‘They don’t make ’em like they used to,’ goes the nostalgic refrain, wistfully looking back to an earlier time when action movies starred big, muscular men, everything on the screen exploded, and films rarely lasted more than 90 minutes. In the case of Runner, a new action film directed by Scott Waugh and starring Alan Ritchson, it turns they make them exactly like they used to. If it wasn’t for the extensive use of smartphones and GPS throughout, someone could have filmed this in 1986 with Arnold Schwarzenegger and, nestled between the likes of Raw Deal, Red Heat, and Commando, the audience would not be able to tell the difference.

The question, then, is not really about whether or not Runner is particularly good, but about whether or not the audience wants to watch a 1980s-style action flick in 2026. This really is one of those formulaic pictures that does exactly what it aims to do, and does not extend its ambitions any further.

Ritchson plays former Navy SEAL Hank Malone, now a divorced recovering alcoholic working as an off-the-books driver for the Australian criminal underworld. He is hired to escort medical courier Ben Bishop (Owen Wilson) from Brisbane airport to a children’s hospital in Surfer’s Paradise, so that he can deliver an urgently needed liver to a dying young girl. On the way, they are ambushed by a Colombian drug cartel backed up by a violent biker gang who aim to steal their liver for themselves. A variety of car chases, fist-fights, and shoot-outs ensue.

For some viewers this will be enough to entertain them. Runner is working to a very well-established formula, and while it is open to debate whether an audience will flock to the cinema to check it out, it is all-but-guaranteed a healthy afterlife on streaming media. The various action sequences are very effectively staged and handled, and are peppered with a few moments of impressive innovation and originality. At the same time the story is liberally soaked in stereotype, particularly when it comes to the highly disposable villains and the weird absence of a police response to all of the gun carnage raging across southern Queensland.

Alan Ritchson has a very enjoyable screen presence, as demonstrated on his hit streaming series Reacher, and while his character here is paper-thin he does execute the role with charm and good humour. Owen Wilson is at his most exaggerated ‘gosh wow’ level possible, but then it is clear that this enthused, gushing persona is precisely what he has been hired to deliver. Rodrigo Santoro is saddled with the most ridiculous of villain characters. As drug syndicate heir Damian Zaldivar – honestly, the character names in this thing are hilarious – he screams and hisses his way through some of the most terrible and contrived dialogue one can imagine.

It is slightly weird that this film is coming from Angel Studios, a conservative American outfit that got sued for releasing editions of major studio pictures with all of the sex and violence cut out before segueing into producing their own films. There isn’t any sex in Runner, but there is a hell of a lot of violence. That they have backed this film is something of a head-scratcher.

Runner is unashamedly what it is, and it does not hide its intentions or aim for complexity. It comes to cinemas this week, on Thursday or Friday depending on where you live. I found it a little bit too formulaic to properly enjoy, but don’t let my high-falutin’ tastes warn you off. I think you already know whether or not you would like it.