Delivery Run – Movie Review (3/5)

DELIVERY RUN is a survival thriller action movie with a high-intensity pace and some well-timed dark comedy early on. It features a story that feels like an homage to classics like The Hitcher (1986) and Joy Ride (2001). This is a completely different story, but that feeling of being targeted and hunted down is very on point. Read our full Delivery Run movie review here!

DELIVERY RUN is a survival thriller that also plays out like a high-intensity action movie. In the beginning, as we get to know the main character, who will soon be the targeted victim of a psychopath, it also has some moments of dark comedy. The main protagonist is a classic loser type, but he seems to have his heart in the right place. Not least, when it comes to his goldfish.

What works really well for me is the fact that the runtime is just 84 minutes, which means it never really slows down once it has gotten up to speed. Not unlike a truck (or, in this case, snowplow) that may take a second or ten to really get going, but after that, you’d better just hang on for dear life.

Continue reading our Delivery Run movie review below. Find it on Digital now.

Survival horror during a snowstorm

Delivery Run plays out in the frozen wilderness of Minnesota, but is actually shot in the very snowy area of Lapland in Finland. No matter where it’s shot, this movie is the perfect survival horror movie to enjoy from the comfort of a warm home when a snowstorm is roaring outside.

As such, it should be an obvious choice for many during the crazy weather currently sweeping across the U.S.

We meet a food delivery driver, Lee (Alexander Arnold), who debt collectors are already hunting down, when someone even worse starts chasing him. Instead of being confronted with people he owes money to, a snowplow driver now starts chasing him. And this guy appears to want a lot more than money; He wants to kill the delivery guy.

Why? Well, because he feels like it, and because the delivery guy cut in front of him. I mean, the snowplow driver forced him to, really, but that means he now has an excuse to chase him down.

Delivery Run is a movie that focuses on the struggles to make enough money in a gig economy. Ultimately, pushing our protagonist to realize that survival can be about a lot more than money. It can be about hanging on to your actual life!

A nice addition to road rage survival movies

What I personally enjoyed most about Delivery Run was how it reminded me of classic survival genre movies such as The Hitcher (1986) and Joy Ride (2001). To name just two of the movies in this niche (or subgenre, if you will) that have stuck with me.

I certainly always have these in the back of my mind when someone is acting strange on the road. In fact, I feel they may even have saved me some potentially awful experiences. If you assume there just might be a “Rusty Nail” type driver in the truck driving by, you do not want to mess with that truckdriver!

While Delivery Run has a very different storyline overall, it still managed to play into the tropes known from classic road rage survival movies. The kind where you never really get to know the villain, but you know it’s someone you want to stay far away from. If the driver targets people and hunts them down with the intention of killing them, do you really need to know why?!

I mean, you’d probably like to know.

But, surely, it’s much more important to just stay away from a psycho like that. It always has been to me, anyway.

Watch Delivery Run on Digital now

Delivery Run comes from director Joey Palmroos, and it’s only his second feature film. The first feature film from Joey Palmroos was the 2023 crime mystery western The Outlaws. He co-directed that movie with Austen Paul, and the two also wrote the screenplay alongside Anders Holmes. The latter also co-wrote the script for Delivery Run with Joey Palmroos.

The breakthrough for Delivery Run actually began at Cannes Frontières, where it managed to win two main awards. From this, it went on to be selected for the very prestigious genre film festival: Sitges Film Festival.

As an indie production, with neither public funding nor a marketing budget, it relied on the success and buzz of a film festival run. And it worked. The movie secured international distribution deals in over 150 markets. This included a U.S. theatrical release, and when it was released on Apple TV in Finland, it became the #1 best-selling movie there.

This isn’t a new masterpiece within its niche, but it is an entertaining and well-paced movie, so do check it out.

Delivery Run is out on Digital now.

Details

Director: Joey Palmroos
Screenwriters: Joey Palmroos, Anders Holmes
Cast: Alexander Arnold, Jussi Lampi, Liam James Collins, Joey Palmroos, Nadine Higgin, Arthur Sylense