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Sean Harris has always had a fascinating screen presence, one that’s slightly unstable and unsettling. He swallows some lines in a half-whisper and makes great use of a hollow, vacant stare. There’s something haunted about the characters he plays. And he makes great use of that skill set in Thomas M. Wright ’s taut and effective “The Stranger,” which premiered at Cannes back in May and snuck its way onto Netflix last week with almost zero promotion or fanfare. It’s worth seeking out.

Harris plays Henry Teague, a man who the first few scenes set up as the protagonist of this Aussie true story only to then turn the tables. Mild spoilers will follow, so come back later if you know absolutely nothing about one of the largest undercover operations in the history of Australia, but this is a film that settles early into a procedural investigation of a vicious criminal. It turns out that Henry is the main suspect in one of the most notorious missing person cases in the history of Australia, and he’s being pulled through the film into a massive sting operation to finally put him away.

It starts with what Henry thinks is a random encounter with a man on a bus who offers him an opportunity. At first, it seems like Henry is about to get involved in a criminal underworld that could get him in serious trouble. He keeps asserting that he doesn’t “do violence,” but agrees to meet some mysterious people, including one named Mark Frame ( Joel Edgerton ), who is actually an undercover cop. Mark gets closer to Henry even as it’s revealed that everything that’s happening is really a set-up to trap a man who the authorities are convinced has murdered a child. It’s a brilliant operation, one that basically places a criminal into an amoral enterprise, relying on the fact that he will be so comfortable within it that he will say or do something that will incriminate him, especially to the criminal higher-ups who will demand to know everything about his background. (It’s also worth noting that a confession obtained this way is legal in Australia and wouldn’t be in the United States.)

Wright, who also wrote the film based on the book The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe’s Killer , deftly moves back and forth between the growing connection between Henry & Mark and the other aspects of the investigation by Mark’s colleagues, including an effective Jada Alberts as the lead detective. Working with editor Simon Njoo , Wright assembles a film that’s largely straightforward but cut together in a way that makes it more unsettling. There are startling jump cuts and dream sequences that get under your skin, conveying how befriending a child killer could destroy someone from within. Oliver Coates ’ score also works to alter our perception of the crime drama elements, making the whole thing more like a waking nightmare than an episode of “Criminal Minds.”

The craft elements of “The Stranger” are enabled by the character work of Edgerton and Harris, who very purposefully share a mumbling beard aesthetic. These men are supposed to be similar in body language and appearance, not only so Henry will open up to Mark but to make the detective’s journey into the dark side more terrifying. He doesn’t have to become a monster like Mark, but he has to befriend one, and Edgerton expertly conveys the fractures that would create in one’s psyche, making one almost a stranger to himself.

Netflix has an increasingly bad habit of burying projects, notoriously making them hard to find on the home screen even on the day they’re released. “The Stranger” seems to be breaking through as it’s ranked in the top ten over the weekend since its release. It’s nice to see something worthwhile break through the crowd of familiar faces.

On Netflix now.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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The Stranger (2022)

117 minutes

Joel Edgerton as Mark

Sean Harris as Henry Teague

Jada Alberts as Detective Rylett

Fletcher Humphrys as Detective Ikin

Mike Foenander as Heavy Man

Steve Mouzakis as Paul

Simon Elrahi as Lieutenant

Alan Dukes as John

• Thomas M. Wright

Cinematographer

• Sam Chiplin
• Oliver Coates

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The Stranger Reviews

The Stranger shares not only a title with the famous Albert Camus work, but also its focus on a man immersed in an existential crisis when faced with the absurd.

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Palestines 2022 Oscar submission is stunningly shot and wrenching in its moving evocation of a man mired in self-loathing and paralyzed by the physical and existential no-mans land resulting in the Israeli occupation and the disaster in Syria.

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The Stranger can be a challenging watch, although there's something about its shrouded visuals - presented in boxy Academy ratio - that always appeals, despite the tough voyage.

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The stranger review: an effective psychological crime thriller.

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Netflix has yet another true crime narrative available on its platform, and once again, it is bound to receive criticism for how it depicts a real-life event. The Stranger is a fictional account of the investigation to solve the murder of a 13-year-old boy in Australia. However, this tale strips away the key factual details and follows the attempt to capture the killer through an elaborate sting operation by the police. While the filmmakers chose to leave the child's name out of the film, the young boy’s family decried the making of this film . However, the result presents a very strong case for why original filmmaking should be reprioritized in the industry.

Written and directed by Thomas M. Wright, the Australian crime thriller — based on Kate Kyriacou’s novel The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe’s Killer — follows a group of undercover cops, who, inspired by a Canadian police operation, create an elaborate scheme to trap a kidnapping and murder suspect to retrieve a confession and the possible location of the victim’s body nearly a decade after the abduction. This operation required the suspect to be befriended, something he has long craved.

Related: Joel Edgerton’s 10 Highest-Grossing Movies, According To Box Office Mojo

The thriller is an actor's showcase, centering powerful performances by Joel Edgerton and a surprisingly impactful performance from Sean Harris, an actor best known for playing villains. By avoiding the actual crime and focusing on the investigation years after the initial abduction, Wright is seemingly being merciful by not dragging the family’s ordeal into the mix. This, in turn, props up the police and the suspect as the only characters of interest in this story, thus creating a character-driven narrative paid off by excellent performances. To Wright’s and the actors’ credit, The Stranger succeeds at having the audience enraptured by the performances and the story that unfolds around this friendship.

