It’s no reach to say Alan Ritchson is having a moment.
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Ritchson → ’ → moment
I apologize.
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I → apologize → ?
Puns like that are uncalled-for, but the star of Reacher has more eyeballs on him than ever.
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star → have → him
Now in its fourth season, the series has routinely been among the most popular slabs of content on Prime Video, setting the platform’s viewership records and perching itself at the apex of its top 10 for weeks at a time.
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series → set → time
It’s a huge show to match the action star’s hulking physical persona (and he’ll reportedly drop in as a guest star on spinoff series Neagley, set to debut September 16 on Prime).
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he → ’ → Prime
And now the star is set to unleash his embarrassment of Ritchsons (further apologies) at the cinema.
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star → set → cinema
Runner (not to be confused with The Runner, a Prime exclusive starring Gal Gadot) will mark his first stab at headlining a wide theatrical release from a major distributor (Motor City wasn’t nearly as heavily marketed; more on that in a minute here), anchoring an action-comedy about a reformed bruiser tasked with transporting a liver to a little girl in need of a transplant, avoiding the nasty, heavily armed dudes who want to steal the valuable organ.
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who → confuse → organ
Ritchson may not have the decades of Hollywood experience that co-star Owen Wilson has, but there’s no doubt that people will be curious to see what this Reacher guy can do as a big-screen leading man.
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guy → have → man
He’s enjoyed a varied career as a motion-capture performer, a supporting player in franchise movies, and the star (or co-star) of some reasonably popular direct-to-streaming action flicks.
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He → enjoy → flicks
With the right vehicle, he could become the next box-office bruiser in the Stallone/Schwarzenegger vein (that’s his ceiling, anyway, with being the next Jason Statham the likely floor).
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that → become → vein
Which is to say, now is as good a time as any to catch up on the budding superstar’s filmography.
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time → say → filmography
Here’s where you can stream the most notable titles, starting way back in 2007(!) and working our way to the present day…
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stream → ’ → day
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Yeah, this is about as deep as a cut gets: Ritchson was the body model for the title hero in Robert Zemeckis’ nutty mo-cap adaptation of the epic poem.
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Ritchson → get → poem
Which leads one to assume that star Ray Winstone didn’t have the desired chiseled physique to fully embody the character, and Ritchson (who was 25 at the time of the movie’s release) lacked the thespian experience to deliver the drama.
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who → lead → drama
None of this makes the movie any more memorable, mind you, but at least you’ve got more ammunition for your next trivia night now.
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you → make → night
Wher to Stream Beowulf -
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Didja know that Ritchson was once 19th-billed in a Hunger Games movie?
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Ritchson → stream → movie
And like every character in Hunger Games, he had a stupid name: Gloss.
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he → have → name
The character is a former winner of the Games, a handsome tribute from District 1 — and Ritchson aptly gets glossed over, because Gloss gets got via Katniss’ (Jennifer Lawrence) archery skills.
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Gloss → gloss → skills
But a gig’s a gig, as ever.
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gig → ’ → ?
Wher to Stream The Hunger Games: Catching Fire -
ICYMI (and you almost certainly MI), Ritchson played Raphael in a pair of mid-20-teens obnoxious TMNT movies produced by Mr. Obnoxious himself, Michael Bay.
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Ritchson → stream → Obnoxious
The actor did mo-cap and voice work for the martial arts reptile (Raph is the one with the red bandana), and his work isn’t remotely memorable, because no performances in these films stand out above the din of pizza-related shouting and CGI explosions.
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performances → do → shouting
The only thing about this mostly (and justly) forgettable take on the Turtles that lingers is the headache.
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that → linger → Turtles
Wher to Stream Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) -
By 2023, Ritchson was much more recognizable to the layperson thanks to Reacher’s first season being an instahit, and being 15th-billed in a Fast/Furious flick results in a more significant profile bump than being 19th-billed in a Hunger Games.
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billed → stream → Games
The fact that Dwayne Johnson skipped this chapter in the brain-lacerating action franchise means Ritchson was physically the second-biggest bro in the movie, behind Jason Momoa.
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Ritchson → skip → Momoa
If the next Fast brings all of them back, the film is going to look like the casting director went on a shopping spree in the meatpacking district.
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director → bring → district
Wher to Stream Fast X -
Ritchson uses his tear-duct muscles (are there muscles in tear ducts?) more than his other muscles in this feelgood, sorta faith-based weeper, playing the father of a little girl who desperately needs a liver transplant.
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who → stream → transplant
And while nobody would deem his work here Oscar-worthy, next to a relative heavy-hitter like Hilary Swank, he holds his own pretty well in a dramatic part.
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he → deem → part
The character he plays begins to lose his faith, but our faith in Ritchson’s abilities as an actor are definitely buoyed.
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faith → play → actor
Wher to Stream ordinary angels -
Here Ritchson plays a Nazi-hunting basterd in the classic inglourious style, and he stands a hair or two above the rest of the cast (Henry Cavill, Henry Golding, etc.) by injecting his line-readings with a heretofore unexploited vein of charismatic comedy.
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he → stream → comedy
His seemingly effortless ability to be funny — which comes into play in roles after this one — may elevate him in the minds of casting directors, moving forward.
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which → come → directors
Regardless, joining the Guy Ritchie stable of cooler-than-thou gents was a rock-solid stepping stone to his current headliner status.
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joining → join → status
Wher to Stream The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare -
Co-starring with Kevin James in an action-yukfest is, well, insert clenched-teeth emoji here.
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Wher → stream → emoji
At least Ritchson’s roided-up persona functions as the antidote to the Blartification of the old mismatched-buddy formula, somewhat.
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persona → roide → formula
Outshining James in the laugh-inducement department isn’t much of a challenge here in anno domini twenty-twenty-six, and in doing so, Ritchson looks like he’s smashing the carnival “strongman game” into subatomic particles.
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he → outshine → particles
That’s a compliment.
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That → ’ → ?
But this collection of hacked-together chases, kicked-in-the-schwantz comedy and disgustipating product placement isn’t going to go down as one of his more esteemed projects.
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collection → hack → projects
Wher to Stream playdate -
Ritchson fights a Transformator from outer space in this witless Netflix-original sci-fi CGI junkpile.
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Ritchson → stream → junkpile
He’s handcuffed into poker-facing his way through military-flick cliches and green-screen nightmares, playing a hard-as-steel soldier trying to survive an alien-robot attack while under the thumb of severe PTSD.
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He → handcuff → PTSD
Not that the movie is really interested in highfalutin fancy-book-learnin’ “themes.”
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movie → learnin → themes
It’s more about how it plays in the background while you scroll Wayfair in search of a couch that makes falling asleep during wretchedly generic content like this more comfortable.
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falling → ’ → this
…and 9 more, not listed.
