Film Review – Runner

Scott Waugh hasn’t delivered a decent movie during his career, but he keeps getting work. The helmer of “Act of Valor,” “Need for Speed,” “Hidden Strike,” and 2023’s disastrous “Expendables 4” (aka “Expend4bles”), Waugh is someone with an interest in big action, playing with Hollywood excess as he hopes to deliver an adrenaline rush for viewers. He hasn’t done much worth remembering, and his streak continues with “Runner,” a high concept thriller from screenwriters Miles Hubley and Tommy White that attempts to deliver a cinematic shock to the system with its pacing and incredible violence, only to be undone by poor writing and Waugh’s generic approach to screen intensity. It’s meant to be a buddy comedy, but it isn’t funny. It hopes to be heartbreaking, but it doesn’t carry deep feelings. And it’s out to be exciting, with liveliness smothered by the helmer’s plasticized approach to raising hell. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com