The film is dark and gloomy, the atmosphere thick with dread and suspense. Sam Chiplin’s cinematography turns the desolate Australian Outback into the perfect battlefield for this psychological war. Oliver Coates’ score amps up the isolation, the distrust, the stakes and, more importantly, the seriousness of the whole operation. Wright’s intent is to keep the audience off balance, sometimes threatening to disorient in the first two acts as the mystery slowly is pulled into focus. There is a brutality to the film that isn’t forced by graphic violence or over-the-top and harsh actions. There is a subtlety to it. However, what is perhaps the crime thriller's most influential — albeit unintentional — part of the film is the sense of unease as the narrative tiptoes around the real-life missing case of a 13-year-old boy.

To be fair to Wright and actor-producer Joel Edgerton, The Stranger is an effective and affecting psychological thriller . Enough is changed from the real story to create some semblance of originality, allowing the audience to sink their teeth into the narrative without feeling like voyeurs to a horrific crime. To many non-Australian viewers, it will be the opening note that states the film is based on a true story that will give it away. Most viewers will probably find the story made up, as such an investigation, and the confessions they yield, are not permissible in criminal courts in the United States and in most regions around the world. Overall, The Stranger is compelling, enthralling, and brilliantly executed.

The core issue that will make or break one’s viewing experience is questioning the desire to tie it to a real case. The approach to solving this case is unique and instrumental to solving the biggest kidnapping case in Australia. However, the tactic itself is reason enough to inspire a crime thriller; the real-life case could have been kept entirely out of it. Out of respect to the family who was so adamantly against this film, perhaps fundamentally changing the crime in question would have allowed this film to flourish without any controversy. At the core, the film has an interesting thing to say about the effects of diving deep undercover to uncover the truth and catch a predator. The tiring, stressful endeavor is painful to watch as the film slowly builds suspense. The investigation and how it was carried out draw audience's attention.

As with the countless reboots and remakes, true crime thrillers don't need to retraumatize victims and their families. Creativity and a touch of originality could spare everyone the grief. The Stranger proves that Wright is a capable director and writer who can create a compelling piece of art that unsettles audiences and draws out effective performances. One wishes his efforts were not anchored by the need to recapture the atmosphere of a real-life traumatic event.

NEXT: Till Review: Danielle Deadwyler Is Excellent In Powerful Biographical Drama

The Stranger began streaming on Netflix October 19. The film is 117 minutes long and is rated TV-MA.

The Stranger

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Summary Two men who meet on a plane and strike up a conversation that turns into friendship. For Henry Teague, worn down by a lifetime of physical labour and crime, this is a dream come true.

Directed By : Thomas M. Wright

Written By : Thomas M. Wright, Kate Kyriacou

The Stranger

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Joel Edgerton

Sean harris, henry teague, jada alberts, kate rylett, cormac wright, steve mouzakis, matthew sunderland, fletcher humphrys, graham ikin, ewen leslie, asst. commissioner milliken, gary waddell, andreas sobik, checc musolino, wa controller, man in the shadows, spencer scholz, shop assistant, wa head offsider, james mccluskey-garcia, detective a, athanasios georgas, detective b, thomas aldahn, uniformed officer, violet rowe, mari patrick, abel kollie, critic reviews.

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The Stranger

Two men who meet on a bus strike up a conversation that turns into friendship. For Henry Teague, worn down by a lifetime of physical labour and crime, this is a dream come true. Two men who meet on a bus strike up a conversation that turns into friendship. For Henry Teague, worn down by a lifetime of physical labour and crime, this is a dream come true. Two men who meet on a bus strike up a conversation that turns into friendship. For Henry Teague, worn down by a lifetime of physical labour and crime, this is a dream come true.

• Thomas M. Wright
• Kate Kyriacou
• Joel Edgerton
• Sean Harris
• Jada Alberts
• 165 User reviews
• 62 Critic reviews
• 74 Metascore
• 8 wins & 18 nominations

Top cast 70

• Henry Teague

• Kate Rylett

• Graham Ikin

• Asst. Commissioner Milliken

• WA Controller
• Man in the Shadows
• Shop Assistant
• WA Head Offsider
• Detective A
• Detective B
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• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia Producer Rachel Gardner said in April 2020 that "this is a challenging time for our industry, particularly for crew, but we are gearing up to move straight into production on 'The Unknown Man', which will be shooting in and around Adelaide, as soon as is practicable". 'The Unknown Man' was the working title of this film.
• Goofs Apparently cadaver dogs have yet to make their way to Australia.
• Connections Featured in Amanda the Jedi Show: The Most Theatre Walkouts I've EVER Seen | Cannes 2022 Explained (2022)
• Soundtracks Trojan Blue Written by Iva Davies (as Ivor Davies) Administered by Kobalt Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd Performed by Icehouse Under exclusive license from Diva Records Licensed courtesy of Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd

User reviews 165

• Oct 19, 2022
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• Blue-Tongue Films
• Rocket Science
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• Runtime 1 hour 57 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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‘The Stranger’ Review: Joel Edgerton Loses Himself in This Dark Australian Thriller’s Many Layers

Talented Australian helmer Thomas M. Wright ('Acute Misfortune') tackles another true story of befriending the devil.

