r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 29d ago
Official Discussion Official Discussion - Runner [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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Runner
Summary
A former soldier and his unlikely partner become the targets of a ruthless cartel while racing to complete a critical medical delivery and save the life of a little girl.
Director Scott Waugh
Writer Miles Hubley Tommy White
Cast
- Alan Ritchson as Hank Malone
- Owen Wilson as Ben Bishop
- Rodrigo Santoro as Damián Zaldívar
- Leila George as Kate Baker
- Peta Sergeant as Julie
- Berto Colon
- Martin Palmer
- Daniel Bernhardt
Rotten Tomatoes: 75%
Metacritic: 55
VOD / Release In theaters — September 11, 2026
Trailer Official trailer
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u/Th3Unidentified 28d ago
I’ll echo what others have said here. Nothing brand new and spectacular, just another enjoyable action film. Whoever compared it to something you’d see on Amazon prime or some streaming app hit the nail on the head. It got better to me the longer it went on.
I haven’t seen many things with Alan Ritchson in it but man that dude is a fucking tank bro. This was my first time seeing Rodrigo Santora but he did a great job as the villain too.
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u/Rockwell4u 18d ago
HAHA, Rodrigo Santora has been around for a LONG TIME and underrated AF!
If you've seen the movie "300"...He was XERXES 😆
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u/Th3Unidentified 18d ago
Woah I had no idea he was Xerxes that’s insane! Well shit, I guess I have seen him before and the good performance makes a lot more sense now
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u/Dead_Starks 17d ago
He's also Hector Escaton, one of the cowboys from Westworld. I had to go look it up because I knew I recognized him but couldn't place him.
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u/cjohnson2010 7d ago
The funny thing is, in all of his movies there’s always a mention about how big he is. I see it as a running joke now. No pun intended.
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u/jickdam 29d ago
As a side note, did anyone else get that ridiculous trailer for Drummer Boy? You could have aired that as-is with one extra punchline at the end on SNL and it would have been great satire on the state of IP barrel scraping.
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u/the_robobunny 27d ago
I haven't seen that one, but there was a trailer for Ghost Soldier before Resident Evil. I'd expect that sort of thing before an Angel Studios movie, but it was shocking to see obvious right wing Christian propaganda before a real movie.
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u/princevince1113 26d ago
Angel Studios must have had some days on set left over after shooting Young Washington
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u/reecord2 26d ago
Legitimately, when that trailer started I thought to myself 'didn't this one come out already?'
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u/TropicalParadises 26d ago
I thought it was a trailer for young washington again when I first saw it
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u/xrbeeelama 27d ago
I cant believe owen wilson fucking dies in this. It feels wrong watching owen wilson die, like has he ever died before
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u/Ok_Flatworm_7850 26d ago
It always feels wrong when he dies in a movie but he has a couple of times before in; Armageddon, The Haunting, and Anaconda.
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u/xrbeeelama 26d ago
I havent seen the haunting but completely forgot hes in the other two lmao good reminder!
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u/BusinessPurge 22d ago
I was so confused when he died in Life Aquatic. I didn’t know all future Wes Anderson movies would have a bummer co-writer instead of Owen Wilson himself.
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u/youngbaklava 29d ago
Are there two movies with the same title that dropped within a week? I have beens seeing ads for the Gal Gadot movie called The Runner, this one seems new to me lol.
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u/reverseflash87 27d ago
Just finished watching it in the UK. We got the uncut (15) version and no post credit scene. It was pretty decent, your regular cliche, easy to watch, action flick. Ritchson basically plays Reacher which is fine by me because I just watched the season finale yesterday lol. SPOILER.. surprised they killed off Owen Wilson but that makes a change from everyone making it out alive. Solid 7/10.
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u/Data_Chandler 8d ago
Killing Owen Wilson was a big bummer. It's just not that type of movie for that to make sense. I know it "subverts expectations" but to me it felt like (and you can pick any buddy comedy you prefer) killing off Damon Wayans in Last Boy Scout, or Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys, or Kurt Russell in Tango & Cash. Killing off one of the "buddies" in a buddy (cop) action comedy just goes against the trope so hard that it's upsetting, or at least I think so.
Other than that I thought it was a blast! The bummer ending kind of just kills the rewatchability though. I watch this type of movies to unwind and see the good guys win, ya know. But again, that's my only gripe with it. It really is a lot of fun otherwise, with great and pretty brutal fights. Alan Ritchson demolishing bad guys is always a good time!
