Alan Ritchson has taken on action roles before his years on Reacher. The films were entertaining, but Ritchson rarely stood out in them. His most physical role before this was playing Raphael in the 2014 and 2016 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films, but he was buried under a suit the entire time. This year alone he has starred in three action films. None of them showed what he could do as a leading action hero quite like this one does.

Runner pairs Ritchson with Scott Waugh, a former stuntman and stunt coordinator turned director. Waugh’s combat films have mostly garnered modest results. Here, both Ritchson and Waugh find their footing. The director delivers a hard, clean action film with a story that holds together while the actor proves he has the physical presence, the charisma, and the emotional range to carry one.

Ritchson plays Hank Malone, a former Navy SEAL with a troubled past, both at home and on the battlefield. He now works as a special courier. His latest job is to transport a rare blood liver to a dying girl before both the organ and the girl run out of time. He is joined by Owen Wilson, who plays Ben Bishop, a medical courier caught up in the job alongside him. Together they try to keep the delivery on track while a criminal organization hunts them down. The cartel wants the organ for their own purposes; they will do anything and will not stop until they have it.

What Works ✅

The Actors’ Portrayal of the Characters: The cast takes familiar character types and strips away the polish that usually comes with them. They make the roles feel lived-in rather than written. Ritchson’s Hank Malone is more than a quiet, do-the-right-thing hero. Through his voice, eyes, and stoic attitude, he carries a silent but heavy emotional wound. 

Although he appears to be written as the usual highly capable straight action hero, his performance has range even within the action sequences. You can see when Hank is fighting purely to keep himself and Ben alive. You can also see flashes of a kind of energy that comes from being back in the kind of situation his body and training were built for. And you can see the quiet weight of fighting odds he knows are not in his favour.

Owen Wilson stands out most in this regard. His character, Ben Bishop, is the kind of fast-talking and lighthearted sidekick audiences have seen many times. But Wilson plays him with grounded reactions that come from a person with a life and that are also proportional to circumstances rather than a designed character. 

Rodrigo Santoro gives the villain, Damian Zaldivar, an explosive emotional force. Damian is volatile, pressured, and expresses those in the way that a real person pushed to the edge is dangerous.

The Chases and Stunt Choreography: The film opens with the brisk, almost intrusive energy of Hank’s handler setting jobs in motion. Then comes the friction between Hank’s silence and Ben’s restless, anxious chatter, which is quickly followed up by car chases. 

The fight stunts are well put together. They feel like a mix of panic, chance, and skill. The characters are skilled and brutal in their attacks, but things go wrong in ways that feel more plausible and shocking than convenient.

Between the action, the film stays in motion with car chases, bicycle rides, and desperate running.

Personal Stakes Woven with Action: The film does something that action films often try and often fail to do. It gives every major character a personal reason to be in this fight.

Hank chooses to fight for the organ and the family waiting for it. His choice is not for the sake of duty or moral compass but rather as a quiet act of making up for his own past mistakes. 

Damian is not after the organ simply because it is valuable. His anger and drive to get it are personal. He needs to prove something, and the desperation that comes with that makes him a more dangerous antagonist.

Damian’s secret accomplice is also pushed to violence by something personal. So is Kate, the child’s mother, who eventually enters the fight herself as a result of raw love.

These motivations are built up gradually through the film. They are reinforced through action and reaction in a way that results in the fast-moving action staying fully connected to the feelings.

What Doesn’t Work ❌

The Combination of Villains: The main antagonist is Damian, a Colombian cartel leader with members of a local Australian biker gang as his goons. 

Although the film humorously acknowledges the strangeness of a South American cartel operating in Queensland, the pairing still draws attention that is not addressed.

Cartel leaders as action film villains is a heavily used formula. Placing this particular villain against the unusual backdrop of Queensland and surrounding him with Australian bikers creates contrast. The more familiar element keeps pulling focus away from the more interesting one.

Over-familiarity with the Genre: Runner does not take many risks with its story. The premise of a race against a clock while a criminal organisation closes in is one of the most used structures in action filmmaking. The film uses a couple dynamic without adding new things.

The Australian setting is distinct and specific. But the film uses it more for local accents than scenery. The dialogue, particularly in the action sequences, leans more on exchanges that are well known in the genre.

⚖️ Verdict: 3/5

Runner is one of the more satisfying action films of the year. It moves well, the stakes hold attention, the action delivers, and it closes with a cathartic ending. But when it is over, what stays with you is the cast. Ritchson, Wilson, and Santoro bring a rawness that makes it entertaining. 

As an early showcase for Ritchson as an action lead, it delivers on equal measures of action and heart, therefore doing what it needs to do.