Hot on the heels of Season 4 of Reacher, Alan Ritchson (War Machine) is back in action for Scott Waugh’s Runner, a stunt filled adventure that partners him with Owen Wilson (Stick). Unlike Ritchson’s previous actioner Motor City (2026), which was mostly dialogue free, Runner has him having to put up with energetic motormouth Wilson for the entirety of the film, whether he likes it or not.
Ritchson is Hank Malone, an ex Navy Seal currently living in Australia. Hank work as a “Runner”, transporting various goods for clients. Essentially he’s a more muscled Frank Martin from The Transporter (2002).
Hank’s latest assignment involves him picking up a package from the airport and delivering it to a nearby hospital. Arriving at the hospital he meets Ben Bishop (Owen Wilson), who is transporting a liver to a dying child, one who has the rarest blood type on earth. Because of this, the liver is worth a lot of money on the black market.
On their way to the hospital Hank realizes they are being followed, which is when Ben tells him of the liver and its recipient. When their car is stopped by a group of armed cartel members, Hank decides he isn’t about to hand over the only chance the child has to survive. From there he and Ben enter into a life or death race to the hospital with an assortment of cartel members, crooked cops and local gangsters on their trail.
Interestingly, in the matter of a couple of weeks we have seen the release of two films with near identical titles, with this and the Gal Gadot movie The Runner (2026). Of the two films, Ritchson’s action vehicle is the much superior film, with me almost forgetting the Gadot film already, even though I only saw it a week ago. Waugh’s film may have some flaws, but Runner turns out to be an extremely fun movie, one that harkens back to the actioners of the 80s and 90s.
To be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from Runner, with it being distributed by Angel Studios who typically focus on faith based production. The film doesn’t exactly fit into their typical wheelhouse, even if it does have some themes around redemption included.
Instead, Runner is a surprisingly violent actioner considering the PG-13 rating, even if it does seem to have been cut down from a hard R in certain scenes. On several occasions, the camera cuts away just at the point you would normally expect to see some blood or gore.
There is some noticeable CGI incorporated into the film, but a lot of the action is carried out practically, with director Scott Waugh’s background in stunts shining through. Speaking of Waugh, this is overall a more rewarding experience than his last film as director, the
disappointing Expend4bles (2023). There are some minor issues with the script, but for the most part the cast and action are able to overcome such problems.
Roughly the first 15 minutes are taken up with introducing the characters and plot before we are thrown into the action, with an exciting car chase through the busy streets of Brisbane being the first of the film’s plentiful action scenes. Talking of Brisbane, it was refreshing to watch a movie filmed in Australia actually being set there. I’ve lost count of the amount of actioners trying (and many times failing) to make Australia look like America.
According to interviews, the production had actually looked at several locations before settling on shooting in Australia. I’m glad that they did, as the sunny locations make a perfect backdrop for the merry carnage that Waugh unleashes on screen.
While it is essentially a chase movie, Waugh smartly doesn’t just rely on an assortment of car chases to take us through the film. Even the several car chases that do feature are suitably varied so the film never once feels repetitive. As well as chases we are treated to a number of well choreographed fight scenes and shootouts, which like the car chases all differ from the last.
What I particularly appreciated was that Waugh isn’t interested in trying to re-invent the wheel. Instead his action is in service to the plot, with each of his set pieces being fast paced and full of energy.
The standout action scene for me has Ritchson pitching a rescue attempt where he takes on Santoro’s Zaldivar and an assortment of hired goons whilst also trying to free a captured Owen Wilson. It features a fair helping of vehicular destruction, brawling and gunplay that I was cheering Ritchson on as he dispatched the bad guys.
Speaking of Ritchson, he once again proves to be an excellent action star, very much in the mold of Stallone and Schwarzenegger. Like those legends, he has an instant likeability that makes you root for him when the action comes, with his sheer physicality making each of the set pieces convincing no matter how ridiculous the stakes may seem.
This is certainly a more mainstream actioner than the last Ritchson movie I reviewed, the excellent Motor City (2025), but that isn’t a bad thing, with Runner allowing Ritchson to inject his character with more personality. It also helps that he has Owen Wilson to play off against, with the two of them having definite chemistry.
It’s no surprise that Owen Wilson is as likeable as ever. No stranger to the buddy movie, having previously starred in the likes of Shanghai Noon (2000), I, Spy (2002) and Starksy and Hutch (2004). Runner is less of a comedy than any of those mentioned but Wilson still brings the humor when needed, even when the film becomes more serious.
The film also smartly uses Wilson to subvert expectations, as you go in expecting this to be an action comedy, but it turns out to be more than that, with Wilson showing off his dramatic chops as much as his comedic ones.
Rodrigo Santoro’s villain is essentially a sad momma’s boy, but he makes for a suitable foil for our heroes, putting each of them through their paces. Surprisingly, he also fares well physically against Ritchson during their fight scenes, with their one on one in a hospital ward being truly memorable.
While the majority of the focus is on Ritchson and Wilson running from Santoro, Leila George still gets an opportunity to shine in her limited screen time as distressed mother Kate. For much of her screen time she looks suitably distressed at the prospect of losing her daughter, but come the last third of the film she finally gets involved in the action, showing there’s nothing she won’t do to try and protect her child. Even though she is seriously overpowered, she’s still willing to face off against someone that could easily kill her.
Considering I wasn’t expecting much from Runner, it more than exceeded my expectations, being one extremely entertaining actioner. Sure, it may not be a game changer, but with winning performances, a breakneck pace and non-stop action, Runner has turned out to be one of the most enjoyable action films of the year. It should especially find an audience amongst those who grew up on the great action movies of the 80s and 90s, with this being a perfect homage to that era.
Plot: 3.5/5
Acting: 4/5
Action: 4/5
Overall: 3.8/5