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u/HereToReadWeebs 29d ago edited 29d ago
This movie is really a paint by number action movie. Although shoutout to Rodrigo Santoro for being an interesting main villain to watch. Puts a lot of work what could have otherwise been a one note villain.
Couple of fun action set pieces too, but nothing truly spectacular. Alan Ritchson plays literally Reacher in this. Owen Wilson plays Owen Wilson so don’t expect any out of the norm acting from them sadly.
I would just wait for the inevitable pushed on to streaming service in the next month to watch this if this review intrigued you enough.
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u/clinton_thunderfunk 26d ago
He was Reacher until that shoulder tackle in the hospital. That was Thad Castle
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u/Medical_Mess9687 27d ago
This was infinitely better than thr gal godot movie.
I didn't expect owen to die though
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u/Birds41Pats33 11d ago
As much as the movie was paint by numbers in a lot of ways, it genuinely did hit me when they really killed him off. Most movies would figure out a way to make him survive. He was just a genuinely awesome guy. Not a nice guy who made a mistake so when he dies you're sad but you understand he's making up for the past or anything like that. Just a really great guy who they killed. Kudos to the movie for doing that
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u/reallinzanity 29d ago
Unexpected double feature with Resident Evil.
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u/blitzbom 28d ago
Hahah I did the same. Medical delivery drama double feature wasn't on my bingo card.
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u/Steamedcarpet 29d ago
This was a fun movie that is totally hurt by the Angel Studios logo. They didn’t handle the production only the US distribution. They also totally added that funky ass “give us money to buy mom’s tickets” which was wild after watching Reacher save a donated organ.
If you like action movies I would say watch this. But I also 100% understand if you didn’t want any money going to Angel Studios.
I just had a fun time and laughing at Reacher punching bad guys so hard they go through walls and tables.
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u/antiMATTer724 Does he fist fight the moon? Do it, Snyder! 28d ago
Why should I not like "Angel Studios"? First I'm hearing about them.
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u/Steamedcarpet 28d ago
They tend to make movies for the religious conservative crowd and have partnered with the daily wire on stuff. Some people say they make religious propaganda.
Since they don’t make anything I would typically watch I don’t pay them any mind. They seem to be branching out more, which is why they bought the US distribution rights for this movie.
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u/the_robobunny 27d ago
I would imagine that besides the usual interest in growing their business, having their name on more normal movies "legitimizes" their propaganda pieces.
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u/Th3Unidentified 28d ago
Nothing wrong with Angel Studios. They make solid movies—usually ones with substance too on important topics. They always ask for ticket donations at the end of every one that I’ve seen.
They made this one movie called Sound of Freedom—if you haven’t watched it please do, you’ll love it I promise. The tone is more serious than Runner but it’s amazing. I do believe I donated after seeing it.
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u/determania 8d ago
The guy that Sound of Freedom is based on is a complete fraud and sexual predator.
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u/Th3Unidentified 8d ago
Yeah seems like he’s under fire. Doesn’t make the movie bad all of a sudden for me though.
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u/determania 8d ago
It would if you had any morals
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u/Th3Unidentified 8d ago
Maybe in your world.
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u/determania 8d ago
My world is the real world, where decent and honest people often reside. Yours appears to be that of putting grifters on a pedestal and donating money to them.
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u/StrLord_Who 28d ago
You won't get a reasonable answer to this question on this site. There IS no reason why. They have made and distributed some good movies, like Cabrini and Sketch.
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u/Lucky_Chaarmss 28d ago
I'm glad I read this. I'm not giving them any money. Maybe I'll watch it the free way.
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u/SuddenMountain4 29d ago
Just got out of this and I loved this one.
We got the R rated cut in Canada so everything was uncut, the action in this is phenomenal.
Alan fucks people up in really fun ways in this, tossing dudes around like ragdolls, driving a bike seat through a dudes throat and neck. And full on breaking legs in half which was great to see.
Loved Alan & Owen’s chemistry and I loved their characters, also really surprised by how genuinely sweet this one was.
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u/HereToReadWeebs 29d ago
I just looked this up, thats crazy they butchered the movie just so it could be PG-13. I really hope I can get a look at the real movie one day cause even with its flaws, the PG-13 cut was still fun.
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u/SuddenMountain4 29d ago
The Canadian blu ray/digital release will have the cut, so the wait won’t be too long.
Plus there’s a chance the bootleg versions online will be the original cut as I think it was just the US that got the PG-13 cut.