By Peter Debruge

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Who knew that police sting operations did — or even could — work like the one seen in “ The Stranger ”? Based on the extensive Mr. Big ruse that brought a notorious Australian kidnapper to justice, this eerie, understated thriller draws the audience into the same deception used to ensnare the culprit, focusing on psychology more than procedure in its entrancing account of a most unusual criminal investigation. The case echoes Denis Villeneuve’s “Prisoners” at times, minus the twisted genre-movie payoff, which will limit commercial prospects beyond Oz shores.

With a tortured performance by producer-star Joel Edgerton at its core, this second feature from gifted actor-turned-helmer Thomas M. Wright is as much about befriending the devil as his terrific 2018 debut, “Acute Misfortune,” was. (That film re-created the moth-to-flame portrait of a self-destructive bad-boy artist by an easily manipulated young journalist. Here, an undercover cop must cozy up to an unrepentant human monster.) Premiering in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, “The Stranger” confirms that Wright has arrived, even if his treatment sometimes feels more oblique and self-consciously arty than the material demands.

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Pretty much everyone in Australia knows the case of Daniel Morcombe, the 13-year-old boy who disappeared from a Queensland bus stop. Like last year’s Cannes competition entry “Nitram,” about the country’s worst mass shooting, downplaying the crime itself is a way of depriving the real-world perpetrator of the toxic brand of tabloid celebrity that American media and movies so often confer upon evildoers. But the tactic doesn’t erase the evil itself, while non-Australian audiences may be left somewhat confused by the omission of key information.

Popular on Variety

Here, for instance, Wright never reveals how the police identified “Henry” (Sean Harris) as the prime suspect in a nationwide manhunt. As far as we’re concerned, he’s just a weary, working-class drifter we meet on the bus at the same time a guy named Paul (Steve Mouzakis) does. These two travelers hit it off, then go out for drinks. Paul tells Henry he has a lead on some work, and sensing that it might not be entirely legal, Henry quickly volunteers, “I don’t do violence.”

Neither does Wright, it turns out. The director resists the temptation to show whatever darkness Henry is hiding, working instead to suggest the unknowability of another man’s soul. Ergo, “The Stranger” becomes an exercise in mood, as characters tend to be seen in shadow, from a distance or with their backs to the camera, while poker-faced expressions mask their emotions.

A few scenes in, the far-from-exploitative film’s point of view shifts dramatically, from Henry to the rough, bearded guy — another stranger (Edgerton), this one named Mark — who picks him up for the job the next day. At this point, viewers are still getting their bearings, letting their imaginations run wild based on limited information. “Trust Mark,” Paul tells Henry. “If you’re honest with these guys, you’ll be looked after.” Trust is a key theme in “The Stranger.”

Edgerton has played criminals before, of course, perhaps most memorably in 2010’s “Animal Kingdom,” and here, we’re invited to wonder what kind of man his character is. Not at all the one the movie first suggests, it turns out. Mark is decent, but not without demons of his own. The film follows him home … to his son, whom Mark has been raising by himself. He’s an undercover cop, it turns out, who spends his days embedded in some kind of mob-like organization. It’s not easy to shake that persona when he’s off the clock — as if he’s ever truly off the clock — and so he unwittingly takes it out on his kid.

Meanwhile, his job is to win Henry’s confidence, to extract a confession. Everything else is a lie, an elaborate charade by which to entrap Henry — who isn’t Henry at all, but a man named Peter Worley. But how do you get a man who won’t assume his own guilt to unburden his conscience to a man he barely knows? Already, this review has said more than it should about “The Stranger’s” secrets, which are best discovered as they unfold. The impact will be inevitably diluted for those who don’t know the backstory of the Morcombe case, since Sean Harris, the wild-eyed English actor who plays Henry/Peter, comes across as a sympathetic character at first (audiences might think otherwise if they knew what he’d done).

In the U.S., U.K. and several other countries, the police can’t use such schemes to elicit a confession, which makes the whole film — adapted from Kate Kyriacou’s rigorously reported book, “The Sting” — a compelling illustration of how the resource-intensive strategy worked in Australia. (It’s no small thing to invent a fictional criminal organization just to ensnare one man.) There’s a simultaneously fascinating and frightening stretch in which the cops have the testimony they need but not the evidence to prove it in court.

The final scene of “The Stranger” follows Mark home, and the point of view shifts again, this time to his son as he studies the effect the investigation has had on his dad. That’s a strange way for Wright to wrap a movie that, like “Zodiac,” leaves its detectives transformed by the experience, effectively making the case that seeing the human side of evil changes a person — which of course, is what Wright intends for his movie to do to us as well.

Reviewed at Club 13, Paris, May 12, 2022. In Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard). Running time: 117 MIN.

• Production: (Australia) A Screen Australia presentation, in association with South Australian Film Corp., Screen NSW, Cross City Films, Trinity Media Financing Intl., Rocket Science, of a See-Saw Films, Anonymous Content, Blue Tongue Films production. Producers: Rachel Gardner, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, Joel Edgerton, Kerry Kohansky-Roberts, Kim Hodgert. Executive producers: Simon Gillis, Thorsten Schumacher, Lars Sylvest, Morgan Emmery, Jean-Charles Levy. Co-producers: Libby Sharpe, Alexandra Taussig.
• Crew: Director, writer: Thomas M. Wright, based on the book “The Sting” by Kate Kyriacou. Camera: Sam Chiplin. Editor: Simon Njoo Ase. Music: Oliver Coates.
• With: Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Jada Alberts, Steve Mouzakis.

