The Stranger
2022
***
Director: Thomas M. Wright
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Jada Alberts, Cormac Wright, Steve Mouzakis, Matthew Sunderland, Fletcher Humphrys, Alan Dukes, Ewen Leslie, Gary Waddell
Henry Teague meets a man on the bus who may have work for him in a shady criminal organisation. In reality, the man is an undercover police officer and Teague is the main suspect in a kidnapping and killing of a 13-year-old boy. Thomas M. Wright's moody crime drama was inspired by The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe's Killer by Kate Kyriacou, which chronicles a 2003 murder case in Australia. The film is atmospheric but slow-paced, and the good but extremely understated performances by Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris do not help.