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u/Steamedcarpet 29d ago
Man I wish we got the uncut version here in the US. Movie was fun. I can watch Reacher one punch people so hard they go flying into concrete and leave dents
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u/DeoGame 20d ago
Just saw in Canada. Censored bullshit here now. Fuck Angel
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u/StrLord_Who 28d ago
Pretty fun movie. If you want to see Reacher team up with a chatty Owen Wilson and a parrot, well then this is the movie for you. Owen Wilson was the best part and I will say I was not expecting as many kills as there were. This movie had an extremely high body count. One thing I can say for certain is that there are a lot of people who would enjoy this movie who won't watch it because Angel Studios picked it up for distribution, which is an absurd stance.
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u/BDubFantastic 29d ago
I saw this last year in a special screening. It wasn't completely finished as it had some VFX things to clean up. Ill probably see it again now to see if there was anything added or cut from what we saw.
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u/CNash85 27d ago
The VFX looked very ropey to me, so I’m not sure how much they changed from what you saw. The shot of the police car crashing into the bikers’ bar stands out like a sore thumb.
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u/BDubFantastic 26d ago
Its funny you day "ropey" because the scene in the bar was where they used that technique. They didnt "remove" the ropes that pull the actors via VFX yet.
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u/jickdam 29d ago edited 29d ago
This is the epitome of movies that feel like blockbuster exclusives. Or I guess Amazon original movies, now. The kind you catch randomly at a hotel on a work trip. It’s not a “good movie,” but it’s fine. Perfectly enjoyable. I laughed more than a few times. Reacher does a serviceable job kicking bad guy ass in a cathartic way. Owen Wilson was fantastic. I actually really loved his character. Sticks the landing sweetly enough. I’d watch a sequel.
The worst part of the thing was the “special message” at the end where they practically beg the ticket buying audience to buy another ticket for a random mom somewhere. And, like, I know there was a mom in this movie. I know she had her badass moment at the end. This is not…a “mom” movie. It felt exploitative and skeevy.
But it’s a steady 6/10. The same to better than most Jason Statham fare.
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u/Steamedcarpet 29d ago
I hated that Angel Studios had to add in that stupid special message. If they wanted a special message to line up with the movie it should be like please donate blood or sign up for organ donation
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u/lightyearbuzz 22d ago
They don't give a shit about helping people. People buying extra tickets makes it look like their films are more popular then they really are.
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u/Flimsy_Fisherman_862 29d ago
Must have cut that out the UK version as there was nothing like that at the end. Angel Studios logo is missing from the start too.
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u/Steamedcarpet 29d ago
I think Angel Studios is only handling the US distribution. They didn’t actually handle any production on it.
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u/TheBurgerMeister247 29d ago
I broke a personal rule and screamed "hurry up!" At the screen when they slowed way down in the park, the pressure was still on!!
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u/Empty-Finish5696 18d ago
What a load of crap! God movies aim so low nowadays! If you think this is any good you need a film education!
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u/somms808 14d ago
Wow how dare people enjoy things
This was perfectly light and enjoyable. Go see a therapist
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u/Empty-Finish5696 14d ago
My gut reaction after sitting through it, if you enjoyed it it doesn’t matter what I think
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u/walter-wallcarpeting 17h ago
Yeah I'd agree. The villain at the end was half his size. Why did they add all the extra drama. Quite liked the premise and even the relationships but they could have cut out a lot of the fluff. I think I prefer reacher in terms of plot and characters
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u/DizzySignal7 20d ago
Just saw this yesterday, fun movie but I don't really understand why they killed Owen Wilsons character. Just seemed kind of pointless.
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18d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Birds41Pats33 11d ago
I loved his character and I was genuinely sad when he died, but that's why they did it! Kind of played with our expectations that the co-lead would never die
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u/Far_Celebration6295 27d ago
couldn’t tell if this movie is a reacher spinoff or an insult to the Australian police
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u/Skyhooks 7h ago
Pretty accurate to have no police turn up to several major issues in a timely manner around town but then two police writing up speeding tickets on the side of a road in Australia.
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u/DisastrousEast825 27d ago
Slightly more sad/downer than I thought. Some of the comedy missed. But I had a good time. Very simple and solid.
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u/ballz_deep_69 18d ago
This was fucking AWFUL.
Holy shit I hated this movie. Awful everything top to bottom except Owen Wilson did his best for this dud ass movie.
