Runner (2026)

I didn't necessarily have to see this film, but given the location (LAX towards Santa Barbara, where I drove myself just last year), it seemed like a good idea at the end of the work week. That is what these kinds of films are meant for, after all. In the end, the film was set a good 11,500 kilometers away, from Brisbane to the Gold Coast, although those are details. I was there too, by the way, a good 15 years ago. But still. I had expected something else.

I didn't immediately recognize Brisbane; a lot of high-rise buildings have been added there. It is, however, a lovely city in terms of climate, with beautiful botanical gardens, the XXXX brewery, and a Belgian beer café downtown. The Gold Coast is primarily known as a surfer's area.

The movie itself was decent, never boring, and above all, it kept getting better. The protagonist is dealing with trauma again (it soon turns out he is an alcoholic, but has been sober for a year), as is so often the case, and the film takes a while to get going. Actor Ritchson also plays too flatly for all those kinds of emotions. I have always found Owen Wilson a bit annoying, and he is here too (although he is quite well cast and keeps improving). And the villain is clearly enjoying himself, but he does the job just fine.

But once past the halfway point, the film just becomes good old-fashioned crude entertainment, and the action goes pretty far for a film of this kind. Wilson dies, for example, but the death toll ends up quite high anyway, and things get rough and bloody. I thoroughly enjoyed myself at those moments, and the film is then more comedy (pitch-black, but comedy nonetheless) than action. Nice reference to The Shining as well. Rounded up to 3.5*.

Translated from Dutch · View original