Runner, 2026.
Directed by Scott Waugh.
Starring Alan Ritchson, Owen Wilson, Rodrigo Santoro, Leila George, Adriana Barraza, Peta Sergeant, Scarlett Crabtree, Geraldine Hakewill, Kate Box, Goran D. Kleut, Cecilia Toussaint, and Tommy Archer.
SYNOPSIS:
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.
Race-against-time action-thriller Runner could be marking a turning point for Angel Studios. Shockingly, this sustained explosion of carnage that occasionally borders on earning an R rating comes from the Christian conservative values distributor. One can only assume they made the purchase for the Alan Ritchson vehicle and to be the action-star face of their brand before he rightfully went on an absolute tear against everything MAGA stands for.
One also couldn’t script anything better than the practicing Christian they may or may not have bought a film knowing what his actual politics were. More importantly, Scott Waugh’s film (courtesy of a screenplay by Miles Hubley and Tommy White) and Alan Ritchson are actually dead ringers for what that angle should be. That’s not to say Runner is pushing the good word of God, the Bible, jingoism, or necessarily Republican values, but that it is about the closest actor Hollywood has to a modern-day Arnold Schwarzenegger using that hulking frame for presumably Angel Guild-approved good to go on an absolute tear against a pursuing cartel to deliver a liver (cooled in storage) to a dying young girl, in an age where America has a president accused and heavily implicated in heinous crimes against children. If conservative values are utmost about protecting the youth, it’s as if this film exists to show hypocrites what that is truly about and give them a hero they can really rally behind.
Runner is a film from a Christian brand with an actual, respectable face of Christianity, often electrifying because of his presence and going viciously hard with its violence. The film itself is an explosive piece of fun with nonstop action (its entire second half is merely a string of set pieces), and wondering what its distributor thinks of it and the star is equally fascinating. Is Angel worried they might alienate the MAGA fan base, or enthused that this is a real movie with a true Christian star kicking all kinds of ass here that is bound to draw in some actual cinephiles?
Admittedly, this isn’t exactly revolutionary storytelling, either. Ex-soldier Hank Malone (Alan Ritchson) is still grieving the loss of his young daughter to leukemia, also having lost his entire first family due to alcoholism resulting from being a first-hand witness to that sickness and guilt over his time in Afghanistan. Operating as a high-end contractual delivery man in Australia (apparently, he really gets around, having met his former flame in Germany), Hank takes jobs over the phone from his handler, but on this day, not before attending an AA meeting where he is given a sobriety token.
Following that, he finds himself with a rare, endangered parrot that a couple of arguing divorcees don’t want, fully intending to deliver it to animal control before a time-sensitive last-minute assignment comes in: picking up a package from the nearby airport and delivering it to a hospital. It’s supposed to be a simple job; alas, it is not. Carrying that package (the previously mentioned liver) is donor Ben Bishop, played by Owen Wilson, with his usual wisecracking, motormouth antics. Insisting on coming along for the delivery to ensure the package is properly cooled in transit, he is the sidekick who instantly gets on the nerves of the stoic, no-nonsense hero.
Initially, Ben’s presence is as grating to us as it is to Hank, almost coming across as a superfluous character to be placed in danger and to get in the way, either being obnoxious or providing comedic relief amid peril. Again, it’s a dynamic this film doesn’t necessarily need, though there is enough thematic and emotional reward in the budding friendship that reveals layers in each man and helps the former work through some of his own baggage. Owen Wilson does also elicit a laugh or four, bringing his impeccable comedic timing to a mismatched buddy duo.
And although it would have been preferable if the villainous cartel led by Rodrigo Santoro’s Damián Zaldívar (also chasing after the liver, albeit not for money) weren’t stereotypical gangster Hispanics for the most part, Runner delivers on putting them all into hard-hitting scenarios against Hank that dynamically utilize the environment to demonstrate not only how anything becomes a weapon in the hands of Alan Ritchson, but that that even building walls don’t stand a chance against his Herculean body. It shouldn’t be much of a spoiler that the film inevitably reaches the hospital. There, the filmmakers let loose with a couple of fight scenes that all-out destroy such rooms, with visceral impact and slick choreography. One always gets the sense that Hank is a weapon; at one point, he assures the worried mother of the daughter that he is a man that people unsuccessfully mess with. The ensuing barrage of action sequences proves that to be the case.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
