The Stranger

Wright crafts a hyper-elaborate set-up and delicate drip-feed of information which make spoilers an equal crime, but The Stranger is more of a felt experience than a traditional policier.

Taut and effective.

The Stranger is spare, disciplined storytelling with stark visuals and a strained tone.

In tone, the film is brilliantly hidden. It takes a long while to work out what’s happening. The atmosphere is gloomy, distrustful, brutal in language, with a jangly soundscape and music.

To call it an unconventionally impressive crime drama is to put it very lightly.

The Stranger definitely feels like an elevated genre exercise -- more challenging than the average crime drama but also more interesting.

To call it an impressive and offbeat crime drama is putting it very lightly. [Full review in Spanish]

A movie whose every dark or overcast shot, every quiet conversion and every revelation contributes to the rising tension and the inescapable gloom tinged with grief that follows this "Stranger” — up close, and from a distance — from beginning to end.

An annoying chore. A stronger second half comes some way in making the ordeal worth it if you haven’t already dropped off for a tactical mid-fest snooze.

The Stranger offers strong, subtle performances from its leads, and a freshly vital approach to familiar material.