Heart of Stone review: Gal Gadot, Alia Bhatt’s pacey spy thriller speaks of sisterhood across age and ethnicity

There is a formula, a kind of a manual, on how to design an espionage thriller. Open with a big action set piece in a European town that establishes the skills and heroism of the lead, in the mould of Ethan Hunt from Mission Impossible, for example. Then there’s deception and betrayal, maybe a double agent or spy within the ranks, followed by a hair-raising chase through the narrow streets of another European town.

Finally, when the bad guys appear to have the upper hand, the hero – or, in the case of Heart of Stone, the heroine – almost singlehandedly saves the thing that is so precious that collateral damage is a minor consequence.

Heart of Stone, directed by Tom Harper (Aeronauts, Peaky Blinders), is no different. Gal Gadot’s Rachel Stone is a super-skilled spy and member of the Charter, a mythical peacekeeping agency that relies heavily on seriously advanced technology and a mechanical “Heart” to save the world. But when that Heart, which represents knowledge and power, is threatened, Stone is the only one who can intercept the brain (or brains) behind the attack.