dismissed

The review criticizes how the plan and twists are resolved:

• The ending involves a fake execution and an elaborate setup involving strangers.
• This includes someone who “calls a number” after seeing lipstick writing on a window.
• The presenter argues everything happens flawlessly and improbably within an hour, without believable buildup.
• The hacker’s behavior is described as unexplained.

Phone-Message Moral, but Logic Questioned

• The movie is said to push an anti-phone/phone-safety message (e.g., “put the phone down,” “help me”).
• It reportedly ends with the protagonist throwing her phone out.
• The reviewer still calls out lingering logic issues, including why certain characters do/don’t notice crucial events.

Final Impression

The reviewer concludes the film is not just weak but actively bad, predicting it will be extremely difficult for any other movie to beat it as the worst film of the year.

Presenters / Contributors

• (Single presenter/reviewer): An unnamed person delivering the commentary.