Alan Ritchson isn’t slowing down.
The Reacher star has spent the last several years building himself into one of Hollywood’s most dependable modern action leads, and his latest movie is already giving him another reason to celebrate.
Runner, the new action thriller pairing Ritchson with Owen Wilson, currently holds a 67% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes ahead of its September 11 theatrical release.
That may not sound like an overwhelming critical landslide, but it carries an important distinction for Ritchson: Runner is currently his highest-rated movie of 2026.
And considering how busy his year has been, that’s not a small accomplishment.
Runner Is Alan Ritchson’s Best-Reviewed Movie Of 2026
At the time of writing, Runner sits at 67% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 18 critic reviews.
That puts the movie just ahead of Ritchson’s other major 2026 releases.
War Machine currently holds a 66% critics score, while Motor City sits at 63%.
The numbers are close enough that Runner‘s position could still change as considerably more reviews arrive following its nationwide release. A Rotten Tomatoes score based on 18 critics is far from settled.
For now, however, Ritchson has another Fresh movie on his résumé and his strongest critical result of the year.
Don’t Confuse That With Ritchson’s Highest-Rated Movie Ever
There’s an important distinction worth making.
Runner isn’t currently the highest-rated film of Alan Ritchson’s entire career.
Several earlier projects remain ahead of it on Rotten Tomatoes, including the 2024 drama Ordinary Angels, which received an 84% critics score.
What Runner has accomplished is becoming his best-reviewed theatrical movie of 2026 so far.
That’s still notable considering Ritchson has increasingly become associated with exactly the kind of muscular, straightforward action entertainment Runner is offering.
What Is Runner About?
Runner gives the traditional ticking-clock action thriller a surprisingly unusual objective.
Ritchson plays Hank Malone, a former soldier who has left his more violent life behind and now works as a specialized courier in Australia.
His latest assignment sounds simple enough: transport a donor liver needed to save the life of a seven-year-old girl.
Naturally, it doesn’t stay simple.
Hank and his unlikely partner, played by Owen Wilson, become targets of a ruthless criminal organization determined to take possession of the organ.
What should have been a medical delivery becomes a violent race against time as the pair attempt to survive long enough to get the liver where it needs to go.
It’s essentially a chase movie where failure doesn’t simply mean the hero gets killed. A child dies if the delivery doesn’t arrive on time.
Alan Ritchson And Owen Wilson Make An Unexpected Pair
One of the movie’s most unusual elements may be its central pairing.
Ritchson looks exactly like the kind of person you’d expect to find at the center of an action thriller involving cartel assassins, hand-to-hand combat and exploding vehicles.
Owen Wilson is a considerably less obvious choice.
That contrast appears to be intentional.
Wilson brings his familiar comedic personality to a movie otherwise built around Ritchson beating his way through increasingly dangerous obstacles. Early reviews have been mixed on how effective every emotional beat is, but multiple critics have highlighted the entertainment value created by putting the two stars together.
They’re not necessarily the action duo anyone would have predicted.
That may be precisely why they work.
Runner Is Leaning Into Old-School B-Movie Action
The early critical reaction suggests viewers shouldn’t walk into Runner expecting a grounded examination of international organ transportation.
This is a B-movie.
And it seems fairly comfortable being one.
Reviews have highlighted exaggerated car chases, brutal fights, cartoonishly destructive action and a plot that becomes increasingly ridiculous as Hank’s delivery goes wrong.
The Guardian described the movie as a serviceable piece of B-movie camp while noting that former stunt performer Scott Waugh knows how to construct a kinetic action sequence.
That description may actually serve as a selling point for the right audience.
Not every action movie needs to redefine the genre.
Sometimes Alan Ritchson needs to punch several people while Owen Wilson watches.
Scott Waugh Has Plenty Of Action Experience
Director Scott Waugh is no stranger to movies built around vehicles, combat and large-scale stunt work.
Waugh previously directed Act of Valor, Need for Speed, Expend4bles and Hidden Strike.
His background as a stunt performer is particularly relevant to Runner, which appears designed around practical action sequences and physical impact rather than endless exposition.
The film was written by Miles Hubley and Tommy White, with the screenplay previously appearing on the Black List of highly regarded unproduced scripts.
Ritchson also serves as one of the movie’s producers.
The Supporting Cast Goes Beyond Ritchson And Wilson
While most of the marketing understandably focuses on Ritchson and Wilson, Runner has assembled a substantial supporting cast.
