Runner marks the first film I’ve seen from Angel Studios, and it ends up being an action/buddy film set in Australia. While not reinventing the wheel, the movie coasts into a breezy, fun romp thanks to the chemistry between the two leads, leading to an overall fun and entertaining action romp despite its shortcomings.
Runner stars Alan Ritchson as Hank Malone, a former US Navy SEAL living in Australia, working as a high-level courier. No violence, just odd jobs and escorting VIPs kind of thing. While working a random gig involving a bird, he gets a phone call about an urgent job that needs to be undertaken right that second: pick up a package from the airport and make the delivery. Easy, right? Of course, this job ends up being anything but. Not only is the package actually a person- Owen Wilson’s Ben Bishop, a highly talkative, well, Owen Wilson. He’s escorting a rare liver transplant to a hospital on the Gold Coast for a little girl, and the clock is already ticking. But the cartel is also on the trail of the organ, which, due to its rarity, can be worth up to a million dollars on the black market. So all sorts of violent individuals desperately want that package, and it’s up to Hank and Ben to get the liver to the hospital on time while fending off the baddies and figuring out the larger conspiracy, such as how did the cartels even know about the package and where it was going and when?
As mentioned in the intro, the movie is a good dose of dumb fun that’s made enjoyable thanks to the two leads. Neither one is particularly stretching their limits here; Ritchson taps into the familiar groove he’s established on the Reacher show as a strong, silent type. There’s a bit more nuance to his character’s backstory that makes him more than just the guy with the muscles. Meanwhile, Owen Wilson leans into that overly talkative, reactive bit that he does so well. Thankfully, the two actors work well off each other, to the point of carrying the movie. The villains are fairly limited and relentless; they’re basically there to be a physical threat to the characters, but credit where credit is due, they did find a more creative motivation for all of this mayhem to be happening. I could’ve used more layering on this cake that said, as there was potential to tap into a greater moral dilemma, but the movie elects to skirt past that in favour of just doing bad guy stuff. Leading the villains are Rodrigo Santoro as Damian Zaldívar, while Furiosa’s Goran D. Kleut serves as his lieutenant, a ruthless biker gang member. Rounding out the cast is Leila George as Kate, the mother of the daughter waiting for the transplant, who teeters on the edge of desperation and confusion over the delay and the ensuing violence around this delivery.
The action is fun and beefy, but also bogged down by its PG-13 rating. Blood has a weird discoloration to it, often looking more brown than red, and quite often, the action cuts away to spare you from the violence. It feels very noticeable, as if the film knows it is violent, but is covering your eyes for you. Shotgun to the face, but let’s rapidly pan the camera away to save your sensibilities. But the choreography is fun and leans into Ritchson being a truck of a human. It’s also well-framed and edited overall, making it easy to follow along with the action. That’s probably thanks to director Scott Waugh’s previous experience as a stuntman. A few of the VFX could’ve used touching up; that said. But for a B-movie style feel, I can get over that hump. Runner is also a brisk 90-minutes, never overstaying it’s welcome and keeping things tight and focused, something I can appreciate in a time where many movies feel like they tacked on an extra 20 minutes for no good reason.
Runner isn’t trying anything new here, but it’s a fun, dumb time if you want to see some chaos unleashed in a picturesque Australian location. Ritchson and Wilson are clearly having a blast, and that thankfully elevates this movie that otherwise feels like a 90s B-movie you would’ve seen on the video store shelf one night that you’d watch with some buddies. If that sounds like a fun time, you’ll probably enjoy it going into it with that in mind.
