The Stranger

Great acting and an enjoyable if very slowly developed story. The insidious undercurrent bubbling beneath the surface added a huge element of tension and jeopardy.

Great story, acting is superb!

A slow and tedious narrative; the only reason I persevered was out of curiosity for its conclusion. The work possesses a somewhat unremarkable premise, yet manages to present it reasonably well. Overall, it's a solid film for its genre, just not a masterpiece.

An interminable film, I watched to this to the very end, but only because I'd already invested too many precious minutes in it (sunk-cost fallacy). This is a prime example of a film without an assertive producer: someone who could discipline the director and prevent him allowing what should have been a gripping story from degenerating into a turgid mess. A pity, because there are some talented performances, striking cinematography and a good atmospheric score. It reminded me of The Irishman- another film that also appeared to lack a decent producer. As with Scorsese, someone needed to tell this director to can the boring scenes: long ones when the two main characters sit beside each other in a succession of cars; dull tracking shots of Australian roads: and frequent non-sequiturs that break the narrative flow. This is a film where nothing appears to happen, but the end comes and you realise lots actually has. And it feels far too long (nearly two hours but feels like three).

Decent movie. So many people looked alike I mixed them up sometimes

Excellent slow burn crime drama with hints of thriller. Very well executed, patient yet not trying. Delivers it's content on its own terms yet worth coming to grips with it's pace instead of demanding preconceived expectations be met. Unique, mature, worthwhile.

This is what Australian film makers should be looking at bringing to the table. Casting killed it on this one. Interesting story delivering really impressed me. Overall just a great delivery of a very raw thriller.

Didn’t love the movie because it just seemed insane that any police force could have such a massive and slow-moving undercover operation to investigate ONE suspect, again SUSPECT, in a murder investigation. But then, apparently this was one of the largest police operations ever in Australia.

Such an amazing film and story. Probably one of the best true crime films made in the last decade. This is brilliant. Acting wise it's perfect. Dialogue was perfect. The story was so captivating. Just a nearly perfect film.

It takes some time to fully grasp the bigger picture. We know that a guy is the main suspect of a crime that happened years before and the police don't have a proof against him. We know that the authorities are working on an elaborate scheme to trick him into a confession, but we don't know much about the suspect's personality, his motivations, the details and circumstances of the abduction or who the victim was. We're not even sure whether a seemingly nice guy is really a criminal. So we watch the story with little emotional involvement until very late when most doubts are cleared. And that is –at least for me–the main problem with this otherwise decent movie.