Rodrigo Santoro plays Damian Zaldívar, one of the major figures pursuing the pair, while Leila George, Adriana Barraza, Sullivan Stapleton, Peta Sergeant and Geraldine Hakewill also appear.
Santoro appears to be having particular fun with the material, playing into the heightened personality of a villain perfectly suited to the movie’s larger-than-life tone.
The combination gives Runner the feeling of the type of mid-budget action thriller that used to appear far more regularly in theaters.
Alan Ritchson Has Become One Of Hollywood’s Busiest Action Stars
Ritchson’s rise over the last several years has been difficult to miss.
After years of supporting roles and television work, Prime Video’s Reacher transformed him into a leading man audiences immediately associated with action.
Hollywood has responded accordingly.
Ritchson appeared opposite Henry Cavill in Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, starred in Ordinary Angels and has continued building a slate dominated by action, thrillers and physically demanding roles.
2026 has only accelerated that momentum.
War Machine, Motor City and now Runner have all kept Ritchson visible between seasons of Reacher.
The Rotten Tomatoes scores also suggest critics have responded reasonably well to his current run, even if none of the movies have reached universal acclaim.
Runner Is Only One Point Ahead Of War Machine
There is one reason not to get too attached to the “highest-rated” label just yet.
One percentage point.
That’s currently all that separates Runner from War Machine.
With Runner still two days away from its nationwide U.S. release, dozens of additional critic reviews could be added to Rotten Tomatoes.
A handful of negative reviews could push the score below War Machine. A strong wave of positive ones could send it much higher.
Rotten Tomatoes scores should always be viewed as snapshots rather than permanent numbers during a movie’s opening week.
What’s more meaningful right now is that the early response is sufficiently positive for Runner to carry a Fresh rating into theaters.
Runner Continues A Good Stretch For Ritchson
Ritchson has occasionally appeared in movies critics weren’t particularly kind to throughout his career.
That makes his recent consistency more noteworthy.
Ordinary Angels earned strong reviews. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare landed Fresh. His 2026 action movies have generally remained around the 60% range rather than collapsing into the kind of single-digit Rotten Tomatoes territory that frequently greets disposable action thrillers.
That’s important for an actor attempting to build a theatrical identity beyond the character who made him famous.
Audiences may immediately recognize Ritchson as Jack Reacher, but movies like Runner give him an opportunity to demonstrate whether people are willing to buy a ticket simply because his name is above the title.
Runner Faces A Crowded September Weekend
Runner arrives in U.S. theaters on September 11, where it enters a surprisingly busy fall marketplace.
The movie isn’t attempting to compete as a $200 million franchise blockbuster. Its appeal is considerably more straightforward: a recognizable action star, an unexpected comedic partner and a simple ticking-clock premise.
Angel Studios is distributing the film nationwide, representing another step beyond the faith-based projects with which the company has traditionally been associated.
The distributor has increasingly pushed into broader genre entertainment, and Runner is about as conventional an action movie as that expansion could produce.
Should Action Fans Keep Runner On Their Radar?
The early reviews suggest yes—with the appropriate expectations.
Runner doesn’t appear to be trying to become another Heat, Mad Max: Fury Road or Mission: Impossible.
It’s a 97-minute action thriller involving a former soldier, a donor organ, a cartel and an escalating collection of increasingly ridiculous problems.
That simplicity may be its greatest strength.
Ritchson has already demonstrated that he excels at playing characters audiences want to watch walk into impossible situations and physically solve them. Wilson gives that formula an unusual comedic counterweight, while Waugh appears perfectly happy to keep the movie moving.
A 67% Rotten Tomatoes score doesn’t guarantee everyone will love it.
It does suggest Runner may be considerably more fun than its wonderfully absurd organ-delivery premise initially sounds.
Alan Ritchson’s 2026 Run Keeps Getting Better
Being Alan Ritchson’s highest-rated movie of the year by a single percentage point isn’t the kind of achievement that needs an awards campaign.
But it does reinforce something that has become increasingly apparent.
Ritchson has found his lane.
He can anchor muscular action movies, sell ridiculous premises with complete sincerity and bring enough personality to characters that could easily become interchangeable action heroes in another actor’s hands.
Runner appears to understand exactly what audiences currently want from him.
Give him a mission.
Make that mission increasingly impossible.
Put a lot of dangerous people between him and the finish line.
Then get out of the way.
Runner opens in theaters nationwide on September 11, 2026.
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