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The stranger.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 0 Reviews
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Common Sense Media Review

Riveting crime drama has strong language, violence.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Stranger is a 2022 Australian crime drama in which an undercover cop must earn the trust of a man accused of kidnapping and killing a child. While there's not much overt violence (a car is set on fire in one scene, a car accident in another), there's violence discussed. Police…

Why Age 15+?

Strong language throughout. "F--k" often used. "C--t" used several times. Also "

Graphic discussion of how a child was kidnapped, tortured, then killed. Lead cha

Cigarette smoking. Some drinking in bars, beer drinking in a house.

The morning after what appears to be an attempt by Henry to hold Mark's hand whi

Any Positive Content?

Strong language throughout. "F--k" often used. "C--t" used several times. Also "a--hole," "s--t," "ass," "hell."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Graphic discussion of how a child was kidnapped, tortured, then killed. Lead characters witness a car accident -- one car crashing into the side of another.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

The morning after what appears to be an attempt by Henry to hold Mark's hand while they're in the car, Henry tells Mark that he used to watch a lot of porn -- specifically, porn involving amputees.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Parents need to know that The Stranger is a 2022 Australian crime drama in which an undercover cop must earn the trust of a man accused of kidnapping and killing a child. While there's not much overt violence (a car is set on fire in one scene, a car accident in another), there's violence discussed. Police detectives graphically talk about the horrific injuries the child suffered before being strangled to death. Strong language throughout, including "f--k" and "c--t." In one scene, the accused kidnapper discusses how he used to watch a lot of porn, and, specifically, porn involving amputees. Cigarette smoking. Beer drinking. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

In THE STRANGER, Henry Teague ( Sean Harris ) is on a bus bound for Western Australia. En route, a man named Paul engages him in conversation. When they get off the bus, Paul asks Henry for a favor, and when Henry obliges, Paul offers to return the favor by securing work for Henry. Sensing that the work might be criminal in nature, Henry immediately says that he doesn't engage in acts of violence, but Paul assures him that it's not like that. Paul takes Henry to Mark ( Joel Edgerton ), and soon after, Paul is sent into hiding, and it's obvious that the job involves making sure people in a criminal syndicate disappear when they get into trouble. Mark and Henry seem to hit it off as Henry learns more about the work and meets Mark's higher-ups, but Mark isn't who he seems any more than Henry is who he seems.

Is It Any Good?

This is a compelling, engaging, and understated Australian crime drama. The Stranger's first act is a constant and almost disorienting array of story twists and turns that challenge audience expectations. No one is who they say they are, and appearances are almost, but not always, deceiving. One of the best things to be said about this is that it's difficult to get too much into why The Stranger works without spoiling the story. It's a true crime story about a horrific crime that doesn't engage in sensationalism and overt graphic violence to tell its tale.

Of course, this element of surprise works best for audience members who aren't Australian. This is based on a true news story of the kidnapping and killing of a child that took place in the early 2000s in Australia, and how the perpetrator of the act was brought to justice several years later. It helps for international audiences to know that the way in which this criminal was brought to justice was a police operation that's legal in Australia but not in the US or UK. Whether or not you have extensive knowledge of the case of Daniel Morcombe, it's a powerful movie either way, and the disorienting journey at the beginning is well worth the eventual reveals.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about crime dramas like The Stranger . How is this similar to and different from other crime dramas you've seen?

This is based on a true story in Australia -- a story that was a lead story in the news for many years. What would be the challenges in adapting a true story into a movie, particularly one that's well-known in Australia and perhaps not so well-known in other countries?

How did the movie play with audience expectations in order to create suspense?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : October 18, 2022
• Cast : Joel Edgerton , Sean Harris , Ewen Leslie
• Director : Thomas M. Wright
• Studio : Netflix
• Genre : Drama
• Run time : 117 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : June 17, 2023

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Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Stranger’ on Netflix, a Hypnotic Australian True-Crime-Drama Starring Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris

Where to stream:.

• The Stranger (2022)
• joel edgerton

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The Stranger (now on Netflix) is a BOATS ( Based on a True Story ) crime-drama with bleak arthouse sensibilities – two great tastes, as they say, that really grind you down with the combined weight of their depictions of the darkest corners of the human condition. Joel Edgerton is the star you recognize, sharing the bulk of the scenes with Sean Harris, one of those That One Guy character-actor types whose face you know but can’t quite place. Thomas M. Wright directs with an austere tone that keeps us guessing as to what exactly his principal characters are capable of, psychologically or otherwise – and that’s why this unassuming film keeps us so tightly in its grasp.

THE STRANGER : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: At this point, nothing is certain. Some certainty may be attained by the end, but how much hope should we have? The rumbling, growling synths on the score push us toward being cautious with our hope. In voiceover, a man talks about inhaling clean air and exhaling the black. We get a brief glimpse of police conducting a roadside evidence search. Then we see a weathered-looking man with a big scraggly gray beard. He’s Henry Teague (Sean Harris). He’s on an airplane. The man in the adjacent seat, Paul (Steve Mouzakis), strikes up a conversation. By the end of the trip, Paul gets Henry a job with an employer. Whatever that job is, we’re not certain. But it’s the type that pays in cash and requires all involved to speak in coded vaguenesses. Guns or drugs, probably; human trafficking, possibly.