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u/Carate93 17d ago
I agree, just watched it ( literally rn) and now I remember why I don’t watch movies. Everything was so predictable. Idk man might have liked this when I was like 10-12 years old lol. The moment the villain came back to life, movie ended lol. Somehow he appeared inside the hospital with a mini gun…
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u/Successful_Sea_5631 14d ago
Yeah, the main villain had way too much HP for my taste. I could imagine my thumb getting tired if this were a game.
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u/Carate93 14d ago
It was so hyped on TikTok edits 😂 absolute waste of time. Even the plot is so stupid…
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u/claenray168 26d ago
I guess my opinion mirrors the others in this thread - this was a perfectly serviceable action movie with some OK comedy bits. Rodrigo Santoro was the best character as the villain. 3/5 for me.
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u/Ebullio 16d ago
Just watched this movie, and i got generally pissed off at the 28.40m mark, what is up with the NON english dialog not being subtitled, i personally do not give a flying F if its not furthering the plot or not, whether or not he is complementing his grandmothers cooking, i WANT to know whats being said.
and in this movie, there is prolly combined 3 full minutes of un subtitled dialog between the bad guys, why is this shit happening more and more frequently, in TV shows as well as movies.
just wanna know whats being said ffs.
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u/orphan_09 15d ago
amen brother, pulls me out of the movie every GD time!
Tring so resolve it by downloading like 20 subtitles from open subtitle .org and usually NONE of them translate those fucker sequences1
u/Ebullio 15d ago
Exactly !!! Pisses me off so much, I would generally have liked the movie, but I stopped trying to find subtitles to fix the issue, to no avail. Rest of the movie annoyed me, every little thing that was stupid or "plotholy" annoyed me more, had they just bothered to subtitled the bad guys I would have enjoyed it.
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u/Ashes777 29d ago
I’ll be in the minority but I really hated it. I have many issues but unintentionally making me hate a mother with a sick kid that much was almost impressive. Arguably my least favorite character in a movie this year and that wasn’t the intent at all. Virtually every scene after her first was terrible. Not the actresses fault either, they just made her character god awful.
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u/johngreenfeces 29d ago
You hated the mother of the sick child? please elaborate
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u/Ashes777 29d ago
Spoilers below!
She was just over the top in every scene. No doctor is going to just let a mother come into their office and strong arm them into calling the runner. Then she is just spying on the doctor with no repercussions. The entire third act is laughably terrible (random super strength for a bit, trying to wheel her daughter to surgery alone, etc). I don’t think there was a single scene where I didn’t roll my eyes when she was there.
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u/LavenderDecaf_5266 19d ago
i hated her and that face to the wall was so deserved, i dont know why but she is so unlikeable.
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u/pmotiveforce 24d ago
I loathed it. It was literally the most trite, predictable garbage I've been for ed to sit through in a long time.
Literally everything was just utterly bland, down to the central casting poor little sick girl.
Just a senseless, disgusting movie. It was so bad and bland and trite I was actually angry by the end.
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u/jiggumz 16d ago
You sound fun at parties
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u/Airtamis 29d ago
Yeah, I caught it last week and normally I'm perfectly fine with a generic popcorn flick, but this one just didn't click with me and I was insanely bored throughout
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u/MyAccoutWasHacked77 18d ago
I enjoyed the movie, and I didnt hate the mother, but I did notice how she acted hysterical and found it weird.
Like, from the mothers perspective, she is just waiting on the organ to be delivered from the airport to the hospital, a 2 hours drive, and there is nothing weird going on. She waits like a half hour and gets impatient. Why is she so antsy and demanding to call the courier? Is she going to tell them to drive faster? She didnt even know the organ was coming until the plane landed. When she forced the Dr to make the call, she said "I want to call the courier." And I jokingly responded with "Sure lets call them an distract them from their job. That will really help the organ get to you safely."
Its like when you call for pizza delivery, and they say they will be there in 20 min. And then you call them 5 min later and demand to know how the pizza is coming along.
I get that her daughter is dying, but she cant make the organ get delivered any faster. She can only be a hindrance by being a nuisance and bothering the delivery guys. She does the same thing when the daughter starts bleeding. She screams at the doctors "Whats going on!?" while the doctors are trying to save the girls life, and Im just thinking shut up lady and let the doctors do their job, stop bothering them.
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u/Helpmeflexibility 28d ago
I thought it was great. Totally landed the odd couple action flick formula. A little repetive at the end, but still very good. Actually pretty touching too.
