Runner centers around former army chap and ex-alcoholic Hank Malone (Alan Ritchson – Reacher).
The title should surely be Courier, since that’s his job, as he’s currently transporting a human organ from A to B, this latest one going to a young girl who needs it. And to think he thought his biggest hsasle of the day would be taking an expensive parrot between two warring halves of a couple – when neither of them want it.
Also along for the ride is chatterbox Owen Wilson (Stick) playing Owen Wilson, as they draw fire and anger from baddie Damián Zaldívar (Rodrigo Santoro – Wolf Pack) who, like Raya in Toxic, solves any dissenting queries with someone by shooting them in the face – which smacks of lazy writing – but he does want the liver for his aging mum.
Although this film takes about 30 mins to get going, as well as great humour, Runner also has some brilliant direction during a car chase, where the camera’s subject jumps around between several cars, going to each individual one at the right moment, and it was superbly done, making me wish we had more of that. Hopefully, if this gets a sequel, that will happen.
That said, at the time of writing this, it has a budget of up to $45m, and has only taken just under $15m. Still, Mr Ritchson can certainly lead an action movie, so if not Runner 2, then hopefully something else.
When I saw this, despite it being a not-busy auditorium, I had a row of four idiots behind me, and when it came to the end credits, one of them debated sitting through all the credits to see if there was a post-credit scene, even though, “It had a perfect ending and doesn’t NEED a post-credit scene”.
In the end, they all shuffled off before the credits finished. I stayed. There was no post-credit scene.
I saw them in the corridor as I left, since they were waiting for one of the group to finish in the toilet. So, they may as well have stayed, but I was glad they didn’t. And I did toy with saying, “Wow, what a post-credit scene!” as I saw them… but was heading over to Practical Magic 2, and couldn’t be arsed with the conversation.
Ooh, and it also features a cover of The Hollies’ Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress. Not sure who did the cover, but you can hear the original above.
NOTE: There are no mid- nor post-credit scenes.
Runner is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 98 minutes
Release date: September 11th 2026
Studio: Angel
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 7.5/10
Director: Scott Waugh
Producers: Todd Garner, Alan Ritchson, Mark Fasano, Deborah Glover, Jeffrey Greenstein
Writers: Miles Hubley, Tommy White
Music: Charlie Nguyen Kim
Cast:
Hank Malone: Alan Ritchson
Ben Bishop: Owen Wilson
Damián Zaldívar: Rodrigo Santoro
Kate Baker: Leila George
Dr. Ainsley: Kate Box
Nurse Julie: Peta Sergeant
Donna Zaldivar: Cecilia Toussaint
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.