The Stranger.

As most of the information I have got on these films are from the fans, The Stranger is the first film that actually gives A Stone Cold Christmas direction because, according to said fans, Recoil acts like a spiritual sequel to this film right here. So let's check it out.

The Stranger is once again a straight to DVD Canadian action film staring Steve Austin, despite managing to land a PG-13 rating, the film didn't do particularly well critically or in terms of sales. Is that deserving or should more people give this Stranger a chance?

The Stranger has a surprisingly deep and complex plot. Well, for what it is at least. It can be quite the roller coaster ride in places. Although yes, you'll probably end up ahead of the characters for the last half of the film because of the predictable nature of the twists they still get an A for effort considering neither Knockout or Recoil had much plot and what plot they had, was taken from better movies or shows. The Stranger tells the story of a man who has lost his memory and finds himself wrapped up in the world of Russian Mobs, the FBI and the Mexicans. And yes there is a wife and daughter killed by criminals again.

What really helps the narrative is the pacing, they use The Stranger rebuilding his memory as a deliberate device to feed the audience information in chunks to stick around for the whole ninety minutes. A cheap trick sure, but effective. Because most of the plot is told through the Stranger's memory, it makes the progression of the story feel very natural as he remembers things one by one. It comes together pretty satisfyingly too.

The Stranger is pretty hard to watch. Although Knockout and The Stranger had the same cinematographer, The Stranger is filmed in a completely different style and a completely horrible style to boot. You guys remember that Public Enemies film with Johnny Depp? No tripods, tracks, cranes or anything else, it seems the camera men were literally running around the set and as long as they pointed the camera in the vague direction of the action or just ran around randomly zooming at things, that made it into the final cut. The editing is also done in an equally erratic fashion, this whole film is like someone screaming in your face. It's just painful. It has a truly nauseating opening chase sequence and there is also this chase sequence later in the film involving The Stranger on a motorcycle, it's the only moment in the film where it gets to the 'so bad it's hilarious category'. 

Ever wanted to see Steve Austin dressed as a hobo complete with wig and fake beard? Do you want to see Austin speak butchered foreign languages? Then you've found your movie! In seriousness, I was kinda disappointed with this aspect of the film, the fugue state's mean the Stranger becomes a lot of different people throughout the film but the film never really has any fun with this. They could have really pushed Austin, made him play a wide spectrum of characters, instead it's just Austin playing his usual badass with different backstories and different languages.

The Stranger has both better action and at the same time...weaker action than Recoil. The budget doesn't feel nearly as stretched and the choreography is much better, making for some really nice looking action scenes but The Stranger just isn't fun. They went for the whole 'gritty' approach instead. Although Recoil was serious too, it had that inherent goofiness that many of the 80s action classics have, which is what in turn makes them so fun, even when people are being battered and murdered left right and centre. Here, it almost felt like the film didn't want me to enjoy the action and it wanted me to feel bad when I did. It also creates a really strange disconnect because there are all the silly action set-pieces from those 80s films, only the outcome is a lot darker. Also with the camera being flailed around all over the place in some scenes I could barely follow what the hell was happening.

So do I recommend it? The biggest problem with The Stranger is the way it is constructed. This is a revenge movie staring Stone Cold and as strong I felt the narrative was, it ultimately felt out of place in a movie like this. The same can be said for how dour a lot of the film is. You can't couple the goofy action scenes of an 80s classic with the implication that people actually get hurt, it's supposed to be silly and removed from reality. I want to cheer when someone is chucked through a window not feel bad that the fall killed the guy. Plus it's shot like shit too. It isn't a complete 'avoid', this is actually probably worth checking out, but the film holds itself back from being truly great. Recoil was a lot better.

Think About It!

-Locke