It’s hard to say why, but it seems that Gal Gadot has become a favorite punching bag for those trapped within the echo chambers of certain social media circles. But for most people who aren’t confined in those bubbles, the star of DC’s still terrific “Wonder Woman” remains a big draw. And Netflix is counting on that with their latest release “Heart of Stone”, a late summer season blockbuster exclusive to their platform.

“Heart of Stone” is directed by Tom Harper working from a screenplay written by Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder. This big-budgeted action spy thriller is highlighted by a compelling international cast, some eye-catching locations, and several big set pieces that are nothing short of impressive. Some of its machinations can be a tad formulaic and be ready to navigate patches of bad dialogue. But the film has more than its share of surprises, and I admit to being wowed by some truly spectacular action sequences.

The film opens high in the snow-capped mountains of Italy where a team of undercover MI6 agents attempt to snag a notorious European arms dealer who has been lured to a party at a posh ski resort. Their team consists of field agents Parker (Jamie Dornan) and Yang (Jing Lusi), their driver Bailey (Paul Ready), and newcomer Rachel Stone (Gadot), a hacker with little experience and only a few missions under her belt. She’s the one who routinely gets the “stay in the van” order.

What her MI6 teammates don’t know is that Rachel is actually a highly trained asset for an underground group known as The Charter. Believed by most to be a myth, they’re actually a secret peacekeeping organization of ex-intelligence operatives from around the world who answer only to themselves. They’re free from the shackles of national allegiances, government interests, or political pressures. They put out fires and do so with a highly sophisticated quantum computer known as The Heart. It enables them to see everything, hack anything, and foretell outcomes with frightening accuracy.

The mission in the mountains goes sideways after a mysterious young woman named Keya Dhawan (Alia Bhatt) reveals herself and thwarts the team’s plan. The Charter learn that Keya, and whoever she’s working with, want to get their hands on The Heart. Jack (Matthias Schweighöfer), Rachel’s eyes and ears with The Charter, tracks Keya to Lisbon, Portugal . They then leak the information to MI6 who sends Rachel’s team to bring her into custody.

It’s hardly a spoiler to say Rachel eventually has to come clean with her fellow agents and put her true super-spy skills to good use. Gadot physically commits and has some good team chemistry with Dornan, Lusi, and Ready. It’s solid lead work by the 38-year-old star although she does occasionally find herself handcuffed to some pretty corny one-liners that frankly no one could pull off. They’re easy to get past but impossible to miss.

As with any good spy thriller, the filmmakers treat us to a few unexpected twists and turns. The bigger ones land pretty well while others you can see coming from a mile away. That very same predictability is most noticeable in the final act where it ends up stripping the film of any suspense. Over time the storytelling caves to formula and its over-reliance on well-worn arcs and tropes keeps the movie from being as original as it could have been.

Still there’s a lot to enjoy in “Heart of Stone” if you can kick your feet up, recline back, and toss aside any baked-in preconceptions you may have (about Gadot, about Netflix, about any of the other stuff people were saying well before the movie even released). Its flaws are obvious. But so are its strengths. Among them are a solid cast and some lights-out action which plays like a healthy mix of “Mission: Impossible” and “Pathaan” (read about that film HERE). That’s more than enough for a fun evening with the family. “Heart of Stone” is now streaming on Netflix.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS