Runner (2026)
Directed by: Scott Waugh
Premise: A driver (Alan Ritchson) transports a rare organ donation and its custodian (Owen Wilson) from the airport to the hospital where a little girl is waiting to receive it. In route, they are ambushed by criminals who want the organ.
What Works: Runner has an unlikely premise but it’s presented credibly, at least within the logic of the action genre. Criminals try to steal an organ donation from the driver and medical professional transporting it to the hospital. It’s revealed that the criminals are seeking the organ on behalf of their boss who is dying and the gangsters engineered the donation by murdering someone with the matching rare blood type. These details give the premise some credibility. Runner pairs Alan Ritchson as the stoic ex-military driver and Owen Wilson as the talkative passenger. Action movies often use odd couples and Ritchson and Wilson are an enjoyable enough pair. When the hijackers show up and the action gets serious, Wilson tones down his goofiness and comes across genuinely scared. There is a relentlessness to Runner’s second half. The movie keeps going, extending the fight for the package literally to the foot of the patient’s bed. There is a startling viciousness (for a PG-13) to the film and a few deaths come as a surprise.
What Doesn’t: An action film like Runner requires a certain level of violence. That’s the attraction. It’s what’s sold in the trailers and it’s what viewers buy a ticket to see. Runner comes across compromised. It’s full of shoot outs, fist fights, and car chases and a few of the set pieces are brutal but these sequences are staged and edited in ways that make the action incomprehensible. It’s unclear if the culprit is incompetence or brand protection. Runner was directed by Scott Waugh whose other credits include 2012’s Act of Valor and The Expend4bles. His filmography does not inspire confidence. But Runner was released by Angel Studios which usually makes family-oriented and values-forward entertainment such as Sound of Freedom and David. Runner is out of step with Angel Studios’ brand. Some of the violence may have been cut to pull punches and ensure a PG-13 rating. When the credits roll and the company pitches its dubious “pay it forward” program, the dissonance becomes glaring. Whatever the reason, Runner is erratic and sloppy. It often feels like footage is missing. The film is full of action movie cliches and it suffers from odd or heavy-handed stylistic choices. The music tries so hard to sound like Hans Zimmer and it’s overbearing even in quiet moments. The film also includes covers of famous songs; that’s fitting insofar as Runner feels like a cheap cover of a film we’ve all seen before.
Bottom Line: Runner wastes a compelling premise. In the hands of a better filmmaker this might have turned out like Ambulance or Speed. Instead, it’s a sloppy concoction of action movie clichés.
Episode: #1117 (September 20, 2026)