Heart of Stone 

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• Photo Courtesy Of Netflix
• STONED Gal Gadot stars as secret agent Rachel Stone, who must stop hackers from stealing a powerful AI quantum computer network capable of frightening manipulation, in Heart of Stone, streaming on Netflix.

What's it rated? TV-MA

When? 2023

Where's it showing? Netflix

Tom Harper (Wild Rose, The Aeronauts) directs this by-the-numbers spy thriller that's sadly short on thrills. As I understand it, the idea was that it would begin a Mission: Impossible-style franchise with Gal Gadot in the lead, but after this rote, lackluster effort, this may be a one-off.

Gadot is intelligence operator Rachel Stone, a computer expert working with MI6 ... or is she something more? The plot also involved a super-secret organization called The Charter, dedicated to keeping world peace and outside the control of any single government. The Charter's most powerful tool is The Heart, an artificial intelligence quantum computer network with a global reach, which in the wrong hands would lead to world domination.

The locations are exotic, from the Italian Alps to London to Lisbon to Iceland to the Senegal desert, and Gadot remains a likable and charismatic lead, but we've seen these characters and situations before, and there's not much to recommend this film other than it's free with your Netflix subscription. Though it's garnered 33 million viewers, its Rotten Tomatoes audience score is a dismal 53 percent. And the critics? They trashed it with 29 percent. I had to make two attempts before I could get through it. (122 min.) Δ