Delivery Run (2024) Review
Set in the unforgiving, icy backroads of Minnesota, DELIVERY RUN follows Lee (Alexander Arnold), a delivery driver with a gambling problem and debts he can no longer dodge. After gangsters threaten him in his own home, Lee decides to try his luck at delivering food to drum up the cash he now needs urgently. On what should be a routine shift, a petty road-rage incident with a hulking snow plough, soon turns into an all-out hell ride, as Lee tries to escape the wrath of a homicidal maniac driver.
What begins as a tit for tat chase soon escalates into a nightmarish journey through backroads, abandoned truck stops and over frozen rivers. Each encounter forces Lee to dig deeper into his own grit and determination – using nothing but his battered delivery car, a phone with an almost drained battery and sheer dumb luck to stay alive.
At just eighty minutes runtime DELIVERY RUN is both short and to the point. Directed and co-written by Joey Palmroos (THE OUTLAWS), this cat-and-mouse survival is also an unexpectedly engaging and enthralling thrill-ride that is anchored by a very endearing and likeable lead performance from Alexander Arnold.
Following its acclaimed premiere at Grimmfest 2024 this Finnish English-language thriller (also filmed in Finland) uses every second to maximum effect, there is no let up here, it’s at full throttle throughout. It’s a fun-tinged spin on Spielberg’s DUEL, with a murderous snowplough driver in place of a monstrous truck. You’re routing and cheering on Arnold’s surprisingly resourceful loser Lee all the way. DELIVERY RUN is an unexpected triumph and refreshing change from the more sombre genre fare currently doing the rounds.