Henry seems fine with that, and is likely familiar with that. Soon, Paul’s out and Mark (Joel Edgerton) is in. Mark is to shadowy illegal “businesses” as mid-level managers are to corporations – a go-between who shuffles himself and his underlings into and out of meetings. Mark presses on Henry to tell him everything about his criminal background. No judgment, the bosses just want to know if there are any signposts for potential trouble. Be honest, Henry. And Henry insists he’s on the level, saying he did a couple years for assault, and has been in and out of jail here and there. Henry says violence is off the table for these vague whatever gigs, because second offenses are where they really get ya.

Mark drops Henry off for the night and speaks into the bug on his body, coding the end of the recording he’s making for the cops. Because Mark is a cop, a deep-cover man hoping to – well, the less you know about the truth and nature of all this, the better the movie is. The guy narrating about breathing at the beginning of the film? That was Mark, getting his young son to relax and fall asleep at night. But it’s for himself as well; this is a harrowing, high-stakes job, and a good night’s sleep is a rare occurrence. It’d weigh heavily on anyone, for sure, but especially so for a father, since the case he’s working ties to the abduction and disappearance of a boy roughly the same age as Mark’s son. Mark goes home, hugs his boy, pops a beer and does a little plop-plop-fizz-fizz but I don’t think there’s a lot of relief to be had from the compound traumas of this experience. Not yet, anyway.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Wright seems to draw from some of the best directors on the fringe of the business today: He borrows some meditative surrealism from Robert Eggers (brief visual and tonal flourishes from The Lighthouse and The Northman ), snatches a static landscape or two (accompanied by a harsh musical score) from Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood , summons the intensity (and child-abduction tragedy plot) of Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners and fiddles with narrative chronology a la Christopher Nolan (nothing Inception crazy, maybe more Insomnia or Dunkirk ).

Performance Worth Watching: Harris is damn terrifying as a man who’s almost certainly a far worse human being than he says he is, but leaves just enough doubt in your mind that you wonder whether he’s truly a far-gone sociopath, or just a petty, pathetic loser.

Memorable Dialogue: “I don’t do violence.” – Anybody believe Henry when he says this?

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: The Stranger is a lurking-dread movie in which a long-gestating, patience-testing quest for truth and closure burrows in deep, hypnotizes us a little bit and forces us to carry some of the burden of its intensity. All the better to empathize with a man who sacrifices his psychological well-being in order to do good, for the sake of a suffering family and community. Is it heroism? Of a sort, because it’s morally righteous, but uncovering the sobering, awful deeds of another man is a classic stare-into-the-abyss-and-the-abyss-stares-back situation. Subterfuge of any sort has its price. The reaper always takes its toll.

So the movie is almost repressively somber and far from uplifting. Such is the nature of such true-crime sagas, fictionalized or otherwise. But neither is it a hopeless depiction of a world without love or empathy; the basic, mundane tasks of fatherhood in which Mark partakes carry greater significance in the context of this story. Wright offers visually compelling angles on familiar crime-drama tropes, creating texture with sound,amplifying the paranoia with the buzzing and humming feedback of surveillance gear. Narratively, he’s tantalizingly coy, stingy with character and situational reveals, taffy-pulling the suspense, keeping us tuned to his clarity of purpose even when the details are nebulous. Keeping your cards close to your vest is the strategy of the strong player; bring on Wright’s next film, please.

Will you stream or skip the hypnotic Australian crime-drama #TheStranger on @netflix ? #SIOSI — Decider (@decider) October 20, 2022

Our Call: The Stranger offers strong, subtle performances from its leads, and a freshly vital approach to familiar material. STREAM IT, but weak psychological constitutions and short attention spans need not apply.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com .

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The Stranger (2022) Movie Review – A bleak true-crime story setup in an ironic ruse to settle on the truth

A bleak true-crime story setup in an ironic ruse to settle on the truth

The word “stranger” has to be one of the most ubiquitous things in movie titles. Adding the word in the mix itself gives you an impression of mystery and intrigue. On its own, it piques your interest in the story and readies you for an engrossing experience.

The Stranger on Netflix, however, subverts all of those expectations. The flavor of mystery and storytelling is completely reinvented for the penchant of rare suitors seeking a complex challenge to dissect.

Sean Harris and Joel Edgerton play the bad guy and the cop, but the actual ramifications of these classifications are rather not as simple as they seem in the scheme of the film. The film is based on true events that sparked the largest investigation into the occasion of a child killed in abduction.

The Stranger works in a Shutter Island-like ruse to get out the truth. Although it is distinctively less dramatic and more poignant, that is the basic premise of the story. Paul and Henry (Harris) meet on a bus and the former introduces the latter to his boss, Mark (Edgerton), who is an expert in making criminals looking to escape the reality of their lives disappear. But little to Henry’s knowledge, Mark is actually an undercover agent with the crimes unit. From there on in, we see the largesse of the plans behind the works unfold and devour Henry’s trust, only to deliver him to the justice he evaded all those years ago.

There is perhaps nothing straightforward about the movie. The storytelling is highly obtuse, seldom settling on a clear direction or answer to a question. It always takes the harder way out that involves establishing deep, volatile connections between the two men.

