Every film critic worth a grain of salt tries to go into every film as a blank slate, whether it be the latest PVOD horror shlock, or the newest Paul Thomas Anderson film, and everything in-between. This goes for Netflix’s, and every other streaming service’s, ever-expanding library of films that barely register past their release dates. Sure, we have our expectations and pre-conceived notions, but we don’t let that stop us from giving the film a fair shake. So when pressing play on Heart of Stone, the newest Netflix action/spy thriller with a generic premise starring Gal Gadot with little-to-no fanfare – much as you can have right now, given the labor strikes – I still went into it with an open mind, hoping for an unexpected gem.

Netflix has tried desperately to find an action franchise that will stick in the collective cultural consciousness, from Six Underground to The Gray Man and Extraction, but most simply fade into obscurity. Heart of Stone does feature some intriguing set pieces, but never manages to set itself apart from the dozens of films that clearly mark it as an influence.

It has to be a coincidence that the plot of Heart of Stone mirrors, in a way, that of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Both deal with teams of super spies, this one led by Rachel Stone (Gal Gadot), an MI6 hacking expert who secretly belongs to an even more covert group called the Charter. The Charter utilizes an artificial intelligence called The Heart that can predict virtually anything, hack anywhere, and contains the tools of our own destruction. Sounds pretty similar to The Entity in Dead Reckoning, no? But whereas Tom Cruise & Co. were seeking to destroy The Entity for fear of it being misused, Stone and the Charter seek to protect it so they can continue to utilize it. The irony of the two films’ subtexts – Tom Cruise metaphorically saving the theatrical experience by destroying algorithmical thinking in one film versus the Netflix film protecting it – was certainly not lost on me.

The film, directed by Tom Harper from a screenplay by Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder, hits all the marks you would expect in a globe-trotting espionage thriller, without distinguishing itself with basic elements like interesting characters or surprising plot developments. People dangle off of things, cars are chased, exotic locales are visited, guns are shot (big and small), death is defied, systems are hacked, and so on. Hollywood, and Netflix, seem to desperately want to find a proper vehicle for Gadot, but this is hardly it. She does bring a welcome presence to the film, but she’s being given the most basic material to work with; I don’t know if I could name a character trait that Stone has beyond “good teammate.” The set pieces are all quite effective and thoughtfully realized (if a little shoddily rendered due to some half-baked visual effects), and Jamie Dornan makes for a decent fellow spy-turned-villain, but Heart of Stone likely won’t make much of an impact in the genre, regardless of whether Netflix greenlights more sequels or not. Cinematographer George Steel throws some nice film grain on the project to evoke a kind of 70s thriller vibe, but it can’t mask the otherwise hollow proceedings.

As with many a Netflix production, the problem with Heart of Stone lies not within the film itself, but in how it will instantly remind the viewer of similar, often better films, sometimes found within the same platform. It’s not a complete waste of time, nor is it a nadir for the genre – it’s never boring, which is always a death knell for thrillers – but I certainly won’t defend it any more than I already have, nor will I likely think of it much longer after this piece is published.

Heart of Stone will be released on Netflix on August 11.

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