critics consensus

Mystery Road evokes classic Westerns while using its Australian outback setting to delve into a surprisingly layered -- and powerfully impactful -- array of social issues. Read critic reviews

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Movie Info

An aboriginal detective returns to the Outback to investigate the murder of a teenage girl.

Genre:

crime, drama, mystery and thriller
Original Language:

English (Australia)
Director:

Ivan Sen
Producer:

David Jowsey
Writer:

Ivan Sen
Release Date (Streaming):

Oct 13, 2014
Runtime:

2h 2m
Production Co:

Bunya Productions, Screen Australia
Aspect Ratio:

Scope (2.35:1)

Cast & Crew

Aaron Pedersen
Detective Jay Swan

Hugo Weaving
Johnno

Jack Thompson
Charlie Murray

Ryan Kwanten
Pete Bailey

Tony Barry
Sergeant

David Field
Mr. Bailey

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Critic Reviews for Mystery Road

All Critics (36) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (33) | Rotten (3)

Sen (who also shoots, scores and edits) goes walkabout through the minefield of contemporary Australian culture, offering an evocative snapshot of an unravelling crime scene - social, racial and economic.

August 31, 2014 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Mark Kermode
Observer (UK)
A superior and taut outback adventure, you'd have to go back to Samson and Delilah to find an Australian feature this bonsa.

August 29, 2014 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Tara Brady
Irish Times
Slow-burning but very powerful.

August 29, 2014 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Geoffrey Macnab
Independent (UK)
Mystery Road is a detective story that unspools with languid menace on the widescreen of the Australian Outback.

August 29, 2014 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Kate Muir
Times (UK)
Director Ivan Sen's fourth feature evokes old westerns, Polanski's Chinatown and other noir classics, but still feels grounded in the dust and dried blood of the Australian soil.

August 28, 2014 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Leslie Felperin
Guardian
This sand-blasted Aussie murder mystery tinkers with genre convention while managing to remain sincere and thrilling.

August 28, 2014 | Rating: 4/5

Anton Bitel
Little White Lies
An exploration of racial tensions through a radically placed protagonist, as well as a rousing finale, compensate for the lack of narrative oomph.

August 23, 2019 | Full Review…

Nicholas Bell
IONCINEMA.com
Huge skies, low horizons, glowing orange sunsets and a depiction of a culture and environment we rarely see in genre mystery movies make Mystery Road an unusual and thought-provoking film.

June 4, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Alexa Dalby
Dog and Wolf
I won't lie and say Mystery Road kept me on the edge of my seat for its duration, but there is a lot to enjoy in its delicately peeled back layers.

June 27, 2016 | Rating: B- | Full Review…

Jared Mobarak
The Film Stage
This tightly wound drama evokes a strikingly inventive sense of the Wild West in the Australian Outback.

September 1, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…

Rich Cline
Contactmusic.com
Aaron Pendersen is thoroughly believable as the conflicted Jay and the blasted landscape is photographed so well you'll be sweating and swatting the flies away from your own face after 10 mins.

August 29, 2014 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

George Byrne
The Herald (Ireland)
Mystery Road may be set in modern Queensland but it has the feel of a flinty, slow-burning western as one stetson-wearing lawman stands against an entire community.

August 28, 2014 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Allan Hunter
Daily Express (UK)