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u/lustindarkness 27d ago
Not great, but not bad. Entertaining enough, simple plot, good acting and action, enough heart. I'd say, a 6 or 7/10.
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u/forresbj 25d ago
There’s a decent R rated buddy comedy buried in this mess somewhere. Unfortunately the Angel Studios tinkering ruined it. You could tell they butchered the violence in the editing process making for some truly baffling cuts. The bicycle seat stab kill comes to mind. Just the weirdest cuts to hide any good action. Shame they got a hold of it.
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u/Turkeyham 24d ago
Didn't love it but I did really enjoy the chemistry between Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson more than I thought I would. Honestly really bummed Owen dies towards the end as I could actually have seen a sequel ala Rush Hour, Bad Boys, ect.
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u/ThatGuyWhoKnocks 23d ago
Felt like the Transporter if they had tried to make a PG13 version and failed. As an action movie, it was okay. A lot of plot holes though. I’d wait to watch it until it comes out on streaming imo
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u/MrBigBMinus 18d ago
That was the worst rendition of Kickstart My Heart ive ever heard. Also there was a higher than usual amount of people in this movie that died from stray bullets. And do cops there even have the ability to stop bad guys? Also didnt see Owen going out before the end of this AND im curious about his casting in this. Hes a "funny guy" and he was used as such here but this wasnt really an action comedy. Figured he would vanish with the ambulance and turn up later at the end lol.
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u/themanwholikesHP 17d ago
This movie was just a side quest for reacher, using a different name for passport purposes, this is his little summer vacation to make extra money being a runner, lol my head canon
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u/One_Zone1522 17d ago
I just found it to be hilarious as an Aussie. I live on the Gold Coast and the opening scene with Hank eating his Breakfast was stated to be in Brisbane but it was literally just down the road from the cinema I was watching it at and have been fishing in that specific spot multiple times. Actually the majority of the movie was filmed on the Gold Coast only the airport scene and the first encounter in the city was in Brisbane.
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u/Gurabirei 16d ago
yeah its always some little girl isnt it, god forbid it was to save the life of a man in his 40s
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u/ishyaboy 16d ago
Sucker for Reacher so I had fun. Grab your popcorn and cold beer, sit back and enjoy the ride.
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u/SnowyDesert 15d ago
Actually not bad! Over the top action and fun characters. Story was whatever but it's an action movie, they rarely do something original or creative. The only thing I didn't like was the dogshit ai sounding "epic" music that didn't fit most scenes.
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u/madrascafe 14d ago
was very interesting to begin with
TIL that Australia has limited number of cops that are incompetent
The villain was resurrected from the dead after a GSW, drives a vehicle, comes to hospital, fights Hank for 30 minutes & finally is killed. Now was it the needle or the axe that killed him? the suspense is killing me
Hank, shot, stabbed 300 times, knifed with a hacksaw, survives . Sadly Ben succumbs to a single GSW
Now i have to look for my brain which i took off midway to watch this movie :-)
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u/Birds41Pats33 11d ago
Maybe I just missed this but do we assume that nurse's brother just ended up being killed
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u/charlesfluidsmith 10d ago
It felt like all 3 lead actors were in a different.movie,.and never bothered consulting the other.
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u/FloorOk6369 9d ago
Saw this last night, the dynamic between Ritchson and Wilson is what keeps it afloat. The cartel scenes feel pretty generic but when it's just the two of them arguing in the car, that's where the movie actually works. Not groundbreaking stuff but worth a watch if you got nothing else going on.
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u/WholeChemical6559 6d ago
Am i dumb? In the scene where bishop says his 60th birthday on monday…. (Pertaining about his Godspeed password) Then hank also said 2026. So why it is 1960?
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u/Accomplished_Side560 6d ago
didn't expect that Owen wilson would die
I thought they would bring him back somehow
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u/OutrageousMaize3040 4d ago
I dont know what everyone else is talking about. As a new father to a little girl it had me weeping.
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u/node_breaker 3d ago
This was the most painfully mediocre film I've seen in a long while. If you'd told me the screenplay was written by AI.. I'd believe it. Honestly would have enjoyed it more if it was a bad movie. Felt like an American movie out of place in Australia. Why did I sit through this hoping for it to get better.
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u/BunyipPouch Currently at the movies. 29d ago
Scott Waugh, the director of Runner, recently joined us here in /r/movies for an AMA/Q&A, for anyone interested:
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1wao5mw/hello_reddit_im_former_stuntman_and_current/