Scott LeBrun "The Stranger" is a routine, adequate action thriller that mostly works as a vehicle for wrestling star "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Stone Cold plays the title role, a bad ass who keeps changing his identity and line of work as he travels cross country. The earnest psychiatrist who hopes to help him recover his true identity is Grace Bishop, played by Erica Serra. The other recurring character in his life is Mason Reese (Adam Beach), an FBI agent who also seems to know a whole lot.Stone Cold actually isn't the problem here. He has a strong screen presence, but also does not embarrass himself when it comes to acting. He gets to speak multiple languages, as well. The supporting actors - Ron Lea, Viv Leacock, and Jason Schombing as various Federal agents - are decent enough, with Beach an obvious standout. The movie can't be faulted in terms of pacing, but the story (by Quinn Scott) is patently predictable and pretty ridiculous. What makes "The Stranger" hard to watch much of the time is the overused technique of rapid fire editing and chaotic camera movement. You just wish the picture would stay still.The movie (mildly) amuses, and is instantly forgettable.Although set in the United States, it's all too clear that it was shot in Canada.Five out of 10.

benjones-11 My taste in films is wide and varied. I enjoy art-house and foreign dramas as much as I enjoy cheap shoot-em-ups and stoogey comedies. But in order to ENJOY them, the films have to be ENJOYABLE. This film did not fit that category.The story itself isn't too bad - a bit in the style of Momento or the Bourne trilogy: a special agent (Steve Austin) who is robbed of his life, loses his memory and is on the run. He is being helped by his faithful psychiatrist (Erica Cerra), who risks her own safety in order to try to help Austin to remember his life and to combat the bad guys.O.k. Nothing groundbreaking, but there was potential. Unfortunately the directing took all of this away. We have "Stone Cold" Steve Austin - one of the biggest action stars of our time, so surely this should lead to some great action and gutsy fight scenes. No, half of the time Austin is being made to look like a weakling as he winces and breaks down every time someone slaps him. When he occasionally decides to fight back he is slow, lumbering, and can pull nothing out of the bag more exciting than a punch on the nose.And how many flashbacks did we need? There are some scenes which are repeated almost constantly throughout the film, all in cheesy slow motion, showing smiling wife and giggling daughter, combined with the sound of an explosion. Yes, I think we got the point Mr Director. And don't even get me started on the motorbike scene. Someone obviously decided it would be a brilliant idea to have Steve racing through the country tracks on a big Harley. Perhaps someone should have checked whether Steve was willing to do this before they start filming. He's going so slow I'm surprised the bike doesn't topple over, and so the director "jazzes" it up with flickering shots of wheels, Austin's face doing its best to act the emotion: "perturbed", Cerra looking like she's taking a Sunday stroll, and some heavy music to get our adrenaline up. I nearly turned the film off there and then.I'm sorry to sound like a smart-arse, but also this film must hold the record for the number of shots fired at one individual (all from short distance) without any getting anywhere near him. It wouldn't be so bad if he were doing anything other than trundle in a straight line away from them as they fire for minutes on end directly at him. Let the set tea-boy handle the action scenes. I think we'd get more enjoyment.What could have been an enjoyable film, is ruined by some of the worst "action" directing I have seen for a very long time.

morrison-dylan-fan One of the things that I have found a bit surprising,is that whilst pro- wrestling has had some fantastic documentaries made about the subject (Beyond the Mat and Wrestleing in Shadows being two great examples.)It still seems that when a pro-wrestler tries to enter the movie world with a starring role,that they are still not to surpass the great John Carpenter film They Live.With Steve Ausin-who is currently the most successful wrestler in history,due to his amazingly charismatic anti- authority street-punk character of the late 90s to early 2000s.Which,not only struck a chord with the wrestling crowd,but also the mainstream media.With having found Austins last straight-to-DVD movie,to be very good fun,and with having enjoyed the teaser trailer to the film,I was looking forward to seeing a gripping Death Wish style revenge film.Disappointingly,the story of the film is a very damp plot:The plot:A man who is unable to remember who he is,or any of his activates of the last few months,goes on the run from the FBI and what seems to be, some very angry Russian and Mexican gangster's,who are after him over a dodgy deal,that he cant remember ever happening!Unknowingly to the man,one of the FBI agents searching for him (who has met him a few months earlier)has some vital information,that can help him to remember his past.The only problem for both of them is that there are some people in the FBI,who,are going to do everything they can to make sure that they don't meet up..View on the film:As I was watching the film,the main thing that stayed in my head was that,for a pretty low-budget film,Austin gives a surprising stunner of a performance.With a good screen presence,and doing well at showing someone who may not like to remember their forgotten past.Sadly the same can not be said for the very weak screenplay by Quinn Scott.Scott seems to really want to make this film into an enjoyable mix of the Bourne and Death Wish films,(though it has to be pointed out,that the director created the terrible open-ending)Though the main part of the film,seems to hold over the flashbacks showing the strangers past,and,whilst this type of plotting has been used very well in the last few years,to revel some very surprising things about the main characters,(from the video-game The Suffering to the epic TV series Lost.)the flashbacks in this film don't feel anywhere near as surprising as the film makers seem to think they are,and are actually rather predictable.Final view on the Film:A disappointingly written story,saved by a entertaining performance from Austin.

gtz-28 Well the film was okay... I cant say it was the best action movie I've ever seen but it was okay. Its a shame that Steve gets put into a films with a good script but pretty bad directing. As always the action parts of the movie had Steve doing his wrestling against guys with guns and so on.I still think its a must see to all those action loving people out there, but there's not much to look forward to. Most action movies nowadays are always pretty much the same old stuff you've seen 1000 times before. I personally enjoyed Steve Austin in "The Condemned" because that film was very original and had a lot of parts that I will always remember.