Heart of Stone is a 2023 spy action thriller film directed by Tom Harper from a screenplay by Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder and a story by Rucka.
The story centers on an elite agent, Rachel Stone (Gal Gadot), who's part of an ultra-mysterious, powerful, global, peace-keeping organization, the Charter. She gets sent on a dangerous mission to retrieve the Charter's most valuable — and dangerous — asset, an artificial intelligence known as the Heart, the controls of which have been stolen.
The cast also includes Jamie Dornan as Parker, Alia Bhatt as Keya Dhawan, Matthias Schweighöfer as Jack of Hearts, Sophie Okonedo as Nomad, B.D. Wong as King of Clubs, Glenn Close as King of Diamonds, Mark Ivanir as King of Spades and Archie Madekwe as Ivo. The film was released on August 11, 2023 on Netflix.
Previews: "First Look" teaser
, Trailer.
Heart of Stone provides examples of the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Rachel Stone is quite the woman of action, though she has to hide it when at MI6.
- Almost Out of Oxygen: In the climax, Parker uses the Heart to lock Jack of Hearts, Nomad and the other people in the Charter bunker, and shuts down the bunker's ventilation, leaving them only one hour worth of oxygen.
- Animated Credits Opening: Which almost feels reminiscent of a James Bond film while the animation style is similar to that of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
- Artificial Intelligence: The Heart is an A.I. that can hack into anything connected on Earth and calculate outcomes and chances of success with Ludicrous Precision.
- Big Bad: Parker is seeking to use the Heart to destroy the Charter completely.
- Big Good: Nomad, the leader of the Charter, Stone's mentor, and a Reasonable Authority Figure.
- Black Boss Lady: Nomad, one of Stone's superiors at the Charter, played by Sophie Okonedo.
- Chase Scene: Several of them. The most notable is the bike chase in Iceland.
- Cool Airship: The Heart hovers over Earth on a blimp initially.
- Cultural Blending: When Rachel asks what is she supposed to do if Keya isn't in Lisbon as predicted, Nomad sarcastically tells her to eat tapas. However, tapas are exclusively part of Spanish cuisine, and have never been a Portuguese food like the movie implies.
- Double Agent: Stone works for both MI6 and the Charter and has to hide her true skills when at MI6.
- The Dragon: Blond is this to Parker.
- Eiffel Tower Effect: In Reykjavík, Stone passes by the city's famous Hallgrímskirkja church with her bike.
- Elevator Failure: Parker has the Heart cause the elevator taken by King of Diamonds to shut down and fall, killing her.
- Expelled from Every Other School: Stone was once a violent and rebellious teenager who had been kicked out of seven to eight schools before being taken in by Nomad.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Keya is repeatedly shocked by Parker's diabolical acts, and finally betrays him once he blows up a University building just to kill the King of Clubs and his men.
- Face Death with Dignity: When the King of Clubs realizes he's been Lured into a Trap and Stone is too late to warn him, all he can respond to Stone is with a defeated "Yeah, I hear you" moments before accepting his fate.
- Give My Regards in the Next World: At the end of the final fight as Parker is bleeding out from his gunshot wounds, Parker tells Stone he'll be seeing her in the next life.
- Heel–Face Turn: After learning of Parker's true intentions to use the Heart to destroy the Charter, Keya finally decides she's had enough of her boss's ways, sabotages the Heart and helps Stone to stop him.
- Holographic Terminal: Jack of Hearts has quite an elaborate holographic interface when using the Heart.
- Lured into a Trap: Parker, who's actually in a bunker somewhere in Iceland, uses the Heart to make King of Clubs and his team think he's at the University of Reykjavík and mines the place. They all perish in the explosion.
- Made of Explodium: Apparently, the blimp is filled with hydrogen, and of course it ends up exploding. Oddly, in Real Life hydrogen hasn't been used in blimps ever since the disaster of The Hindenburg. Using it for a blimp carrying such a crucial item as the Heart would be very unwise to begin with.
- Nice Girl: Stone's a badass, but she's also very compassionate. In addition to being in the peacekeeping Charter organization, she takes care of the cat of Yang after her death and buys a dollhouse for the late Bailey's daughter at the end. She also tries to rally Keya to her side to save her.
- Not Quite Flight:
- Stone ends up paragliding in the mountains during the first mission.
- Stone uses a wingsuit to reach the blimp on which the Heart is initially kept.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Stone puts up the air of just a techie for her MI-6 team, not knowing much of languages and nothing of gambling or combat. They have no idea she's more skilled at spywork than all of them put together.
- Playful Hacker: Keya, who's a hacker, likes to toy with Stone in the first half of the film.
- Playing Card Motifs: Everyone at the Charter has a Code Name related to Card Games. In the very end of the film, a post-Heel–Face Turn Keya is enlisted as a Joker.
- Race Against the Clock: In the climax in Iceland, Stone has one hour to regain control of the Heart before Jack of Hearts, Nomad and the other people in the bunker die from lack of oxygen after Parker shuts down the bunker's ventilation and locks them in with the Heart.
- Ram by Braking: When in Iceland in the climax, Stone is on a narrow road between a truck and a rock wall, with a recurring mook on her tail on a motorcycle, pursuing her with a gun. He tries to get behind her, only for her to stomp on the brakes, quickly climb onto the truck, and let her bike trip him up, stopping him.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": Jack of Hearts is prone to say several "No!" in rapid succession when things go awry.
- Starter Villain: The prologue focuses on Stone going after Mulvaney, an Arms Dealer. They manage to take him alive, but he ends up succumbing to a Cyanide Pill. It turns out it was Parker who gave him cyanide during their fight on a cable car.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: In the First Look teaser, Jack of Hearts doesn't realize that Stone has left the scene on a film set and calls for her. This scene isn't in the film.
- Would Hit a Girl: When Keya hesitates to get the Heart back online, Parker brutally pistol whips her.
