What’s It About

A courier and former soldier named Hank Malone (Alan Ritchson) must transport a critical, time-sensitive medical organ across a tight three-hour window to save a seven-year-old girl. He is forced to escort an unlikely partner, played by Owen Wilson. A dangerous cartel and ruthless mercenaries pursue them, hoping to intercept and steal the priceless organ for the black market. Every delay, detour, and violent encounter pushes them closer to failure, threatening the life of the young girl waiting for the transplant.

MOVIESinMO REVIEW

Alan Ritchson keeps building his case as the next big action star, and “Runner” adds another notch to that argument, even if the movie itself never quite reaches the level of its lead performance. Ritchson plays Hank Malone, a former soldier turned courier who hauls packages that most delivery companies would refuse to touch. He has moved everything from rare animals to human organs, and he does it with the quiet, guarded manner of a man who has seen too much and talks about none of it. When Hank gets handed a job to transport a donor liver meant for a dying seven-year-old girl, the clock starts ticking. He has three hours to get it to the hospital, and he is not allowed to make the trip alone. The story hints at a rougher past for Hank, the kind of history that explains why a man like this ends up driving other people’s emergencies instead of dealing with his own, though the movie never slows down long enough to dig into it. That is where Owen Wilson comes in as Ben Bishop, the liver’s assigned medical courier, a man who never stops talking even when bullets start flying past his head. It works because they play into their differences. Ritchson is Hank, someone who would rather throw a punch than explain a feeling, while Ben talks his way through danger like he cannot help himself. With Ben try to understand Hank during a firefight gives “Runner” its most entertaining stretches, and the director trusts the script enough to let a joke land in the middle of real danger. Director Scott Waugh spent years working in stunts before he ever sat behind a camera. Every chase, every hit, and every car flip through traffic. Punches land and you feel them. The final fight between Hank and cartel boss Damian Zaldivar, played by Rodrigo Santoro, goes over the top but is staged with enough control that the chaos never feels random. And the car chases through Australian roads and backcountry give a familiar American formula with better scenery. Still, “Runner” runs into real trouble whenever it tries to be two different movies at once. One half wants to be a grim thriller about grief and duty. The other half wants to be a loose buddy comedy built around Wilson’s rambling energy. The shifts between those two moods do not always land smoothly, and the hospital scenes with the sick girl’s worried mother, played by Leila George, suffer the most from it. Her tears and panic are supposed to remind the audience what is at stake, but the movie returns to her so often, and gives her so little else to do, that her grief starts to feel like a plot device instead of a real person’s pain. The villain’s side of the story, and this is where “Runner” loses me the most. Santoro gets top billing as Damian, but the script gives him almost nothing beyond a cold stare and a steady stream of threats. Santoro has shown real range in work like “300” and “Westworld,” so watching “Runner” waste him on a flat, one-note cartel boss feels like a missed opportunity. Adriana Barraza, as Damian’s mother, was only there to back her son’s plans. When a film builds its entire antagonist side out of a foreign crime family and never bothers to give those characters an inner life, it raises a fair question about whether the movie sees them as people or only as obstacles for its two leads to run past. “Runner” didn’t need to answer that question, because we already knew the answer. There is also something off about this movie by Angel Studios. It’s a company usually known for faith-based, family-friendly stories. “Runner” is loud and often brutal, filled with stabbings, shootings, and beatdowns that push hard against its PG-13 rating. That mismatch between the studio’s usual brand and this film’s violence adds an odd texture to the whole watch, something like hearing a gospel choir suddenly break into a serious headbanger. By the end, “Runner” knows exactly what kind of movie it wants to be for the most part. The chemistry between Ritchson and Wilson carries real weight, and the action sequences show the hand of a director who understands how bodies and cars should move on screen. What holds the film back is its refusal to dig any deeper into the people surrounding its two leads, especially the family running the cartel. “Runner” gives you two hours of chasing, punching, and a handful of good laughs, but it never takes real risks. If you want a loud Friday night watch and nothing more, “Runner” gets the job done. Just do not expect it to stick with you much past the weekend.

OUR RATING – A FORMULATED 6