Runner review – Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson thriller is serviceable B-movie camp

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Runner review – Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson thriller is serviceable B-movie camp

The Guardian · 1 hour ago

Runner is a new B-movie action thriller starring Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson, released via faith-based distributor Angel Studios in its bid to break into mainstream action entertainment. Directed by action veteran Scott Waugh, it follows an ex-military fixer tasked with delivering a donated liver across Australia, only for the job to descend into cartoonish chaos involving cartel hitmen and biker gangs. The Guardian's review finds the film's committed silliness and impressive stunt work make it work as knowing camp, even if the central performances and emotional beats fall flat.

Ritchson plays Hank Malone, a hulking fixer living quietly on an Australian houseboat, who is sent to transport a liver from Brisbane airport to a sick child in a Gold Coast hospital. He is joined by Wilson's eccentric character Ben Bishop, and the pair are pursued by relentless, near-silent cartel enforcers across a fast-paced 98-minute runtime. The review praises Waugh's stunt-driven direction and Rodrigo Santoro's scene-stealing villain, while noting Ritchson and Wilson's chemistry is merely serviceable and the film's attempts at genuine emotional depth feel perfunctory.

  • Runner is a new Angel Studios action film starring Ritchson and Wilson
  • Plot follows a chaotic organ-delivery mission chased by cartel gunmen
  • Review praises stunts and camp tone, calls emotional depth weak

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