‘Runner’ Earns Strong Cinemascore as Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson’s Action Thriller Opens

Alan Ritchson has spent the past few years steadily building his reputation as one of the most compelling new action stars working today, largely off the strength of his physically commanding performance in Prime Video’s ‘Reacher.’ That momentum made him a natural fit to lead his own theatrical action vehicle, and Angel Studios clearly saw an opportunity to pair his intensity with a very different kind of comedic energy.

Enter Owen Wilson, an actor whose laid-back charm sits about as far from Ritchson’s stoic intensity as possible, making their pairing in ‘Runner’ one of the more intriguing odd-couple combinations of the fall movie season. The film centers on a high-stakes courier mission that quickly spirals into a violent chase across Australia, giving both actors plenty of room to play off each other’s contrasting energy.

That gamble appears to have paid off with opening audiences. ‘Runner‘ received an A- grade from opening-weekend moviegoers on CinemaScore, a strong result that suggests the film’s blend of brutal action and buddy-comedy chemistry connected solidly with the people who showed up to see it.

The film follows Ritchson’s Hank Malone, a former soldier turned courier living in Brisbane who’s marking his one-year anniversary of sobriety while quietly carrying the trauma of losing his daughter. When a routine airport pickup turns out to be a donor liver desperately needed by a dying seven-year-old girl, Hank finds himself racing against a three-hour viability window while fending off cartel members determined to steal the organ for their own purposes.

That strong audience grade lines up with a fairly positive critical reception as well. ‘Runner’ currently sits at 70 percent on Rotten Tomatoes based on 18 reviews, making it Ritchson’s third-highest-rated film of his career and his best-reviewed movie of the year.

Much of that praise has centered on the chemistry between Ritchson and Wilson, whose contrasting styles reviewers say play surprisingly well against each other throughout the film’s brisk 98-minute runtime. Wilson’s character, Ben, gets pulled into the mission alongside the liver itself, creating a reluctant partnership that drives much of the film’s comedic tension even as the stakes escalate into genuinely violent territory.

Director Scott Waugh, whose credits include ‘Need for Speed’ and the poorly received ‘Expend4bles,’ appears to have found his footing again by focusing on a tighter, two-actor dynamic rather than juggling a sprawling ensemble cast. Critics have noted his muscular, propulsive direction keeps the film moving at a steady clip, even as the story’s relatively thin premise occasionally strains to sustain its wall-to-wall action sequences.

‘Runner’ also represents something of a stylistic departure for Angel Studios, a distributor more commonly associated with faith-based and family-oriented content. The film’s willingness to lean into gritty, R-rated-adjacent violence while still delivering crowd-pleasing entertainment marks a notable shift in the kinds of theatrical bets the studio is willing to make.

The supporting cast includes Rodrigo Santoro, Leila George, and Adriana Barraza, rounding out a production that spans several companies including A Higher Standard and Broken Road Productions. Ritchson himself serves as one of the film’s producers, giving him a hand in shaping the project well beyond his on-screen performance.

With a strong CinemaScore grade backing up an already solid critical reception, ‘Runner’ looks like it could become a genuine word-of-mouth success as it moves through its opening weeks in theaters. For Ritchson specifically, the film adds another data point to his growing case as a legitimate leading man capable of carrying a theatrical action franchise beyond just streaming television.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments.