Buddy cop movies are quite a mixed bag. They span from some greats, such as the Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker-starring Rush Hour, to some of the absolute worst of the worst, like half of Dwayne Johnson’s career. There have been so many iterations of the very same formula, many of which fail at most of these familiar turns, likely due to the cliché in nature character dynamics. It always seems to go for the same genre of character and never develops the dynamic any more than a love-hate relationship. I’d love to say Runner is the complete opposite of this, and occasionally it can be, but overall, Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson deliver a fun enough time, with some incredible moments that lift the movie so much higher that I don’t care as much about the somewhat commonplace dynamic between the two.
The thing that really sets Runner apart from its monotonous genre is the progression of this story. What starts off as a simple buddy cop comedy quickly evolves into so much more. We see so many more layers of this story and it gains an incredible amount of heart. Where you’re originally smiling occasionally at a few jokes in the opening, you’re now finding yourself almost brought to tears from the quickly blossoming relationship between the two main characters, wondering how you got here in the first place.
While this keeps its ‘buddy cop’ energy throughout — we don’t see an out-of-place genre change halfway through — this is able to evolve in the background, to where you don’t even notice that you’re now watching this with intent, where you originally planned on turning your brain off to see Reacher beat some thugs up for 90 minutes. This proposes ethical questions with its story, asking whether one life is more deserving to continue than another, simply because of their experience. What makes somebody undeserving of life-changing surgery? This subverts the regular hired gun, in it for the money, faceless thugs that you’d usually see in these kinds of movies, and gives the villain so much more humanity. He isn’t in pursuit of riches, he simply wants to save his mother’s life and will go to any means to do so.
Some of the most important parts of this movie is its raw action. You can have all the story and layers in the world, but if your action isn’t fun or interesting, you’re turning away the prime target audience. Runner manages to balance these two incredibly well, and knows exactly when to lean into its more action heavy moments. There is a lot of camerawork to be proud of, complimenting a few of the best choreographed fight sequences I’ve seen in recent memory, on par and possibly succeeding movies like 2024’s Roadhouse and the recent Bad Boys additions. One that really sticks in my head and managed to give me the exact exhilarated feeling this would be going for was the incredibly long oner in the final act.
Speaking of, the driving sequences in a chase movie like this can occasionally feel quite boring. I mean, you’re sitting here watching two guys drive an organ to a hospital, not exactly the most fun you could have at the cinema. This is why so many driving movies become heavily stylised — like Mad Max: Fury Road — or lean so far into its own niche — like Ryan Gosling’s Drive. If you’re watching a man in the real world drive, you’re not really going to be the most excited. That’s where the camerawork and character dynamics come in, at least in the slower, less eventful moments where they’re unable to rely on its action to keep afloat.
In these much less action heavy moments, this car gives us a perfect catalyst for us to see the blossoming chemistry between Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson, as well as developing their own individual characters. While you’re originally sitting in bucket two, right next to Hank, while Ben is constantly babbling about something or other, as this progresses, you stay in line with Hank and find yourself starting to drink the Ben Bishop koolaid, and before long you’re so attached to him that you can’t bear to see him hurt in any way. This leans into your surprise appreciation for Ben by making you miss his presence. This much emotion could never have been evoked from the audience if you entered loving Ben, your adoration for him had to be earned, just so it could be snatched away at a moment’s notice.
The much more action heavy scenes give Alan Ritchson an excuse to flex his muscles — both literally and metaphorically. He’s able to show his proficiency in the genre time and time again, looking like he’s putting in his unofficial audition for the DCU’s Caped Crusader. Especially in the final act, we see Hank’s unwavering spirit, as well as his ability to rely not entirely on his brawn — at least in very small moments. The Reacher actor brings the exact physicality that this movie calls for and deserves, as well as his signature badass stoicism in the slower, more Ben Bishop focused moments.
One thing I would have liked to have seen more of was Hank’s individual story. We’re told that he’s some sort of ex-military, we’re told of his late daughter and her affinity to France. This is essentially all we learn about him, and anything else finds its way to simply develop these two points slightly more. I think seeing his personal relationships with both his ex-wife and his boss could have made the moments involving the two feel much more impactful. When Iggy died I felt very little, and the scene with his ex-wife just seemed quite devoid of emotion. Yes, he hesitated to knock on the door and there was some awkwardness in the scene, but it never gave us much of a look into their complicated dynamic after losing their daughter and eventually each other.
Even though there are so many small improvements that Runner could have made, it’s hard to deny the ‘sauce’ that this has. All they’re really going for is a fun time, and they achieve that over and over again, and even add a sprinkling of heart and soul throughout. I can’t say I left thinking this was a masterpiece, but I didn’t leave thinking about its flaws, and that’s all that really matters — and does a lot to put this a step above many others in this same genre.
