The first reviews for Heart of Stone are in and the critics are a bit mixed over the film. Praising the action and Gadot's leading performance, many are criticising just how "familiar" and "cliched" the film feels. Also being Alia Bhatt's first venture into Hollywood, her performance is being called "weak." Here is what some of the reviews to the film are saying. Heart of Stone Movie Review: Gal Gadot and Alia Bhatt Spar in This Unremarkable and Unimaginative Spy Flick (LatestLY Exclusive).

IGN: Heart of Stone doesn’t have much going for it beyond the presence of Gal Gadot in the central role. The screenplay might as well be written by an algorithm: a soulless amalgamation of the elements determined by current metrics to ensure an international hit.

Mashable: Perhaps the worst thing you can say about an action movie is that it's boring and visually unpleasant. Nothing in Heart of Stone draws the eye — nothing you can see, anyway; much of its combat is obscured by shadow — and none of its action makes an impact. Stone's hidden skills are meant to elevate her above more run-of-the-mill spies, who gawk slack-jawed at her hyper-capability. But no action she performs, and no decision she makes, feels any different from what the other MI6 agents do.

Empire: The real problem here is an absence of truly compelling characters, especially the lead; Gadot's role is too blandly written for her to have anything substantial to grip on to. Despite her efforts, Rachel Stone is about as generic as that name suggests. The stabs at humour are also feeble at best, with the film’s single good gag about a landline the only one to provoke some real laughter. As with the rest of the film, it’s fairly slim pickings.

The Indian Express: Heart of Stone also marks the Hollywood debut of Alia Bhatt — easily the most successful (and crucially, most acclaimed) Bollywood star of her generation. And deservedly so. But boy, has she been wasted here. While she obviously knew that she was signing up for a Gal Gadot vehicle, her role here is the equivalent of what Nathalie Emmanuel does in the Fast & Furious movies.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 11, 2023 10:23 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).