Henry and Mark propel the story forward by spending more time with each other with a skewed scale of honesty bringing them together.  Mostly, the background is filled with information and words. The soundscape is quite heavy on those. But in their absence, everyday sounds of things being displaced come out with monstrous viscosity. It is indeed very minimalist.

There’s hardly any background score you can grow accustomed to, except the constant, ominous fluttering around the mountain ridge we visit often. And as a result, even the banalest of sounds, like a floorboard creeping when half stepped on, can have an overwhelming effect. Also, thanks to Netflix’s brilliant rendition through its Dolby surround sound and ADS technology, The Stranger envelops you when you watch it with a good set of headphones on. The minimalism is a wise touch, given how verbose the screenplay is. This dynamic with the narrative enhances the storytelling experience for you as a viewer.

Every minute is sewn together to keep you engaged with the narrative and with the characters all the time. The dialogue has a flimsy, fleeting quality that you can miss even if you take your attention off for a second. It wouldn’t be fair to call The Strange r plotless because of how unwittingly it all comes together in the end, despite how it feels in the vast landscapes.

For long stretches, you can’t help but feel that this film is a story of the two men, bonding, and growing intimate and not an investigation into getting a confession and solving a decade-old mystery. Joel Edgerton the man and Joel Edgerton the undercover officer should ideally be disjointed.

However, as time wears on and Henry opens up about his life, interests, and details of character, the former two become less and less disjointed. The blurry line that people in his shoes often have to keep intact to have a balance is gradually wiped off. Sean Harris is a worthy companion to Edgerton, matching him every step along the way.

That is what makes The Stranger an intense character study and also a battle for justice that is not vacant. Emotions dictate the latter, while the tragedy of the human condition the former. For all its patience and artistic purity, The Stranger does feel like moving at a glacial pace.

The tone and tenor are easily unlikeable and won’t sweep you off your feet. They become a challenge for average viewers not content with a slow burn where talking is the chosen way to uncover the truth of the story.

The Stranger does not take too much time to arrive at its central conceit – an undercover team working hard to catch their culprit – but takes its own sweet time to adjust you to its cinematic universe where trust is a declining commodity. Full marks to Thomas Wright for remaining true to his vision and not compromising on it to make it more palatable.

Feel free to check out more of our movie reviews here!

• Verdict - 8.5/10 8.5/10

3 thoughts on “The Stranger (2022) Movie Review – A bleak true-crime story setup in an ironic ruse to settle on the truth”

I love this movie. I have watched it several times. The acting is vital and makes this film mysterious yet so real. How Mark has to suffer this man, Henry, for five months to bring about the objective of getting a confession This is the best movie I have seen in a long while.

Total waste of time.

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• Entertainment

'The Stranger' on Netflix: The True Story That Inspired the Unsettling Thriller

The suspenseful movie is based on the complex real-life scheme to finally snare the perpetrator in a high-profile child abduction case.

• Third place film critic, 2021 LA Press Club National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards

Joel Edgerton (left) plays an undercover cop and Sean Harris a suspected child killer in gripping Netflix drama The Stranger. 

At the beginning of the dark, enthralling Netflix thriller The Stranger, the words "based on a true story" flash on the screen. By the end of the movie, viewers will likely want to know more about that real-life tale and how closely the film reflects it. 

Read on to find out more, but be warned: Spoilers for The Stranger up ahead. 

Basics of The Stranger 

The Stranger is a 2022 Australian crime thriller written and directed by Thomas M. Wright. English actor Sean Harris stars as Henry Teague, a man suspected of the abduction and murder of a teenage schoolboy. Australian actor Joel Edgerton, also one of the film's producers, plays Mark Frame, an undercover cop tasked with getting the truth out of Teague years after the crime. That happens via an elaborate police sting operation that recruits Teague into a fake drug-running ring, promising a hefty payout and a place for the jobless drifter to belong. 

The movie premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and had a limited Australian release before it began streaming Oct. 19 on Netflix, where it's spent two weeks on the global top 10 list . The film is a spare, perfectly paced psychological thriller that explores the uneasy friendship between Teague and Frame, as well as the formidable burden and cost of keeping one's true identity a secret, as both men do. 

The Stranger was nominated for 11 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards this year , including best film, best direction, best lead actor, best supporting actor, best supporting actress and best cinematography, a much deserved recognition of the movie's lyrical visuals, which build the moody suspense.    

What true story is The Stranger based on? 

The Stranger is a fictionalized account of the massive real-life manhunt for the killer of 13-year-old Daniel Morcombe, who was abducted on Queensland's Sunshine Coast in 2003 while on his way to buy Christmas presents for his family at a local shopping mall. He was later murdered. Eight years later, his killer, known pedophile Brett Peter Cowan, was finally arrested and charged.   

The film is based on crime reporter Kate Kyriacou's book The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe's Killer . The book details the covert scheme that ultimately led to a secretly recorded confession by Cowan, an original person of interest in the high-profile case who had earlier denied any involvement in the boy's disappearance. Days after Cowan confessed to killing the child and was charged --  you can watch a remarkable short video clip of the actual arrest here  -- law enforcement finally found the evidence they'd hoped for to push forward a prosecution: Morcombe's remains.  

The Stranger changes the names of those involved in the Morcombe case but sticks close to many details -- both Morcombe and his movie counterpart James Liston are the same age and were abducted from a bus stop under a Queensland overpass, for example, and a real-life undercover agent did befriend Cowan and pull him deeper into the pretend crime ring. But the movie focuses more on the sting operation than on the horrific crime itself. 

