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
- salmon62 - 1 July 2024
Excellent crime story, but turn on subtitles!
I almost stopped watching this crime drama 15 minutes in because of the Australian accents, and the way the dialogue is often not matched to the actors faces. They're also wearing beards so its hard to match what is being said to whom.
The film is not in exact chronological order, so hang in there! Its a bit slow at first figuring out what is happening and when, but it does sharpen over the course of the film.
Watch this film with English subtitles to effectively follow the script. Without them, you may miss important revelations.
The camera work is good but not always conducive to learning who said what.
Otherwise, this is a really interesting film dramatization of a criminal case from Australia solved after 8 years by employing multiple undercover cops posing as mid-level criminals.
The lead actors are great, the story is sad, but there does seem to be some payoff for the Aussie cops.
Its a fascinating story of criminal investigation Highly recommended. - JodyBruchon - 30 December 2023
Added this film to my "bailed on" list
I am very lenient with movies. I give them a good chance to get past the rocky introductory parts and exposition. I wanted to give this one a chance because the start of it was clearly setting it up to be something I often enjoy, : a dark, suspenseful drama with complex characters and layers of secrets. Unfortunately, I made it around half an hour in and bailed out. It felt like it had gone on for an hour, and that 30 minutes should have been cut down to about 8 minutes of content. One of my most common criticisms of films is that they could have been cut down without losing anything important and this is clearly a major offender in that regard. The actors are clearly quite good, but their dialogue is far too short and widely spaced out. Shots are held for far too long. Directors usually think they're setting the desired mood smartly by dragging things out to force a stronger impression when they're really boring the audience and killing off the desired effect instead.
The best part was the part where a car was burning. The wide shot at twilight was beautiful and the narration over it was appropriately paced and delivered. It was by far the most competently done part that I witnessed. It would be nice if the director understood that longer doesn't mean better; I would probably have seen it through if they made every shot as competent as that one and tossed out all the dead air that adds nothing to the story whatsoever.
