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In Heart of Stone, Gal Gadot portrays a spy with a rough past and very few personality traits. She does stunts, punches men, runs from gunfire, delivers one-liners, and strikes dramatic poses. She’s rarely asked to emote beyond the occasional flirtation or brief exchange of half-formed ideals. Unlike Wonder Woman, Rachel Stone isn’t a beloved character taking her first shot at big-screen success. In other words, Heart of Stone is the perfect franchise vehicle for Gal Gadot.
Heart of Stone Doesn’t Ask Much of Gal Gadot
Heart of Stone follows Gal Gadot as Rachel Stone. She works as an agent of a mysterious extrajudicial espionage organization called the Charter. Her bosses are all named after playing cards, and her jobs are assigned in the nebulous pursuit of world peace. That’s about all we’ll know about her by the end of the film. Rachel is a talented athlete and combatant, but an all-powerful supercomputer called the Heart guides her actions. Her orders and recommendations seem to come to her like the tutorial in a video game. The conflict comes when a skilled hacker tries to deactivate the Heart, removing the comical advantage that made her a viable threat. Rachel’s personality is so vague as to be nonexistent. She flirts with her co-workers and occasionally cracks jokes, but Stone’s surname fits her emotional availability.
Near the end of the third act, Heart of Stone interrogates Rachel’s backstory. Rachel was a rambunctious kid who spent time in various correctional facilities for assorted crimes and misdeeds. At 20, the Charter picked her up and gave her a purpose. Rachel has served as a spy for years, totally committed to the cause the Charter claims to support. She doesn’t seem to have a life outside of her work, as self-sacrifice is part of the job. The lack of direction she felt away from spying is reflected in the complete absence of non-violent personality traits. The stark lack of detail only leaves behind a vessel for action scenes. Gal Gadot couldn’t be more comfortable in these circumstances.
Why Heart of Stone Is the Perfect Franchise for Gal Gadot
Gal Gadot is at her best in action scenes, dramatic set pieces, and epic wide shots. She has what it takes to be an action star but follows the wrong model. She’s not meant to be Tom Cruise or any of James Bond’s portrayers. Gadot couldn’t do Die Hard or Blade Runner. Her inspiration should come from the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude Van Damme. She doesn’t feel correct as a complicated superhero or a representation of any larger ideal. She’s larger than life like Schwarzenneger was. She’s meant to pose, fight, and tower over others. Her Wonder Woman was fit for music videos and slow-motion trailer clips. Rachel Stone doesn’t have that problem.
Heart of Stone asks nothing of Gal Gadot that she can’t deliver. She runs, shoots, fights, parachutes, and poses with the best of them. The trailers show off her glowing nighttime skydiving adventure but offer nothing about the plot, stakes, or characters. Rachel Stone isn’t a completely blank slate, but she’s close. Gal Gadot can always sell her slight emotional moments in between her bread and butter. Fans of the DCEU will recall that Wonder Woman featured a decent, if generic, take on the title character. Wonder Woman 1984, on the other hand, expected her to do comedy with disastrous results. That experience should have taught Gadot and the audience some lessons about her limitations. She’s an action star first and an actress second. Maybe she hasn’t found the character she was born to play yet, but Rachel Stone feels close.
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Gal Gadot has talent and a massive fanbase. Heart of Stone is a great showcase for her specific skill set. It’s also an embarrassing attempt to scrape together a blockbuster series for her. The film is made weaker by its place among Netflix’s other Gal Gadot franchise-building attempts. She stars in Red Notice with Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds. Heart of Stone is a much better attempt to get Gal Gadot into something reliably marketable. Someone with no knowledge of the industry, marketing strategy, or other movies would find Heart of Stone much more compelling. Gal Gadot needs a specific set of circumstances to come away with a franchise. Heart of Stone is one of the best attempts yet, for good and for ill.
