Born to middle-class parents, Gal Gadot parlayed success in beauty pageants into military service as a combat fitness instructor. Then came a modeling career and, eventually, Hollywood stardom. Yet, because she is Israeli, Gadot’s mere existence seems to invite a political tribunal before the opening credits of any movie she stars in.

Her latest film, The Runner, a serviceable direct-to-streaming suspense thriller from director Kevin Macdonald, has been greeted with striking hostility. The A.V. Club’s critic, for example, derides her delivery as “inhuman” and spends much of the review mocking the actress herself.

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The performance is anything but. Gadot plays Maia Marten, a successful criminal lawyer and single mother who has taken up running. Gadot effectively projects the calm, controlled confidence commensurate with an experienced attorney. Those qualities become indispensable when, during a routine morning run after dropping her son at school, a mysterious phone call upends her carefully ordered life.

The caller has........

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