Where is Brett Peter Cowan now? 

Cowan, now 53, was sentenced to life in prison in 2014 , with the judge describing his crime as "entirely abhorrent." "You have tragically and pointlessly snuffed out a young life," Justice Roslyn Atkinson of Brisbane's Supreme Court said at the time .  

In 2016, a fellow inmate at the high-security Wolston Correctional Centre in Wacol threw a bucket of boiling water on Cowan , landing him in the hospital with burns over 15% of his body, including his head, chest and legs. In 2018, another fellow prisoner stabbed the pedophile in the neck with a sharpened toothbrush. 

Who was the real Mark Frame? 

Edgerton, who plays the character, told the Sydney Morning Herald he's never met or spoken with the real Frame "because we were investigating the truth, taking that truth and telling a fictionalized version of it, which is about protecting everyone involved."

A real undercover cop known as Paul "Fitzy" Fitzsimmons (likely not his actual name) did develop a friendship with Cowan over the course of the sting and testified against him during his trial. Because the real Frame's identity remains a mystery for safety reasons -- it was suppressed during the trial -- we don't know how the investigation impacted him or whether he has a son like Edgerton's character does in The Stranger. That detail adds emotional urgency to Frame's quest to extract a confession from the likely child killer.   

In The Stranger on Netflix, Joel Edgerton plays Mark Frame, an undercover cop who finds himself getting close to someone who may have committed an unspeakable crime.  

What's the reaction to The Stranger been? 

The film currently sits at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes . But as we've seen with Dahmer , another true-crime offering on Netflix, such grim retellings can renew trauma for victims. Morcombe's parents Denise and Bruce have strongly criticized The Stranger .   

"The movie The Stranger is not supported by the Morcombe family," Denise Morcombe tweeted in July . "Individuals who make money on a heinous crime are parasites … We find the making of the movie morally corrupt and cruel."  

The boy's parents rejected the idea that the movie is fiction. "The actual predator looks exactly like Brett Peter Cowan," Bruce Morcombe told Australia's ABC News . "Of course, it's not a fictitious story. Only an idiot would suggest that."

Daniel Morcombe's parents run the Daniel Morcombe Foundation to educate children about staying safe in physical and online environments. The red T-shirt Daniel wore on that December day he went missing has become a symbol of child safety awareness in Australia. People dress in red for an annual National Day of Action for Child Safety, held on the last Friday in October. The event's called Day for Daniel.

Members of the Sunshine Coast community wear red as a symbol of child safety awareness on this year's Day for Daniel. 

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The Stranger review – a crime film set to a slow simmer

The eloquently ominous The Stranger is an extraordinarily patient and simmering Australian crime drama that slowly gets under your skin.

This review of the Netflix film The Stranger (2022) does contain spoilers.

The Stranger , a simmering Australian drama that moves to an overwhelming emotional boil, may be one of the most patient crime thrillers you’ll ever encounter. Written and directed by Thomas M. Wright ( Acute Misfortune ), this eloquently ominous film slowly gets under your skin, all before it begins to pull back layer after fascinating layer.

The film stars the human chameleon Sean Harris ( Spencer , The Green Knight ), a down-on-his-luck, sad sack ex-criminal named Henry Teague. He meets a man named Paul ( Where the Wild Things Are ‘s Steve Mouzakis ), who he helps get his car out of an impound. Paul then helps Henry connect with a colleague involved in some shady dealings. His name is Mark ( Joel Egerton ), and he is a member of a criminal organization that only cares that Henry is upfront and honest with him. This is an issue since Henry Teague is not his real name.

Now, I went into The Stranger , not watching a single clip or trailer or reading up on the 2022 Canne film entry . The film’s trailer gives everything away quickly, and if you know the source material, everything will be spoiled immediately. So, I recommend stopping reading now if you want to avoid spoilers. You’ll thank me later.

Wright’s film is based on Kate Kyriacou’s nonfiction bestseller, The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe’s Killer . The story follows Australia’s most famous undercover operation. The film’s great script has one big reveal during each act and keeps the viewer guessing what will happen. For example, in the first section, we wonder what Henry has caught himself in. As the story progresses, Henry begins to act stranger, and his behaviors can be erratic. The viewer now doesn’t have a protagonist to trust or put their faith in. Yet, no one seems to be who they claim. That’s because Harris’s character is based on Daniel Morcombe and Mark is an undercover officer.

What makes The Stranger so interesting is how it turns the crime thriller on its end. We are trained to watch car chases and watch detectives beat up criminals to get the answers they are looking for. Here, we are neck-deep in psychological warfare. Wright remarkably shows you how instead of iron fists as tools, we see Egerton’s Mark uses something entirely different — empathy. As a way to slow-play manipulation — allowing Mark to gain Henry’s trust.

You’ll also notice, if you are paying attention to the scenes involving two detectives going over evidence and background information, Mark is also triggering Henry. Why? In the hopes of pushing him to break and become vulnerable. For example, having Henry burn a car brings back memories of a previous crime the undercover officer is well aware of.

