The Stranger

The Stranger

Two strangers strike up a conversation on a long journey. One is a suspect in an unsolved missing person’s case and the other an undercover operative on his trail. Their uneasy friendship becomes the core of this tightly wrought thriller, which is based on the true story of one of the largest investigations and undercover operations in Australia.

  • Released: 2022-10-06
  • Runtime: 117 minutes
  • Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
  • Stars: Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Jada Alberts, Fletcher Humphrys, Mike Foenander, Steve Mouzakis, Simon Elrahi, Alan Dukes, Ewen Leslie, Matthew Sunderland, Lucinda Nicholas, Peta Shannon, Thibul Nettle, Melanie Munt, Anni Finsterer, Patty Glavieux, Adam Morgan, Stephen Leeder, Andreas Sobik, Nick Buckland
  • Director: Thomas M. Wright
 Comments
  • Mythodical - 6 May 2024
    Well Acted, Gritty, Real, Boring, Overdone
    I wanted to like this film based on the actors and the acting ability I know these two actors have due to seeing "The King" which was a great movie. The actors from here that are also in "The King" do just as good of a job in the acting department, but I feel as though the writing fell short and was contrived.

    Regardless of it being a true story the intrigue was missing at times and jumped in an un-needed way. Just trying to be true to a story is not an excuse to dilute the runtime with arbitrary and boring scenes; also to mention the not needed jump scares and surreal dreamlike addons that plague the entirety.

    The acting was top notch and they really absorbed their takes on these characters. Even without intense facial expressions, I felt the intensity within them through the subtle hints.

    Although the acting was great and the movie wasn't horrible; I don't recommend this film to anyone. If you want a similar feel as well as some good acting I would recommend "Prisoners" due to the far better pacing, dialogue, and overall hook of interest.
  • lucretiadaley - 8 December 2023
    Best movie I've seen in a long time
    Surprised this didn't get higher ratings so far. Interesting story, great acting, unique directing. Menacing tone, not overdone, depth of character. Doesn't give us all the details of the crimes-just enough to draw our own disturbing conclusions. The film drew me in from the start. Pace of the revelations is just right. Very effective.

    2 main actors are pitch perfect. Henry is easily believable as the creepy ex-con, someone you would feel uneasy around were you to meet him on the street. His cringey little dance and mannerisms demonstrate his "offness" in an unsettling way. Mark as the insomniac undercover cop says little, but subtly and elegantly conveys the toll the job takes on him. His meditative breathing practices allude to therapeutic techniques to manage his double life and the low grade horror of partnering closely with a disturbed individual whose choice of prey would include the likes of Mark's own young son. Both actors have full beards, so they act mostly with their eyes-and they do it well.

    The directing is very cool. The theme of what's real and what's not plays out in the deft director's hands through scenes where dialogue is overlapped, quick cutting of scenes and audio, including dream scenes that seem to bridge real life and imagination, the fog of insomnia and the idea of the tape stopping but the voices continuing. What are Henry's and Mark's "real names?" Henry thinks he has a friend. Who is the Stranger?
  • li0904426 - 18 June 2023
    Gothi and tense movie
    The movie "The Stranger" is an Australian psychological crime thriller film written and directed by Thomas M. Wright. It follows an investigation of a child abduction case, with an undercover police officer in a sting operation tasked with getting close to and forming a friendship with the prime suspect. And it is in this interaction between the police undercover and the alleged criminal that the plot shines. The scenes are generally dark in color, gothic, tense, and full of suspense. But the movie fails to exaggerate a lot in the police scheme of getting close to the suspect.

    The director purposely leaves out some writing at the end of the movie to explain what exactly ended up with the suspect. It worked very well because it's up in the air if the prosecutor gets any real evidence to prosecute the suspect. The movie was loosely based on real events in Australia.

    Joel Edgerton as Detective Mark Frame and Sean Harris as suspect Henry Teague shine spectacularly and another highlight of the movie is the editing.
  • wmcauliffe-00425 - 20 December 2022
    Creep
    This is a great fictionalised take on a infamous child abductor and his capture that started with his heinous crime in my state of Queensland in Australia. The family of the boy killed never wanted this made but all i can say is his real name is never mentioned. I think it is very well done in showing how the cops got the killers confidence through a lengthy ruse. All act well in this one with Edgerton and Harris of course the standouts. Harris might be a great bloke in real life but in most things i've seen him in the creepiness of the characters he plays is always evident. Give it a watch for realistic chills.
  • middlehitter-92234 - 13 December 2022
    It's Complicated
    This movie demands constant attention while seemingly nothing is really happening. Two men meet and one, the friend, introduces the other, the Stranger, to an opportunity in a criminal enterprise that looks like a smuggling ring for a black market but nothing seems to come of it. Through out the film there is an intensity to the stranger the exudes menace. As they go about mundane tasks to wipe out traces of some unexplained crime, the stranger is forced to reveal more and more of his past to assure the leaders of the criminal group that he is being forthright with them.

    Meanwhile, there are interludes of the friend and his 9-year-old son. Their clearly loving and supportive relationship provides a needed break in the tension and a foil to the horror revealed later.

    I don't understand the reviews they complain about the acting. This isn't one of those lightweight comedies or action flicks with two-dimensional characters and catch phrases written expressly for the trailers. It's funny how people swoon over a Marvel movie then complain about movies performed by true character actors following the dramatic vision of inspired writers, a talented cinematographer and director, and fashioned by professional editors.

    If you love cinema and appreciate the effort to bring complicated and multi-dimensional characters to life, then this film is a must.

    I didn't give ten stars because the sound editing drowned out too many conversations. This is a common problem today; emphasizing the music, which is more often just low base rumbling, to build atmosphere at the expense of delivering audible voice.
  • stairways - 22 November 2022
    Stunning, textured, utterly engrossing crime story
    In a world saturated by bad and hackneyed crime stories that offer nothing new or unique, a movie with probably the most generic and unremarkable title of all takes the prize for truly innovative and affecting storytelling.

    I knew nothing about this before I decided to give it 20 minutes of my time, but was almost instantly hooked. The acting is terrific, the script and dialogue spare and curious, so much so that it takes quite a while to know what's going on, and longer again to see how the movie contains a story within a story, a frame within a frame.

    The exposition of what motivates the bad guy and the good guys is brilliantly handled (I'm trying to give nothing away here) and there were moments I thought small mistakes had been made (itself a genius technique when the risk pays off and the plot is a step or two ahead of the viewer).

    It's hard to overstate just how good this movie is, from the music to the sound effects and soundscapes, the lighting to the colour grading.

    There are far too many movies about bad things happening to children and the police operations that follow. There are very few that almost completely re-invent the genre.

    The Stranger is an absolute must-watch movie, the best I've seen this year from anyone: slow, dark, strangely affecting and ambiguous. It's already a classic: I just hope it finds the audience it deserves, surrounded by so much dreck and junk on Netflix.
  • lukeayl - 10 November 2022
    Dark, compelling and tense.
    It's the first movie in a long while that left me feeling something...mostly unsettled. The acting is superb, the soundtrack is haunting and the cinematography is great. It's a film that's devoid of any of the physical violence that characterised the real life case, but doled it out in tension.

    People have complained that it's slow, but I didn't find that to be the case and found it atmospheric and gripping throughout. Another complaint is that it's hard to follow, but again I don't agree.

    If you're looking for a standard Hollywood action/crime film then this is probably not for you. It's not too similar in feel to something like strangers though.