Runner Review (2026): Explosions, Car Chases and Questionable Decisions

Runner is a fast, silly, occasionally funny action movie that knows exactly what sort of B-movie it wants to be.

There is nothing particularly clever about Runner, where you are probably better off not asking too many questions, but I enjoyed it anyway.

Plot

A former soldier and his unlikely partner become the targets of a ruthless cartel while racing to complete a critical medical delivery and save the life of a little girl.

Good Points

• Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson work well together.

• The action is entertaining.

• The Australian setting looks good.

• It doesn’t take itself too seriously.

• It’s easy to watch.

Bad Points

• The story is predictable, and the emotional side is obvious.

• The premise isn’t particularly original.

• Hank somehow finds time for an incredible number of disasters.

My Thoughts on Runner

Runner Is Fine If You Don’t Think About It Too Much

I had a pretty good time with this, but I suspect a lot of people won’t if you like to think too much about your movies - it is silly and occasionally ridiculous, but also completely comfortable with being a big, dumb action movie.

There is a little bit of everything thrown into this thing too - car chases, shootouts, fights, people making incredibly questionable decisions, people surviving things that should probably have involved a hospital of their own, and enough explosions to keep insurance companies nervous.

Might not be the best movie ever, but I wasn’t bored, which is always something.

Alan Ritchson

Ritchson looks like he could pick up most of the cast and put them in the trunk of a car, which is obviously useful when you’re making this sort of movie, and he has that slightly old-fashioned action-star quality that Hollywood doesn’t seem to produce quite as often anymore, where you can believe the guy is actually capable of doing the things the script keeps asking him to do, even if it isa bit dumb.

Then there is Owen Wilson, and this is where Runner gets a little stranger.

Wilson brings that familiar laid-back, slightly bewildered energy that he has been using for years, and it clashes pretty nicely with Ritchson’s much more serious action-hero presence.

I wouldn’t say they suddenly become the greatest screen duo since Gibson and Glover, but there is enough of a mismatch between them that makes the relationship work well enough.

The Movie Knows It’s a B-Movie

This is probably the most important thing to remember about Runner for me. - it isn’t pretending to be some hugely important action thriller, because the film has a slightly cheesy quality, and one that I enjoyed.

Some of the villains are broad, some of the situations are completely nuts, and there are moments where the whole thing feels like it has wandered in from an action movie made twenty or thirty years ago.

That might be a problem if you want a serious film, but I didn’t mind it because the movie seems to have enough awareness of its own ridiculousness to survive it, and while it certainly isn’t new or too fresh, where you will no doubt see some of the turns coming, but I also don’t think there is anything wrong with simple storytelling either in this kind of film.

The Action

The action is where I think the movie earns most of its keep.

Scott Waugh is directing, which makes plenty of sense once you know his background, as before becoming a director, Waugh worked as a stuntman, and the movie has this nice physical quality to its action, even when some of the effects are obvious.

There is also something something cool about watching Ritchson get involved in the fights because he really does look like an action figure that escaped from its packaging.

The movie does occasionally push things too far though, as once a character has survived something completely ridiculous, the next sequence has a harder job making me believe anybody is actually in danger.

But what can I say, I did still enjoy those scenes.

The Emotional Stuff Doesn’t Work

The reason for Hank’s mission is obviously designed to give the action some emotional weight - a sick child needing an urgent transplant is about as straightforward a reason as you can give someone to keep going.

It just doesn’t really land, and part of the why is because the movie is moving so quickly, so you’re being asked to care about the emotional consequences of everything while simultaneously watching people crash cars, get shot at and survive increasingly improbable situations, and those two sides don’t always sit comfortably together.

That isn’t necessarily a criticism either, as I didn’t come to Runner for a devastating meditation on mortality, but I do think the film occasionally reaches for a level of emotion that the movie never really earns.

The ticking clock is also one of the film’s better ideas because it keeps things moving without requiring a complicated mystery, where every delay matters, at least in theory.

Of course, Runner occasionally stretches the concept to breaking point because Hank seems to have enough time to get involved in about seventeen completely separate disasters while still somehow having a chance of completing the job.

I stopped questioning the mathematics fairly early on, and you probably should too.

Final Verdict

Runner is dumb in places, predictable in others and fairly ridiculous, but I had enough fun with it - it’s disposable action, but it is reasonably enjoyable disposable action at least.

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