The Stranger is a much stronger film going into the experience blindfolded. However, there is no denying the craftsmanship that has taken place here. Wright’s film intentionally underwhelms but that never takes away from its compelling nature. While the magnetic Egerton represents the film’s anxiety and pent-up release, it’s the stoic and jaw-dropping turn by Harris that keeps the film such an absorbing experience. Along with Matthias Schack-Arnott and Oliver Coates’s beautiful score and Sam Chiplin’s evocative cinematography, Wright’s film captures the operation’s extraordinary composure and restraint with his intelligent script with hypnotic effects.

What did you think of the Netflix film The Stranger (2022)? Comment below.

Additional Reading for The Stranger

• The Stranger (2022) ending explained
• Will there be a sequel to The Stranger (2022) ?
• Where was The Stranger (2022) filmed ?
• Films like The Stranger

Article by Marc Miller

Marc Miller (also known as M.N. Miller) joined Ready Steady Cut in April 2018 as a Film and TV Critic, publishing over 1,600 articles on the website. Since a young age, Marc dreamed of becoming a legitimate critic and having that famous “Rotten Tomato” approved status – in 2023, he achieved that status.

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‘The Stranger’ Review: Somewhere Over the Freeway

In this tense thriller on Hulu, Maika Monroe plays Clare, a Kansas transplant in Los Angeles who parallels Dorothy in Oz.

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By Natalia Winkelman

“The Stranger” is a tense if tidy thriller that chronicles a ride-hail driver’s journey to surveillance hell and back. Her survival against all odds mirrors that of the movie itself: The film’s footage originally premiered in 13 short-form episodes in 2020 on the streaming service Quibi, several months before it shut down .

The recut version (on Hulu) bears little trace of its earlier form, although its life span across algorithm-driven streaming companies does cast the villain’s tech preoccupations — “whoever figures out the mathematical formula determining the losers and the winners in life will rule” the world, he declares — in a new, meta light.

Written and directed by Veena Sud (“The Killing”), the film follows Clare (Maika Monroe), a recent transplant to Los Angeles who falls into a freeway nightmare after her ride-hail passenger, Carl (Dane DeHaan), identifies himself as a serial killer. He claims he will murder her unless she tells him a good story.

If this opening sounds cliché, the film at least seems aware of the pitfalls. Sud creates parallels between Clare in Hollywood and Dorothy in Oz, assigning Clare a Kansan back story, a yapping terrier and a guileless attitude. And DeHaan embodies the tech-savvy Carl as a pasty, smirking male chauvinist who is sillier than he is scary.

It follows as something of a surprise, when, over the course of the second act, the film builds to a deeply agitated mood. Sud pulls off the tonal shift by keeping Carl largely offscreen; his looming absence, alongside Monroe’s knack for portraying paranoia, simmers with menace.

The Stranger Not Rated. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes. Watch on Hulu.

The Stranger Movie Review: Chilling undercover drama with a fresh perspective

Rating: ( 4 / 5).

For a film inspired by an actual undercover investigation into a kidnapping and murder case, Netflix's The Stranger  is a sober, mood-heavy drama that induced in me a trance-like state. I welcomed its focus more on the atmosphere and character moments than the gory details. One could say the film has the behaviour of a nightmare intended to administer a sense of dread rather than a sudden shock. It is chilling, sure, but it's the presence of Sean Harris -- as Henry, a convict recently out of prison -- that mostly does it.

Director: Tom Wright Cast: Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Jada Alberts Streaming on: Netflix Every character converses in hushed tones as though they're all at a funeral. I recall only one instance where a character gets loud and creates a jump scare-like effect. It happens in one of several moments where a character experiences intermittent nightmares. Speaking of which, The Stranger has multiple instances where reality and nightmares look the same. I hadn't seen or read anything about The Stranger beforehand, so I had no clue what lay in store. It is one of those films where every scene throbs with anticipation. It's nice to see two Australian acting heavyweights collaborating for the third time. Sean doesn't play Henry as a typical killer; it's an immensely dense and layered performance that reveals something new on closer inspection. And Joel Edgerton, too, imbues his undercover officer with an everyman quality. Now when you put them in a landscape where we only see them most of the time, an air of unpredictability pervades the film. The Stranger has the texture of an apocalyptic film, with greys, browns, and blacks dominating the colour palette. I also don't recall seeing a single scene where there is sunlight. Occasionally, it takes a trip to the wilderness, with the summit of a mountain becoming a recurring image over the course of the film. One of the most memorable scenes in the film is that of a senior police official gripped by anxiety as he is gearing up to interview a suspect. We also sense his unease in the presence of the same man. It's fascinating and satisfying at once because the same man was only a while ago taunting a subordinate. It's a portrayal that goes against the typical image of a tough-talking, intimidating, or annoying superior. The other outstanding moment arrives towards the end: an extreme close-up of the suspect's face on a blurry black-and-white surveillance monitor while he confesses to his crime. The effect is deeply unsettling. I also found the choice of omitting the depiction of the central crime refreshing. We hear about the moments leading up to it and after, but never the crime in its entirety. It keeps these details to a minimum, even when the characters discuss them. But by then, we get a hint of the suspect's deviant behaviour from his portrait drawn to us before its concluding events. Those who find true crime documentaries interesting will find the clinical depiction of authentic police work in The Stranger engrossing. But it's also careful not to let all its procedural elements overshadow the dramatic. There is the possibility of Mark undergoing heavy psychological trauma that comes naturally with the profession. And the unusual bonding between Henry and Mark gives birth to ambiguities that one is bound to reflect on after the end credits roll.