The Stranger

The Stranger proves that Wright is a capable director and writer who can create a compelling piece of art that unsettles audiences.

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. As with the countless reboots and remakes, true crime thrillers don't need to retraumatize victims and their families. There is a brutality to the film that isn’t forced by graphic violence or over-the-top and harsh actions. 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. While the filmmakers chose to leave the child's name out of the film, the young boy’s The Stranger is a fictional account of the investigation to solve the murder of a 13-year-old boy in Australia.

The Stranger movie review: The new Netflix film, starring an in-form Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris, subverts (and honours) genre conventions with style and ...

The Stranger opens with a voiceover of Mark teaching his son to meditate the darkness out of his body. For the investigating officer to have a child of the same age as the one he is fighting to get justice for borders on self-parody, but somehow, the movie manages to make you briefly forget that this is a cliche at all. Henry was suspected of killing a young boy in the year 2002 — the movie is largely set in 2010 — and has since been wandering around Australia, keeping to himself, and looking for a fresh start. Having been welcomed into the mob with a shrug and a handshake, thanks to Mark’s intervention, Henry has a reason to feel hopeful again. But The Stranger is the kind of movie title that comes across like a last-minute studio mandate, and not something that you’d ever read on a first draft. That title hardly represents the kind of slow-burn, arthouse death stare into the heart of the abyss that this film is.

The Stranger is Netflix's newest original crime thriller, and it's been getting rave reviews. The film – not to be confused with the Harlan Coben Netflix ...

[Sydney Morning Herald’s Paul Byrnes](https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/film-based-on-morcombe-case-no-cruel-act-20221005-p5bnag.html) (opens in new tab) says: "In tone, the film is brilliantly hidden. [in the pages of the new issue, featuring Enola Holmes on the cover](https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?awinmid=2961&awinaffid=103504&clickref=grd-gb-6602272439740561000&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.magazinesdirect.com%2Faz-single-issues%2F6937164%2Ftotal-film-magazine-single-issue.thtml) (opens in new tab). "It’s abundantly clear that The Stranger has crept, assiduously, into brilliance," writes [The Guardian’s Luke Buckmaster](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/aug/06/the-stranger-review-joel-edgerton-is-at-his-brooding-best-in-this-sophisticated-drama) (opens in new tab) in his five-star review. "We are trained to watch car chases and watch detectives beat up criminals to get the answers they are looking for. Meanwhile, a huge police operation is closing in the background. The Stranger is Netflix’s newest original crime thriller, and it's been getting rave reviews.