Move over Tom Cruise, Gal Gadot's 'Heart of Stone' packs a full punch of action and style

When you mix Ethan Hunt with Laura Croft you’ll get Rachel Stone in Netflix’s new action movie “Heart of Stone.”

Like “Mission: Impossible,” you have fanciful tech that could either help or destroy the world. There’s a team of secret agents, but in this film, its members belong to MI6 and the Charter rather than the Impossible Mission Force.

Where the “Tomb Raider” flavor arises is in the ingenuity and doggedness of Rachel Stone. Gal Gadot smoothly inhabits the character. It’s almost like she’s done action movies before. Oh, wait. At this rate, Gadot is being type-cast for the woman hero in all these smash-‘em-up movies.

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What is 'Heart of Stone' about?

Stone is introduced as an inexperienced, techy-type working undercover on an MI6 team. Her only job is to clear the digital gateways for her team and to “stay in the van.” The first 20-odd minutes of the film are all about introducing the team and revealing to the audience that there’s more to Stone than meets the eye.

We find out that she’s actually a secret agent par excellence. And she has the tech and backup crew to match. Jack of Hearts (Matthias Schweighöfer) is to Stone what Benji is to Ethan in “Mission: Impossible” — her eye in the sky and tech support.

The initial job: nab an international arms dealer. The plan goes awry (of course). But what sets the team on edge is a stranger hacking into their private comms.

The new threat turns out to be a 20-something genius hacker from India named Keya (Alia Bhatt). Apparently, there’s no machine she can’t hack into, be it MI6 communications or the cameras on a London bus. But she isn’t working alone.

There’s a turncoat in MI6 who’s out to expose the Charter. And this person kills Stone’s team and puts a hacking device in her. Stone ends up being a Trojan Horse. The pill-sized device allows Keya to hack into the Charter’s elite computing system.

Dubbed “the Heart,” this most super of computers allows Charter agents to track anyone, anywhere in real time, as well as instantly pull up any history on a person — good or bad. In fact, the Heart can even predict if someone will be a murderer or a victim. The technology is truly the central organ of the Charter.

With the “prize” established, it’s a race to see who can get to the Heart’s location first.

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Director Tom Harper ('Peaky Blinders') has an eye for action

Director Tom Harper (“Peaky Blinders” and “Wild Rose”) has an eye for setting up dramatic tension. Paired with Gadot’s ability to play a double undercover agent, “Heart of Stone” has all the ingredients that make for a fun action movie.

The stunts are on par with the early “Mission: Impossible” films. Gadot is a powerhouse fighter. While not possessing the strength of the gods, Stone is still a badass and isn’t afraid to get gritty.

Of all the stunt scenes, two really stand out. The first takes place on a dirigible some 40,000-plus feet in the air. Without spoiling it, my fingers and toes were curled with tension. The second is a hand-to-hand fight between Stone and the true bad guy — and no, I won’t tell you who that is.

Suffice it to say the brawl between them is brutal, raw and painful to watch. It is wonderfully choreographed and very fun to watch.

A side note: There are a lot of opportunities to take advantage of Gadot’s sex appeal. But the filmmakers clearly made a decision to not make that the focus in either costuming or camera angles. Stone is an action hero through and through. Never once was there an uncomfortable or forced eye-candy scene. Rather, all the eye candy was in the action.

'Heart of Stone' is a full-on action movie

What doesn't quite work is the dialogue. There are some smart lines here and there. But a lot of the dialogue felt flat and predictable. Granted, action films are generally not known for Shakespearean finesse. And honestly, can we say that any of the action franchises are stellar on this front?

What makes people come back again and again to James Bond or “Mission: Impossible” is not the dialogue, but the action scenes and characters we’ve grown to love. Rachel Stone has the potential of being up there with Bond and Ethan.

Some may dismiss “Heart of Stone” as another rote action film. But to really look at it, appreciate the character of Rachel Stone and truly compare her with action men, she holds her own.

Does that mean I want a sequel? Perhaps. I’m open to seeing more of Rachel Stone and the Charter save the world. But I’ll also add that I hope to see Gadot stretch beyond action-hero roles. She’s got the talent for it.

'Heart of Stone' 3.5 stars

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

Director: Tom Harper

Cast: Gal Gadot, Jamie Dornan, Alia Bhatt, Glenn Close, BD Wong

Rating: PG-13 for sequences of violence and action and some language

How to watch: Netflix, August 11

Contact Kaely Monahan at kaely.monahan@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on our podcasts Valley 101 and The Gaggle, and on Twitter @KaelyMonahan.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Heart of Stone' review: Gal Gadot packs a punch in Netflix film